People who drink too much coffee may have difficulty expressing emotions

If you often have trouble finding the right words to express your feelings, can't empathize with other people's emotions, and often look forward to your next dose of coffee, be aware that having all these traits at the same time may not be a coincidence. Recent studies have found a link between excessive caffeine consumption and alexithymia, a psychological feature whose Greek name means "lack of expression for feelings."

Alexithymic people have personalities characterized by great difficulty recognizing or displaying emotions. "Someone with this trait could say they have a stomachache when in fact they are experiencing a moment of sadness, " explains researcher Mike Lyvers of Bond University, Australia.

According to a recent study by Lyvers and his team, there is a visible link between alexithymia and excessive coffee consumption, although it is not clear which genetic or environmental factors are involved in the emergence of alexithymic traits in a person. Still, researchers strongly believe that it is the personality trait that stimulates caffeine addiction, not the other way around.

Leaving a Triple Express

Lyvers and his partners interviewed 106 college students about their caffeine-eating habits and had them answer a series of questionnaires that measured their susceptibility to anxiety and alexithymia, among other psychological indicators. The results indicated that participants who had high alexithymia scores used to consume almost twice as much caffeine as others ingested per day.

The alexithymic students consumed a daily average of 500 milligrams of caffeine, which is equivalent to drinking three and a half cups of coffee. The study speculates that their desire to stay connected may be caused by caffeine's cognitive enhancing properties - with the side effect of higher anxiety rates, a condition that plagues many of the alexithymics.

Hardest addictions

Alexithymia is often associated with several other common behaviors, some of which are far less benign (and tasty) than drinking coffee. "A significant portion of alcoholics and drug addicts are alexithymic, and this seems to be linked to the fact that they have worse responses to the treatments offered, " says Lyvers.

He believes that a better understanding of the relationship between alexithymia and substances that alter the human psyche can lead to the creation of more efficient ways to treat addictions in people with this personality trait. Lyvers is currently working on a study on expectations about caffeine and alexithymia, which may make it easier to understand what drives those struggling to express themselves to drink more coffee.