The 20 item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) has been set as the golden standard in assessing alexithymia despite its limitation due to its self-report structure. Overcoming this bound is the main reason that in 2006 brought Bagby, Taylor and Parker to develop the Toronto Structured Interview for Alexithymia (TSIA): a structured interview composed of 24 questions with the purpose of assessing four dimensions of alexithymia: Identifying emotional feelings (DIF), Describing emotional feelings (DDF), Imaginal processes (IMP), and Externally oriented thinking (EOT). The present study aimed to confirm the validity of the TSIA in the assessment of alexithymia, using internal consistency (alpha) and convergent validity (comparing TSIA and TAS-20). Since it has been demonstrated an association between alexithymia, measured with the TAS-20, and negative affect, an additional goal was to evaluate the correlation of TSIA with two measures of depression and anxiety (BDI-II and STAI-Y2). Our results showedasignificantcapabilityoftheTSIAinassessingalexithymiawhileclearingthelimitationoftheTAS-20in keeping aside partially overlapping construct such as depression and anxiety. The final suggestion is that a reliable assessment of alexithymia might come from the application of both a self-report and an observer-rated instrument.

Correlations between TSIA and TAS-20 and their relation to self-reported negative affect: A study using a multi-method approach in the assessment of alexithymia in a nonclinical sample from Italy

Montebarocci, Ornella
Writing – Review & Editing
;
Surcinelli, Paola
2018

Abstract

The 20 item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) has been set as the golden standard in assessing alexithymia despite its limitation due to its self-report structure. Overcoming this bound is the main reason that in 2006 brought Bagby, Taylor and Parker to develop the Toronto Structured Interview for Alexithymia (TSIA): a structured interview composed of 24 questions with the purpose of assessing four dimensions of alexithymia: Identifying emotional feelings (DIF), Describing emotional feelings (DDF), Imaginal processes (IMP), and Externally oriented thinking (EOT). The present study aimed to confirm the validity of the TSIA in the assessment of alexithymia, using internal consistency (alpha) and convergent validity (comparing TSIA and TAS-20). Since it has been demonstrated an association between alexithymia, measured with the TAS-20, and negative affect, an additional goal was to evaluate the correlation of TSIA with two measures of depression and anxiety (BDI-II and STAI-Y2). Our results showedasignificantcapabilityoftheTSIAinassessingalexithymiawhileclearingthelimitationoftheTAS-20in keeping aside partially overlapping construct such as depression and anxiety. The final suggestion is that a reliable assessment of alexithymia might come from the application of both a self-report and an observer-rated instrument.
2018
Montebarocci, Ornella; Surcinelli, Paola
File in questo prodotto:
Eventuali allegati, non sono esposti

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/644657
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo

Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 18
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 16
social impact