What question did this study set out to answer?

This research aims to clarify the temporal relationships between alexithymia, psychological distress, and chronic pain.

March 28, 2026Health Psychology0 citationsOpen Access

Temporal pathways between alexithymia, psychological distress, and pain: An autoregressive mediation analysis.

RARachel V. Aaron SRScott G. Ravyts JRJennifer S. De La Rosa

Key Points

This research aims to clarify the temporal relationships between alexithymia, psychological distress, and chronic pain.
Conducted an autoregressive mediation analysis to explore relationships over time.
Assessed alexithymia and psychological distress in relation to pain interference.
Analyzed temporal pathways to identify mediation effects.
Found that alexithymia is indirectly related to increased pain interference.
Linked heightened psychological distress to the relationship between alexithymia and pain.
Highlighted the potential for targeting alexithymia and distress in psychological interventions.

Abstract

Although cross-sectional associations between alexithymia and chronic pain have been well established, their temporal relationship and underlying mechanisms have been unclear. The current findings demonstrate that alexithymia is indirectly related to worse pain interference via heightened psychological distress, pointing to alexithymia and psychological distress as targets of psychological intervention to improve physical function. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

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Cite This Study

Aaron et al. (Thu,) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/69c771348bbfbc51511e1214 https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0001604

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