A recent study determined convergence and divergence in the constructs of alexithymia, apathy, and depressive symptoms, with the anticipation that an understanding of similarities and differences between these constructs will improve diagnostic accuracy for clinical and research purposes. Researchers analyzed online measures completed by community-dwelling participants (n=622, mean age=35.6 years [13.1]) pertaining to alexithymia, depression, and apathy. They found:

• 12.2% were alexithymic, 37.8% reported significant depressive symptoms, and 24.9% reported significant apathy.

• Depression was defined most highly by items assessing sadness, low self-esteem, and loneliness.

• The strongest item loadings for alexithymia were difficulty identifying and describing feelings.

• Apathy was characterized by poor motivation, low interest, and lack of initiative.

• Each of these core and defining features, however, had significant cross-loadings on 1 of the other 2 factors.

• Negative affect shared variance with apathy, low motivation shared variance with depression, and difficulty describing and identifying feelings shared variance with depression and apathy.

Citation: Ready RE, Mather MA, Santorelli GD, Santospago BP. Apathy, alexithymia, and depressive symptoms: Points of convergence and divergence. [Published online ahead of print July 25, 2016]. Psychiatry Res. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2016.07.046.