Alexithymia is associated with greater sexual distress among women and men.

This article focuses on the relationship between alexithymia—defined as difficulties in identifying and describing emotions—and sexual distress in both women and men. Across two studies involving community and undergraduate samples, higher alexithymia was consistently associated with greater sexual distress, with difficulty identifying feelings emerging as the most significant facet linked to sexual distress. Individuals with clinically significant sexual distress reported notably higher alexithymia, suggesting emotional identification deficits may contribute to the negative emotions underlying sexual dysfunction. The findings highlight the potential clinical value of interventions aimed at improving emotional identification to reduce sexual distress, while noting the need for more diverse and longitudinal research to further understand these associations.