alexithymia

From a- +‎ lexico|lexi +‎ -thymia.

Created by psychiatrists John Case Nemiah and Peter Sifneos from Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-, “not”) + λέξις (léxis, “speaking”) + θυμός (thumós, “heart”), meaning “without words for emotions”.[1]

• IPA^(key): /ˌeɪ.lɛk.səˈθaɪ.mi.ə/

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alexithymia (uncountable)

1. A deficiency in understanding, processing, or describing emotions.
   • 2008, Amy Kroska and Sarah K. Harkness, “Exploring the Role of Diagnosis in the Modified Labeling Theory of Mental Illness” in Social Psychology Quarterly LXXI, № 2 (Wrestling with Social Psychology, June 2008), page 195:

     Finally, schizophrenic disorders involve impairments of perceptions, including hallucinations and delusions, symptoms that often impair patients’ social and occupational functioning and can create alexithymia (Maggini and Raballo 2004; van ‛t Wout et al. 2007), an inability to recognize one’s own feelings.