Régulation émotionnelle, alexithymie et dissociation chez les adolescents hospitalisés : un modèle de médiation par équation structurelle

Abstract

Objectives

Dissociation is a major phenomenon in child and adolescent psychiatry. It involves an involuntary disruption in the adequate integration of psychological functions, related to various neuropsychological mechanisms. This study aims to examine the relationships between dissociation, emotion regulation, and alexithymia in adolescents.

Patients and methods

. Forty-eight hospitalized adolescents (aged 12–16) were recruited from February 2022 to October 2023. They completed the Dissociative Experience Scale (DES), the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). A series of multiple regressions and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) were conducted to analyze the relationships among these variables.

Results

The findings revealed a significant association between dissociation (DES) and alexithymia (TAS) (β = 1.45, P = 0.002), as well as between dissociation and difficulties in emotion regulation (DERS) (β = 0.98, P = 0.018). The SEM indicated that while the total effect of alexithymia on dissociation was significant (P < 0.001), the specific mediating effect of emotion regulation was not statistically significant (P = 0.29).

Discussion

These results highlight the importance of alexithymia in the dissociative experience of adolescents, independent of emotion regulation difficulties. The absence of a mediating effect of DERS suggests that dissociation and alexithymia may be directly related without the involvement of emotion regulation.

Conclusions

This study opens avenues for therapeutic interventions targeting alexithymia to alleviate dissociative symptoms.