Alexithymia and stress-induced brain activation in @entity2072 -dependent XXXX and @entity1 .

@entity1 @entity2653 @entity26 @entity2072 @entity734
OBJECTIVE: Alexithymia means a reduced capacity to identify and describe one's own feelings. Both stress and an alexithymic response to stress can contribute to relapse into @entity734 , but to our knowledge the neural processing of an alexithymic response to stress in @entity2072 -dependent individuals has not been examined. METHODS: In a functional magnetic resonance imaging session,17 male and 10 female abstinent @entity2072 -dependent subjects participated in script-guided imagery of neutral or stressful situations. Spatial preprocessing and statistical analysis of brain images were performed using Statistical Parametric Mapping Software (SPM2). Blood @entity26 level-dependent contrasts between stress and neutral imagery were correlated voxelwise with scores on the 26-item @entity2653 ( @entity2653 ). RESULTS: Male @entity2072 users demonstrated a positive correlation between @entity2653 scores and activation in the right putamen and middle frontal cortex during stressful, compared with neutral, imagery. In contrast, no brain regions showed a negative correlation with @entity2653 scores. Female subjects demonstrated a negative correlation between @entity2653 scores and activation in the right amygdala, thalamus, putamen, and left frontal and bilateral temporal cortices, and no positive correlations with @entity2653 scores during stressful, compared with neutral, imagery. CONCLUSIONS: @entity1 with greater alexithymic features showed reduced left-hemispheric cortical and right-hemispheric subcortical activation during processing of stress. However, @entity1 showed an opposite correlation in the right frontal cortex and putamen, suggesting that responses to stress in the putamen (activation v. deactivation) and frontal cortex (activation v. deactivation, as well as right v. left correlations) are critically different in association with alexithymia between male and female @entity2072 -dependent @entity1 .
