Poster #66 - Alexithymia and somatization in child victims of sexual abuse

• In Event: Poster Session 06

Abstract

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is associated with numerous health issues that can affect several spheres of development (Afifi & MacMillan, 2011; Amado et al., 2015). Although the consequences of these difficulties are well known, the mechanism explaining their apparition is not well understood. Yet, to elaborate and implement efficient interventions, it is important to identify risks and protective factors predicting children’s outcomes. Studies among child victims of sexual abuse have found elevated levels of medically unexplained symptoms, namely somatization (Raza et al., 2022). One potential risk factors for somatization in CSA victims is alexithymia. Alexithymia is the inability to discriminate between feelings and physical sensations, which allows traumatized individuals to create a distance between themselves and distressing events (Schimmenti & Caretti, 2018; Taylor, 2018). Alexithymia can therefore serve as a coping mechanism for victims of CSA, but it may also prevent individuals from resolving their trauma. It is now established that many children victim of CSA present dissociative symptoms (Nailey & Brand, 2017; Vonderlin et al., 2018). Studies have found that higher dissociative symptoms in patients were predicted by higher alexithymic traits (Irwin & Melbin-Hellberg, 1998). Furthermore, another research among traumatized individuals demonstrated that higher dissociative symptoms predicted higher somatic complaints (Elklit & Christiansen, 2009). Although, these results became insignificant when negative affect were added. Indeed, alexithymia and dissociation could both be mechanisms through which psychological distress is avoided, which could then be expressed through physical symptoms such as somatization (e.g., headaches, nausea, stomachache, etc.) or amplify these symptoms (Schimmenti & Caretti, 2018). This study investigates how alexithymia and dissociation, predict somatization symptoms in a sample of 445 school-aged children (M = 8.94, SD = 1.99). This study compared 345 child victim of sexual abuse (74.3% girls; M = 9.21, SD = 2.05) to 100 non-abused children (61%; M = 8.28, SD = 1.70). Results of a sequential mediation model revealed that the association between CSA and somatization symptoms was significantly mediated by alexithymia and dissociation, β = 0.17, SE = .04, 95% CI [.06, .20], p  .01. This study offers insights on the importance of focussing on the ability to recognize and identify emotions in the effort to prevent the apparition of symptoms such as dissociation and somatization children’s victims of sexual abuse. As treatment with patients suffering somatic complaints but especially children’s is known to be challenging due to their level of cognitive development and comprehension of complex subjects, it is important to understand the mechanism behind these symptoms.

Authors

• Valéry Dubé, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)
  Presenting Author

• Laetitia Melissande Amedee

• Martine Hebert, Université du Québec à Montréal