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©2014 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatr. Dec 22, 2014; 4(4): 91-102
Published online Dec 22, 2014. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v4.i4.91
Published online Dec 22, 2014. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v4.i4.91
Development of alexithymic personality features
Max Karukivi, Psychiatric Care Division, Satakunta Hospital District, FI-29200 Harjavalta, Finland
Max Karukivi, Simo Saarijärvi, Department of Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Turku, FI-20700 Turku, Finland
Simo Saarijärvi, Unit of Adolescent Psychiatry, Turku University Hospital, FI-20700 Turku, Finland
Author contributions: Karukivi M and Saarijärvi S were responsible for the study design; Karukivi M was responsible for the literature searches; Karukivi M and Saarijärvi S were responsible for the preparation of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest: The authors have no conflict of interest to claim.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Max Karukivi, MD, PhD, Psychiatric Care Division, Satakunta Hospital District, Sairaalantie 14, FI-29200 Harjavalta, Finland. max.karukivi@utu.fi
Telephone: +358-2-6274760 Fax: +358-2-6274785
Received: August 22, 2014
Peer-review started: August 23, 2014
First decision: September 19, 2014
Revised: November 18, 2014
Accepted: December 3, 2014
Article in press: December 10, 2014
Published online: December 22, 2014
Peer-review started: August 23, 2014
First decision: September 19, 2014
Revised: November 18, 2014
Accepted: December 3, 2014
Article in press: December 10, 2014
Published online: December 22, 2014
Core Tip
Core tip: This review summarizes the current literature regarding the development of alexithymic personality features. The subject is covered from several perspectives: neurobiological, environmental, developmental, and the stability of the core alexithymic features. Regarding the stability of alexithymia, the paper includes a systematic review of the literature. On this basis, both essential issues regarding the development of alexithymia and directions for future studies are raised.