Background Neurobiological studies suggest that deficits in emotion recognition are common phenomena in alexithymia. Thus, effective treatments for alexithymia often include skills training in the domain of emotion recognition. Given that smartphone-based interventions (SBIs) offering skills training have been shown to be promising adjuncts to psychological treatments, a blended SBI facilitating the training of emotional skills might be effective in reducing alexithymia. Methods In this pilot trial, N = 29 individuals reporting elevated alexithymia levels were randomly assigned to a blended SBI including a psychoeducation session and 14 days of training with the mindtastic alexithymia app (MT-ALEX) or a psychoeducation-only control condition. Primary outcome was emotion recognition skills as assessed in a computer-based two-choice task paradigm. Results On average, participating in the SBI was associated with a significant increase in computer-assessed emotion recognition skills compared to the control condition (d = 0.97). Conclusions Study findings provide preliminary evidence that SBIs can improve emotion recognition skills in alexithymic individuals. Research using larger samples and targeting clinical populations is necessary to further evaluate the potential of MT-ALEX.

中文翻译：

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基于智能手机的述情障碍情绪识别技能培训——一项随机对照试验研究。

背景 神经生物学研究表明，情绪识别缺陷是述情障碍的常见现象。因此，述情障碍的有效治疗通常包括情绪识别领域的技能培训。鉴于提供技能培训的基于智能手机的干预 (SBI) 已被证明是心理治疗的有希望的辅助手段，促进情绪技能训练的混合 SBI 可能有效减少述情障碍。方法 在这项试点试验中，N = 29 名报告述情障碍水平升高的个体被随机分配到混合 SBI，包括心理教育课程和 14 天的 Mindtastic 述情障碍应用程序 (MT-ALEX) 或仅心理教育控制条件的培训。主要结果是在基于计算机的二选一任务范式中评估的情绪识别技能。结果平均而言，与控制条件相比，参与 SBI 与计算机评估的情绪识别技能显着提高有关 (d = 0.97)。结论 研究结果提供了初步证据，表明 SBI 可以提高述情障碍个体的情绪识别能力。有必要使用更大的样本和针对临床人群进行研究，以进一步评估 MT-ALEX 的潜力。