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Alexithymia is a personality construct characterized by three factors: difficulty identifying feelings, difficulty describing feelings, and externally oriented thinking (Bagby, Taylor, and Parker 1994; Taylor and Bagby 2013). Several studies have found a strong positive relationship between alexithymia and immature defensive style and a moderate negative relationship between alexithymia and mature defensive style (Helmes et al. 2008; Kooiman et al. 1998; Parker, Taylor, and Bagby 1998; Kooiman, Raats, and Spinhoven 2008; Fukunishi, Numata, and Hattori 1994; Wise, Mann, and Epstein 1991; Bogutyn et al. 1999). To date, however, little research has examined the relationship between defensive style and each of the three factors in alexithymia. No studies have examined alexithymia in patients with cognitive complaints, a population that often present with an alexithymic profile. The present study examined the relationship between defensive style and alexithymia in a population of patients with such complaints.
We hypothesized that the relationship between TAS-20 total score and defensive styles that was found in students (Helmes et al. 2008; Parker, Taylor, and Bagby 1998; Bogutyn et al. 1999), outpatient psychiatric patients (Kooiman et al. 1998; Wise, Mann, and Epstein 1991), and patients who had myocardial infarction (Fukunishi, Numata, and Hattori 1994) would be replicated in this study. In addition, we hypothesized that