Integrated model for evaluating the effectiveness of rhythmic movement therapy for alexithymia

Abstract

Background. The objectives of the present study were to apply the nonlinear response function model of alexithymia (ALEX) to evaluate the outcome of rhythmic movement therapy (RMT) for alexithymia and to analyze whether intervention-related changes in several psychological variables (extraversion, neuroticism, autonomy, locus of control, and hostility) were mechanisms underlying alexithymia alleviation in subjects participating in RMT group. Methods. 65 participants of Mental Health Management Program (MHMP) suffering from high level of alexithymia were randomly assigned to RMT intervention condition (N=45) or waiting-list condition (N=20). Findings. Computer experiments with ALEX model using pre-post scores of psychological variables of the participants of RMT and control groups indicated that ALEX model is predicting satisfactorily not only actual and prognostic levels of alexithymia, but clinically significant change as well. Conclusions. The results of our study revealed that 1) nonlinear ALEX model is the appropriate assessment tool for evaluation the effectiveness of RMT; 2) RMT is rather effective method of psychological treatment not only for alexithymia but also for some other personal traits associated with it.