Mind & EmotionGreek → English
Alexithymia
/əˌlɛksɪˈθaɪmiə/noun
Difficulty in identifying and describing one's own emotions.
The Greek roots
ἀ-
a-
not, without
λέξις
léxis
word, speech
θυμός
thymós
feeling, spirit
Literally: “no words for feeling”
The story of the word
Peter Sifneos built the word in 1973 for patients who could describe a chest pain to the millimetre and their own state of mind not at all. It names a trait, not a diagnosis, and it is measured by questionnaire rather than observed directly. Rates run high in autistic adults and after severe trauma, and there is a running argument over whether the difficulty is in feeling the emotion or only in finding its name.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 1973
Same family
dyslexialexiconeuthymiadysthymia
In a sentence
He scores high for alexithymia and says the word describes his father better.
Therapy for alexithymia often starts with the body rather than with feelings.