UNDERSTANDING EMOTIONS IN SILENCE: A MULTI-GROUP STUDY OF ALEXITHYMIA, EXECUTIVE DYSFUNCTION, AND MENTAL HEALTH ACROSS ADULTS IN PAKISTAN

Abstract

Because of the strong link to various mental health issues, more attention is being given to alexithymia, a condition in which it is hard to recognize, describe and show emotions. Most of the research so far has examined alexithymia among clinical and student groups, but not much is understood about it in other wage-earning jobs in developing regions. Alexithymia was studied in teachers, community stakeholders and politicians from Punjab, Pakistan, to see if there was a link between this condition and anxiety, depression and occupational stress. A cross-sectional survey was performed using the TAS-20, HADS and OSI to assess 450 participants. From the statistics, a higher level of alexithymia was observed among politicians relative to others. Relations of a strong positive nature were noted between alexithymia and anxiety, depression and stress at work. According to hierarchical regression analysis, anxiety was the leading cause of alexithymia, followed by depression and work-related stress and the model could explain 48% of the data. This shows that professional positions with a lot of responsibility often cause stress which requires urgent support and protective health programs for all professionals in Pakistan.