Alexithymia — traditional and advanced studies

The close association of alexithymia with various somatic diseases has been studied for more than fifty years by different medical and related researchers. In the past decade, research on the connection between alexithymia and autoimmune diseases, as well as neurological and mental disorders, has gained significant interest. A literature review with a search depth of 10 years is presented. A literature search was conducted in the elibrary.ru, CyberLeninka, PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases using the key term «alexithymia.» Current evidence suggests a much more heterogeneous understanding of alexithymia in clinical practice during this period: a significant shift has been observed from interpreting alexithymia as a normal variation to considering it a neuropsychiatric syndrome. The paper discusses a new tool for assessing alexithymia, the relationship of alexithymia with post-stroke complications, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, tendency to self-harm, and addictive behavior, autism spectrum disorders, post-traumatic stress; analyzes promising areas for further study of alexithymia, aimed at increasing the objectification of its level detection (neuroimaging, search for neurobiological specific features, registration of bioelectrical activity of the brain, and computer diagnostic methods), as well as the development of therapeutic strategies.