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Aims Alexithymia is a personality trait that consists of difficulty in identifying and acknowledging one's own and others' feelings. Recent studies reported that alexithymia is present in both anorexia ( AN) and bulimia nervosa ( BN). Brain morphological studies on healthy subjects showed that alexithymia correlates with several brain regions involved in emotions processing. The aim of this study was to investigate the anatomical correlates of alexithymia in AN and BN. Methods We performed a voxel-based morphometry study on 21 patients with AN and 18 with BN. Seventeen healthy subjects were used as a control group. Alexithymia, depression and anxiety were assessed with self-administered questionnaires and correlated to gray matter ( GM) density in each group. Results In BN, alexithymia was correlated with the GM of the parietal lobe, in particular of the right angular gyrus. The correlation was predominantly linked with Difficulty Describing Feelings. In AN, we did not find correlations between GM and alexithymia. Conclusions In BN, our results support the hypothesis that this trait may represent a relevant pathogenic or maintenance factor that contributes to relational difficulties, present in this pathology. In AN, the lack of correlation between GM volume and alexithymia may be influenced by atrophy in several brain regions that in turn can be, as previously reported, a consequence of caloric restriction. Also, the nature of alexithymia may be different from that of BN and controls and this trait could be secondary to a psychopathologic process specific to AN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study that examined the correlation between neurophysiological functioning and the degree of pathology for food style, body image and physical state in patients with anorexia nervosa. Evaluation of the eating disorder of the patients; Analysis of the neurophysiological functioning of the patients; Correlation between neurophysiological functions and the eating disorder state.