Alexithymia in a clinical sample of obese women.

The purpose was to examine the rate of alexithymia as measured by the Toronto Alexithymia Scale in a clinical sample of obese women without Binge Eating Disorder. Subjects included 165 inpatients in an eating disorder unit and 135 normal-weight individuals (comparison group). The obese subjects also completed a series of tests including the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, the Anxiety Scale Questionnaire, and the Eating Attitude Test. Analysis showed that the subgroups of obese persons differ in important ways and cannot necessarily be treated, studied, or understood through a single paradigm. Alexithymic behaviour, too, was not characteristic of obesity, but it was present only in the subgroup of subjects with psychopathological characteristics.