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In the light of sociological, anthropological and philosophical developments on gender issues, there is no longer any legitimate theory in Western society that can account for the process of identity development, the links between the biological realities and limits of the sexed body and the experience of gender. It's necessary to listen to everything that's said, not only by the young person but also by his or her parents, and even by the wider family, without any preconceived notions, judgments or normative criteria, but also to avoid the temptation to say "why" in favor of offering help. For some children and teenagers, it's possible to offer a transitional pathway.

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OBJECTIVE: To compare clinical characteristics of men and women with severe AN and to analyze mortality in men. METHOD: One thousand and nine patients including 23 anorectic males were hospitalized in St. Anne Hospital in Paris between 1988 and 2004. Data were collected during hospitalization. Fatal outcome was assessed in 2008. RESULTS: Men presented significantly later age of onset, were more likely to have a history of premorbid overweight than women and less likely to have attempted suicide. Mortality in men was high (standardized mortality ratio: 8.08; 95% CI: 1.62-23.62). Several predictive factors for mortality in men were identified: lower admission body mass index (BMI), later age at admission, and AN-R subtype. All the three deceased patients had dropped out from the inpatient unit. The 10-year survival did not differ between men and women, but men died sooner after hospitalization. DISCUSSION: Male inpatients should receive close follow-up after their discharge, especially if they have a restrictive form of AN, present low BMI, or are older at admission.

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OBJECTIVE: Alexithymia was compared in women with fertility disorders and fertile women who have never been confronted with fertility problems. METHOD: Self-report instruments (TAS-20 and BVAQ) were used to measure alexithymia in a group of 73 infertile women and in a comparison group of 32 fertile women. Semi-structured interviews were used to assess medical history, current and lifetime diagnosis of psychiatric disorders. RESULTS: Infertile women showed significantly higher rates of alexithymia than fertile women. The degree of alexithymia does not constitute a discriminating variable between unexplained infertile women and women with an organic aetiology of infertility. The prevalence of psychiatric diagnosis did not differ between the two groups of patients. Lifetime prevalence of depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder were statistically comparable. CONCLUSION: This result raises the question of secondary alexithymia as a coping strategy in women with fertility troubles. Given the lack of published data on alexithymia in infertile women, there is a need to replicate our results and evaluate other aspects of affect regulation in infertile patients.

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OBJECTIVE: First, we measured both emotional awareness and alexithymia to understand better emotion-processing deficits in eating disorder patients (EDs). Second, we increased the reliability of the measures by limiting the influence of confounding factors (negative affects). METHOD: Seventy females with eating disorders were compared with 70 female controls. Participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; depression), the Hospital and Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS; anxiety), the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS; alexithymia), and the Level of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS). RESULTS: EDs exhibited higher alexithymia scores and lower LEAS scores, with an inability to identify and describe their own emotions, as well as an impairment in mentalizing others' emotional experience. Whereas alexithymia scores were related to depression scores, LEAS scores were not. After controlling for depression, alexithymia scores were similar in EDs and controls. DISCUSSION: The marked impairment in emotion processing found in EDs is independent of affective disorders. Thus, the joint use of TAS and LEAS suggests a global emotion-processing deficit in EDs.

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OBJECTIVE: Some studies suggest that inaccuracy in recognizing and describing emotional states, combined with a highly descriptive mode of expression, as in alexithymia, may influence the immune response. We therefore investigated in healthy women the relationship between alexithymia and circulating levels of IL-1, IL-2 and IL-4. METHOD: Seventeen mentally and physically healthy women aged between 20 and 25 years completed psychological questionnaires to assess alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale: TAS) and depressed mood (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale: HAD). Serum concentrations of IL-1, IL-2 and IL-4 were measured by ELISA. RESULTS: We found a significant positive correlation between serum levels of IL-4 and TAS score (r = 0.55; p = 0.021) and between factor 1 of the TAS (difficulty in identifying feelings) and IL-4 (r = 0.57; p = 0.017) while serum IL-1 and IL-2 were not detected in ten and six patients, respectively. Although there was a significant correlation between age and IL-4 levels, a linear regression with BMI, age, depressed mood and TAS as independent variables showed that only alexithymia could predict significantly increased levels of IL-4. CONCLUSION: Alexithymia and difficulty in identifying feelings could be associated with increased levels of IL-4 which may result in chronic impairment of pro/anti-inflammatory cytokine balance with psychological and somatic consequences. Nevertheless, these intriguing findings would deserve replication and extension in a larger sample of subjects.

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Some studies suggest that inaccuracy in recognizing and describing emotional states, combined with a highly descriptive mode of expression, as in alexithymia, may influence the immune response. We therefore investigated in healthy women the relationship between alexithymia and circulating levels of IL-1, IL-2 and IL-4. Seventeen mentally and physically healthy women aged between 20 and 25 years completed psychological questionnaires to assess alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale: TAS) and depressed mood (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale: HAD). Serum concentrations of IL-1, IL-2 and IL-4 were measured by ELISA. We found a significant positive correlation between serum levels of IL-4 and TAS score (r=0.55; p=0.021) and between factor 1 of the TAS (difficulty in identifying feelings) and IL-4 (r=0.57; p=0.017) while serum IL-1 and IL-2 were not detected in ten and six patients, respectively. Although there was a significant correlation between age and IL-4 levels, a linear regression with BMI, age, depressed mood and TAS as independent variables showed that only alexithymia could predict significantly increased levels of IL-4. Alexithymia and difficulty in identifying feelings could be associated with increased levels of IL-4 which may result in chronic impairment of pro/anti-inflammatory cytokine balance with psychological and somatic consequences. Nevertheless, these intriguing findings would deserve replication and extension in a larger sample of subjects.

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Since its description by Morton in 1694, masculine anorexia nervosa has been the subject of much debate. For many, two questions remain unanswered: does anorexia nervosa, as described in girls, exist in boys? - if so, is it the same disease? We analyzed the data in the literature which demonstrate a lower incidence than in the female population, although estimates are probable low due to underdiagnosis. The behavioral aspects suggest a similarity between masculine and feminine anorexia nervosa although the pure restrictive forms of anorexia are more rare in boys. There are however a few differences. Affected boys, according to Crips and Burns (1990), are heavier than girls at onset of the disorder but present a lower body weight during certain periods of the disease. Excessive physical activity is more frequent as is excessive intellectual involvement (Margo, 1987). The problem of amenorrhea, on/off periods, is not present in the male form. Testosterone and sexual function decline gradually, in parallel with the state of malnutrition (Anersen, 1990). The patient does not have particular difficulty discussing sexual relations but does exhibit a poor level of experience and mental representations. Contact with the opposite sex is rare and the fantastic life is generally very limited. The frequency of homosexual behavior would lie between 25% (Herzog, 1984) and 58% (Schneider and Agras, 1987), which is higher than in the female anorexia population (Herzog, 1984). This observation raises the question concerning the relationship between masculine mental anorexia nervosa and fragile sexual identity.

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According to clinical reports, patients with eating disorders (EDs) are unable to differentiate and regulate emotional states. They are hypothesized alexithymic and lacking of emotional awareness. We investigate EDs capacity to experiment pleasure and levels of emotional awareness, in a comparative study. As expected, EDs show a global deficit of emotional functioning, with inability to identify and describe their own emotions, as well as an impairment in mentalising others' emotional experience, and an anhedonia. No relations between the duration of illness and the emotional dimensions were found. This trouble in regulation of emotions either follows the eating disorder and constitutes a lasting sequel, or appears to be a personality trait

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