%0 Journal Article
%T The Role of Language in Alexithymia: Moving Towards a Multiroute Model of Alexithymia
%A Caroline Catmur
%A Geoffrey Bird
%A Hannah Hobson
%A Rebecca Brewer
%J Emotion Review
%@ 1754-0747
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/1754073919838528
%X Alexithymia is characterized by difficulty identifying and describing one¡¯s own emotion. Identifying and describing one¡¯s emotion involves several cognitive processes, so alexithymia may result from a number of impairments. Here we propose the alexithymia language hypothesis¡ªthe hypothesis that language impairment can give rise to alexithymia¡ªand critically review relevant evidence from healthy populations, developmental disorders, adult-onset illness, and acquired brain injury. We conclude that the available evidence is supportive of the alexithymia¨Clanguage hypothesis, and therefore that language impairment may represent one of multiple routes to alexithymia. Where evidence is lacking, we outline which approaches will be useful in testing this hypothesis
%K alexithymia
%K emotion development
%K emotion recognition
%K language
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1754073919838528