Alexithymia in the Narratization of Romantic Relationships: The Mediating Role of Fear of Intimacy.

On the basis of the analyses conducted, high levels of alexithymia were found to be significantly associated with a lower total number of words used in narrative, a lower number relating to positive emotions, a lower number relating to causation and insight, and a higher number relating to negative emotions. Various results were obtained for individual dimensions of alexithymia in relation to the LIWC categories and the mediating role of fear of intimacy. For the difficulty identifying feelings (DIF), a significant mediating effect was observed only for words associated with negative emotions, whereas for the difficulty describing feelings (DDF), significant mediating effects were found for words relating to negative emotions and causality. In the case of externally oriented thinking (EOT), significant mediating effects were obtained for all analysed categories from LIWC.