Self-report measures of alexithymia

Toronto-Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20; [13]). The TAS-20 comprises 20 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The items load on three factors: (i) Difficulty Identifying Feelings (DIF), e.g., “I am often confused about what emotion I am feeling”, (ii) Difficulty Describing Feelings (DDF), e.g., “It is difficult for me to find the right words for my feelings” and (iii) Externally Oriented Thinking (EOT), e.g., “I prefer talking to people about their daily activities rather than their feelings”. Total scores range from 20 to 100 points, where higher scores are indicative of higher levels of alexithymia.

Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire (BVAQ; [14]). The BVAQ consists of 40 items, rated on a 5-point Likert scale, where higher scores indicate higher levels of alexithymia. The items load on five subscales: (i) Identifying (i.e., the degree to which one is able to define one’s arousal states) (ii) Verbalizing (i.e., the degree to which one is able or inclined to describe or communicate about one’s emotional reactions.), (iii) Analyzing (i.e., the degree to which one seeks out explanations of one’s own emotional reactions), (iv) Fantasizing (i.e., the degree to which someone is inclined to fantasize, imagine, or day-dream), (v) Emotionalizing (i.e., the degree to which someone is emotionally aroused by emotion inducing events). In addition, Vorst and Bermond [14] revealed two higher-order orthogonal factors: a Cognitive component (comprising “Identifying”, “Verbalizing”, and “Analyzing” subscales), and an Affective component (comprising “Fantasizing” and “Emotionalizing”). Bermond et al. [16] suggested that the two dimensions (Cognitive and Affective) are partially independent and, therefore, decided to identify different types of alexithymia: Type I (i.e., severe reductions in both the Cognitive and Affective dimensions [COG -; AFF -]), Type II alexithymia (i.e., severe reductions only in the Cognitive dimension [COG -; AFF +]), Type III alexithymia (i.e., severe reductions only in the Affective dimension [COG +; AFF -].