Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-wxhwt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-10T09:15:49.990Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Alexithymia, Masked Depression and Loss in a Holocaust Survivor

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Robert Z. Fisch
Robert Z. Fisch*
Affiliation:
Psychosomatic Clinic, Department of Psychiatry, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A woman who suffered multiple losses in childhood and adolescence became depressed 40 years later, after a series of new losses. Concomitant alexithymic features caused a masking of her depression by somatic symptoms. The relationships between alexithymia, masked depression and loss are discussed.

Type
Brief Reports
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 154 , Issue 5 , May 1989 , pp. 708 - 710
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1989 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Brown, G. S. & Harris, T. (1978) Social Origins of Depression. London: Tavistock Publications.Google ScholarPubMed
Freyberger, H. (1977) Supportive psychotherapeutic techniques in primary and secondary alexithymia. Psychotherapy & Psychsomatics, 28, 337–342.Google Scholar
Hamilton, M. (1960) A rating scale for depression. Psychiatry, 23, 56–62.Google ScholarPubMed
Katon, W., Kleinman, A. & Rosen, G. (1982) Depression and somatisation: a review. Parts I & II. American Journal of Medicine, 72, 127–135, 241–247.Google Scholar
Krystal, H. (1979) Alexithymia and psychotherapy. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 33, 17–31.Google Scholar
Lesse, S. (1968) The multivariant masks of depression. American Journal of Psychiatry, 124, suppl., 35–40.Google Scholar
Lesse, S. (1983) The masked depression syndrome – results of a seventeen-year clinical study. American Journal of Psychiatry, 37, 456–475.Google ScholarPubMed
Lesser, I. M. (1981) A review of the alexithymia concept. Psychosomatic Medicine, 43, 531–543.Google Scholar
Lopez-Ibor, J. (1972) Masked depression. British Journal of Psychiatry, 120, 245–258.Google Scholar
Nemiah, J. C. (1977) Alexithymia: theoretical considerations. Psychotherapy & Psychosomatics, 28, 199–206.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sifneos, P. E. (1972) Short-term Psychotherapy and Emotional Crisis. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Sifneos, P. E. (1973) The prevalence of ‘alexithymic’ characteristics in psychosomatic patients. Psychotherapy & Psychosomatics, 22, 255–262.Google Scholar
Taylor, G. P. (1984) Alexithymia: concept, measurement and implications for treatment. American Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 725–732.Google ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.