A Review of Articles about the Evaluation of Alexithymia Tendency and Its Related Factors on Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Regarding ASD, emotional problems such as high alexithymia tendency, difficulty in emotion regulation, and high anxiety tendency have been pointed out. In this study, after reviewing various questionnaires used in the evaluation of alexithymia tendency, we examined studies dealing with the relationship between alexithymia tendency, anxiety, and emotional regulation in ASD. Various studies suggest that the alexithymia tendency of ASD is a cognitive difficulty, the analysis based on alexithymia subtypes is useful, and that these factors are related to each other. On the other hand, the influence and causality of these factors on each other have not been clarified yet, and further studies that considered these issues are of critical importance. Also, clinically, the link between research findings regarding the characteristics of ASD alexithymia tendency and intervention will become more important in the future.