Assessing neurological pathologies in alexithymic patients

The aim of this study was to investigate the brain asymmetry and coherence between healthy controls and patients with alexithymia. Twenty four volunteers (14 alexithymic patients and 10 normal volunteers) were included in this study. All participants were asked to complete the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Farsi version of Toronto Alexithymia Scale (FTAS-20), and then took a quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG) test. Inter-hemispheric asymmetries and coherences in theta and alpha frequency band (3.5-7 Hz; 8-12 Hz) were shown significant difference between the two groups. The smallest value of the Coherence was found in the 3.5-7 Hz range, in occipital lobe. The largest value of the left-right asymmetries was found in the 3.5-7 Hz in the central and occipital lobe and 8-12 Hz in occipital lobe. Based on the results of the present study, it can be concluded that having an unfeeling approach in dealing with external stimuli as well as deficit in emotional verbalization in alexithymic patients can be explained in terms of brain asymmetry and coherence.