Bodily confusion: Lower differentiation of emotional and physiological states in student alcohol users

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cris.lastimport.scopus2025-08-31T03:14:08Z
dc.abstract.enBackground: Alexithymia, difficulty in recognising and naming emotions, is common among people who use alcohol. There is also emerging evidence that people with alexithymia are unable to distinguish emotions from non-emotional physiological states. The project aimed to test if alcohol use is related to the way student drinkers experience emotions and physiological states in the body. Methods: We employed a novel method to study bodily sensations related to emotions and physiological states in the context of alcohol use: the emBODY tool, which allowed participants to mark areas of the body in which they experience various emotions and physiological states. Results: Students who showed a hazardous pattern of alcohol use (alcohol use disorders identification test [AUDIT] score ≥ 7, N = 91), overall, presented higher alexithymia levels and coloured larger areas for emotions and physiological states (showed less specificity) than those who show low-risk alcohol consumption (AUDIT ≤ 4, N = 90). Moreover, statistical classifiers distinguished feeling-specific maps less accurately for hazardous drinkers than low-risk drinkers [F(1,1998) = 441.16; p < 0.001], confirming that higher alcohol use is related to higher confusion of emotional and non-emotional bodily feelings. Conclusions: Plausibly, this increased bodily confusion drives alcohol consumption: alcohol may serve as a means of dealing with undifferentiated changes in psychophysiological arousal accompanying emotional states.
dc.affiliationLaboratory of Affective Neuroscience in Poznań,
dc.affiliationWydział Psychologii i Prawa w Poznaniu
dc.affiliationInstytut Psychologii
dc.contributor.authorHerman, Aleksandra M.
dc.contributor.authorWypych, Marek
dc.contributor.authorMichałowski, Jarosław
dc.contributor.authorMarchewka, Artur
dc.date.access2024-02-01
dc.date.accessioned2024-02-01T09:10:55Z
dc.date.available2024-02-01T09:10:55Z
dc.date.created2023-11-23
dc.date.issued2024-01-26
dc.description.abstract<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Background</jats:title><jats:p>Alexithymia, difficulty in recognising and naming emotions, is common among people who use alcohol. There is also emerging evidence that people with alexithymia are unable to distinguish emotions from non‐emotional physiological states. The project aimed to test if alcohol use is related to the way student drinkers experience emotions and physiological states in the body.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>We employed a novel method to study bodily sensations related to emotions and physiological states in the context of alcohol use: the emBODY tool, which allowed participants to mark areas of the body in which they experience various emotions and physiological states.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>Students who showed a hazardous pattern of alcohol use (alcohol use disorders identification test [AUDIT] score ≥ 7, N = 91), overall, presented higher alexithymia levels and coloured larger areas for emotions and physiological states (showed less specificity) than those who show low‐risk alcohol consumption (AUDIT ≤ 4, N = 90). Moreover, statistical classifiers distinguished feeling‐specific maps less accurately for hazardous drinkers than low‐risk drinkers [<jats:italic>F</jats:italic>(1,1998) = 441.16; <jats:italic>p</jats:italic> &lt; 0.001], confirming that higher alcohol use is related to higher confusion of emotional and non‐emotional bodily feelings.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title><jats:p>Plausibly, this increased bodily confusion drives alcohol consumption: alcohol may serve as a means of dealing with undifferentiated changes in psychophysiological arousal accompanying emotional states.</jats:p></jats:sec>
dc.description.accesstimeafter_publication
dc.description.issue2
dc.description.physical1-11
dc.description.versionfinal_published
dc.description.volume29
dc.identifier.doi10.1111/adb.13364
dc.identifier.issn1355-6215
dc.identifier.issn1369-1600
dc.identifier.urihttps://share.swps.edu.pl/handle/swps/445
dc.languageen
dc.pbn.affiliationpsychologia
dc.rightsCC-BY
dc.rights.questionYes_rights
dc.share.articleOPEN_JOURNAL
dc.subject.enalcohol use
dc.subject.enalexithymia
dc.subject.enAUDIT
dc.subject.enbody sensation mapping
dc.subject.enemBODY
dc.subject.enemotions
dc.subject.eninteroception
dc.swps.sciencecloudsend
dc.titleBodily confusion: Lower differentiation of emotional and physiological states in student alcohol users
dc.title.journalAddiction Biology
dc.typeJournalArticle
dspace.entity.typeArticle