2025 RTP round - Alexithymia: The Understanding and Treatment of Deficits in Emotion Processing.

Status: Closed

Applications open: 1/07/2024
Applications close: 18/08/2024

View printable version [.pdf]
About this scholarship
Description/Applicant information

 

Project Overview

Alexithymia is a trait comprised of a set of emotion processing deficits: difficulties identifying one's own feelings, difficulties describing feelings, and an externally oriented thinking style whereby one rarely focuses attention on their internal emotional states. First coined by American psychiatrists in the 1970s based on observations of psychiatric patients, high alexithymia has since been established as an important risk factor for a variety of mental health disorders, including depression, anxiety, eating disorders, substance use, and personality disorders. Around 10% of the general population have problematically high levels of alexithymia, compared to around 30-50% of patients in clinical samples. Recent work suggests that a key reason alexithymia is a risk factor for psychopathology is because it impairs people's ability to regulate their emotions (i.e., emotion regulation). Many disorders are characterized by problems in emotion, and thus the understanding, assessment, and treatment of alexithymia is of high importance to clinical psychology and psychiatry.

 

Aims

The aim of this PhD project is to enhance the understanding of alexithymia and its relationships to emotion regulation and mental health symptoms. Alexithymia is a major focus of our lab's research, whereby we have created new theoretical models of alexithymia (the attention-appraisal model of alexithymia; Preece et al., 2017), new psychometric measures of alexithymia (Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire; Preece et al., 2018), and have ongoing research programs with international collaborators exploring its clinical applications.

 

Objectives

The PhD candidate will work with the supervision team to determine the scope of the project, thus there is freedom to craft it to fit the candidates interests and strengths. Possible project objectives could include, but are not limited to: 
-Mapping the alexithymia profiles of different types of mental health disorders (e.g., depression, anxiety, eating disorders, substance use disorders, personality disorders). 
-Mapping the alexithymia profiles of different types of neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., ADHD, autism). 
-Exploring the impact of alexithymia on emotion regulation. 
-Exploring psychophysiological or neural activation patterns linked to alexithymia. 
-Advancing the assessment of alexithymia (e.g., further exploration of the utility of our Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire). 
-Developing a treatment program for alexithymia.

 

Significance 

Mental health disorders are among the largest sources of burden of disease across the world. A key treatment problem is that of 'comorbidity', whereby people often experience symptoms from more than one disorder category. This informs the value of 'transdiagnostic' approaches, whereby we look for core mechanisms common across many disorders. Emotion is of central importance in this respect, with many psychopathologies being characterised by problems in emotion. Alexithymia, as a trait involving deficits in emotion processing, is therefore of high transdiagnostic value. Despite this, it still remains somewhat unclear why alexithymia is linked to psychopathology, or how alexithymia can be best addressed in treatment. This project will enhance the understanding, assessment, and/or treatment of alexithymia. In so doing, it will provide a foundation upon which to better address disorders of emotion.

 

The successful candidate will be part of the Perth Emotion and Psychopathology Lab (www.emotionpsychopathologylab.com). This lab, directed by Dr David Preece, is comprised of over 35 academics, clinicians, and research students, all doing work on the understanding, assessment, and treatment of emotional disorders. The project will form part of an internationally recognised alexithymia research program occurring at the Perth Emotion and Psychopathology Lab, which includes close collaborations with research labs in the United States and Belgium, as well as several clinical treatment centers in Western Australia.

 

An internship may be available for this project. Our lab has close ongoing collaborations with the Centre for Clinical Interventions, Next Step Drug and Alcohol Service, and the psychiatry departments of Fiona Stanley Hospital and Perth Children's Hospital. Thus, there are several excellent opportunities for fulfilling PhD internship opportunities linked to the clinical applications of this research area.

Student type

• Future Students

Faculties and centres

• Faculty of Health Sciences

Course type

• Higher Degree by Research

Citizenship

• Australian Citizen
• Australian Permanent Resident
• New Zealand Citizen
• Permanent Humanitarian Visa
• International Student

Scholarship base

• Merit Based

Value

The annual scholarship package, covering both stipend and tuition fees, amounts to approximately $70,000 per year.

In 2024, the RTP stipend scholarship offers $35,000 per annum for a duration of up to three years. Exceptional progress and adherence to timelines may qualify students for a six-month completion scholarship.

Selection for these scholarships involves a competitive process, with shortlisted applicants notified of outcomes by November 2024.

Scholarship Details
Maximum number awarded

1

Eligible courses

All applicable HDR courses.

Eligibility criteria

We are looking for a motivated PhD candidate with an interest in clinical and emotion research. Candidates should ideally have strong skills in quantitative statistics. Must be eligible to enrol in PhD programs at Curtin University.
 

Application process

Please send your CV, academic transcripts and brief rationale why you want to join this research project via the HDR Expression of Interest form to the project lead researcher, listed below. 

Enrolment Requirements

You must be enrolled in a Higher Degree by Research Course at Curtin University by March 2025.

Enquiries

Project Lead: Dr David Preece  

Scholarships Email Alert
Sign up now