Alexithymia is characterized by difficulty in identifying & describing feelings & in distinguishing feelings from bodily sensations & by an impoverished fantasy life. To explore whether this trait was related to depression & suicidal preoccupation, a questionnaire was administered to 127 college students. Results showed that alexithymia scores were associated with depression scores but, once depression was controlled statistically, not with suicidal preoccupation. (2 refs.)