Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20)

The TAS-20 is a 20-item self-report measure of alexithymia, the difficulty identifying and describing emotions. Developed by Bagby, Parker, and Taylor in 1994, it is the most widely used alexithymia measure in clinical and research practice. Alexithymia is recognized as a transdiagnostic feature across substance use, eating disorders, depression, anxiety, and somatic symptom disorders, making the TAS-20 valuable for identifying emotion processing deficits that complicate treatment.