Alexithymia moderating between trauma and empathy in forensic patients
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Understanding the relationship between trauma and empathy in a forensic mental health inpatient population: the role of alexithymia as a moderator.
IRAS ID
277348
Contact name
Angela Prout
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Teesside University
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 28 days
Research summary
There have been recent movements towards making healthcare services ‘trauma-informed’, leading to research which tries to understand the impact of trauma in people’s lives. For people who have been convicted of a criminal offence, often referred to in research as “offenders”, there are higher recorded rates of traumatic life experiences (Gilbert et al., 2009).
Trauma can have a huge impact on a person’s life, including mental health problems, and some people can have difficulty in recognising their emotions (Nietlisbach & Maercker, 2009). This is often described as ‘alexithymia’ and can lead to other difficulties in daily life, such as being able to regulate emotions, or being able to let others know how you feel (Taylor, Bagby, & Parker, 1997). Alexithymia is not a diagnosis, and many people can experience this on different levels. When people find it difficult to recognise their own emotions, it can be harder to know other people’s mood states, therefore harder to know how to respond to them (Israelashvili, Oosterwijk, Sauter, & Fischer, 2019). The current study seeks to answer the question of whether traumatic experiences and higher levels of alexithymia lead on to difficulties in empathising with other people. This is important because empathy research in offending populations has so far rarely tried to understand why this might happen.
The study will aim to recruit adult participants who are currently inpatients within a forensic mental health hospital. Participation involves completing questionnaires which should take approximately 20-30 minutes and can be completed either independently or with the researcher as is preferred. Full details of eligibility criteria are contained within the Participant Information Sheet.
REC name
London - Queen Square Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/LO/1066
Date of REC Opinion
27 Oct 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion