Alexithymia Explained #autism #adhd

[JW-yvjz]

For the longest time when someone would ask about my emotions, I would tell them my thoughts. Took to my 30s to realize those are different phenomena.

[dinosaurs_rule]

There's a word for this? Oh my gosh thank you so much 💜

[Catlily]

Counseling has helped me learn what my different feelings are. But it can still be difficult sometimes.

[sootycat]

I’ve become quite good I think at eloquently and accurately describing my emotions but sometimes it’s several hours/days/weeks/months/years later

[常美玲U]

I exprience it to but i only knows sadness because i allways feel SAD

[otduofvn]

This happens to me a lot, it always takes me a bit. Probably because I tend to dissociate a lot.

[NathanTheTransformer]

I either get a feeling like, “oh yeah I love this!” Or “I don’t like this, make it stop.” Kind of like how you described yours. I don’t have an actual diagnosis for this, but I’m almost 100% positive that I have it.

[Echo.the.spacelord]

I was just diagnosed with this . I have PTSD from the war - I just hope one day I can feel emotions.

[jimwilliams]

Pretty sure I am somewhat alexithymic; I can do anger, sadness, happiness and frustration, but I don't get much more nuanced than that. I've looked at emotion wheels, and my general reaction has been that NOBODY could be good at that many emotions (seriously! I doubt it), but I should probably be able to do considerably more than I can. What I found, discouragingly, is that I can work out at least one or two in each category of negative emotions, but am almost completely blind to positive emotions. Maybe because, somewhere around age 7-8, I noted that I did not get happy much anymore, and when I did it did not last long, a pattern that has followed me through life. Low dopamine may not have helped there. I've also figured out now that I can usually only feel an emotional connection to another person through sad emotions. All this is probably not ideal...

[andreag]

I have this too. These autistic YouTube videos really slapped a lot of reality into me that I'm at least autistic, but now I realize I might even have audhd too from these videos.

[thematchgirl]

Wow, your eye make up is stunning and really brings out your eyes! 💙💎✨ Also thanks for the brief talk on alexithymia, as a late diagnosed autistic person I'm still trying to understand it and see how/if it applies to myself.

[otterwench]

This is the very first time I've been able to understand alexithymia. Thank you!

[TheCrownofJules]

I love knowing this!
Feelings are hard and i never really understood that. Empathic but inaccurate at deciphering the input (or moving thru it).

Then this causes me physical pain. Like, WTF!
I'm told identifying with these recations within my body is really just me "looking for excuses".
I can't even - and now i get this.

I...I just appreciate you.
Grateful ❤

[acetronaut]

For me it's more like I can tell the difference between different emotions, I just don't know what they're called, I have the vocabulary, but there's a disconnect. I'm getting better at it tho

[meganhuntley]

I GET THIS. It’s so hard to explain to people and how it affects my daily life.

[awomancalledonion]

As someone with a mild form of alexithymia, I personally find I experience quite a wide range of emotions and can generally tell them apart and put names to them, just can’t pin down certain ones or describe them in actual words (as opposed to made-up ones, like “glompy”); can’t always know exactly why I’m laughing, crying, smiling, and/or nauseated; don’t always express or understand why other people are expressing certain emotions at certain times; constantly alternate between a blunted, a flat, a more typical, and a “more-intense-than-average” affect; and find it hard to describe the differences between one emotion and another without comparing instances where people might feel those particular emotions.

[AH-auDHD]

😮😮😮 I'm glad you explained this because I have this a good deal in daily life! Thank you!

[CounterFlarez]

Whenever someone asks me “oh how was your day today” I can’t really say anything other than saying “it was fine” or “it was ok/good” even if it wasn’t.

[cattc]

I think we’re taught to stifle our emotions (bc of stimming) as autistic children so as adults we don’t know how to feel our feelings

[koffinkat]

Thank you for this, My brain is this; Squared