Emotional awareness deficits are related to somatic symptoms

Emotional awareness deficits are linked with somatic symptoms in both the community and clincal populations, a new study from 2025 finds. We have already seen from previous research significant links between difficulties with emotions and elevated somatic symptoms, or what we now call neuroplastic symptoms. Alexithymia, which relates to difficulty in identifying and describing one’s own emotions, was found to play a significant role in the somatic symptom group. As the authors state:

“Alexithymia has been linked to the development, persistence, and poor prognosis of somatic symptoms. Recent studies have shown that alexithymia is associated with greater pain intensity and physical symptom interference. Notably, difficulty in identifying feelings has been identified as a key predictor of somatic symptom severity. This impaired emotional awareness may lead to the somatization of psychological distress, in which unresolved emotional states manifest as physical symptoms.”

This is a key core understanding that gets missed and explainably so, as people with alexithymia are truly disconnected from their emotions and literally don’t realize they have are having a physical emotional reaction in the body and instead believe it to be a physical health symptom.The authors state quite clearly:

“Numerous studies have suggested that individuals with alexithymia are more likely to misinterpret emotionally driven physiological sensations, leading to hypochondriacal concerns and somatization. This relationship is further supported by biological evidence linking alexithymia to increased activation of the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, as well as elevated levels of inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6. Neurologically, reduced functional connectivity between the prefrontal cortex and amygdala has been reported, potentially affecting both emotional regulation and bodily perception. In particular, fMRI studies have shown decreased anterior insular activation—a region directly implicated in interoception—in individuals with alexithymia, further supporting the link between alexithymia and somatic symptoms.”

You can see alexithymia is related to neuroplastic symptoms via disrupted brain connections, heightened sympathetic nervous system activity, and altered interoception (interpretation of internal body signals and sensations). All these areas can be addressed and changed through neuroplasticity- brain and nervous system re-training, and increasing our emotional awareness and regulation skills. Reach out if you need help in understanding if you have alexithymia or emotion regulation difficulties and then how to work to change that so you can change your neuroplastic symptoms.