Autism In Therapy - Alexithymia Is Massive!

Alexithymia can be a massive roadblock in the success of psychotherapy (among many things like masking).

Alexithymia is a difficult identifying and categorising your own emotions… and a good portion of Autistic people have this.

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In psychotherapy, I can talk very plainly, openly and calm about events that would usually make others feel uncomfortable

It sounds like a good thing, but it leaves me very detached from my experiences and the emotions attached to it.

You can’t confront a negative experience, when the emotions are lost in the Alexithymic haze

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The way I remember how I felt, is by visualising myself in the same scenario whilst monitoring if my emotions change.

I look for my common physical/psychological reactions to emotions I can’t locate easily.

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The problem is, I need to do this when speaking to a therapist… so this can make it fairly difficult.

What other situations do you think may be impacted by Alexithymia?

Let me know down in the comments! 🤟🏻

[zhozan]

People will ask sometimes like you must be proud or (another emotion). But I don't, there a disconnect.

I just say that it hasn't registered yet. That it takes my brain a couple of days to catch up and let me know what I feel.

It gets people to laugh and put them at ease. And the I feel less like an alien visting.

I do have to be careful when a traumatic thing happens. That phrase doesn't work then.

I wish I didn't sound so matter affactly during troubling times. Becuae I do feel things and pretty hard too.

Thank you, I didn't know there was a name for it. I will look more into it.

[El-ksff]

Took me quite a while to understand that I was not depressed but rather exhausted. Not being able to register pain is problematic when it comes to more serious physical health issues.

[peteracton]

Odd to admit but I speak to myself as "you" never "I". I'm somewhat detached from myself. I have very vivid memories and sometimes feel sorry for that person back then. The person I was. In general I am not introspective and I don't dwell on the past.

[MrAtheistQueen]

My alexithymia kept me from getting proper treatment for years, because we were attempting to treat my anxiety as if it were depression. It wasn't until a therapist helped me understand what I was feeling. Then, we were finally able to get me the correct therapy. So, that's another down-side to it.

[hanakucerova]

Ive got the same my partner (in our dying relationship) calls me cold distant and with no empathy

[youtubefans]

I did not identify an empty feeling as missing the one I was in love with during my youth and I loved my father but during his life when I did not have contact with him for years and saw him for a few seconds I also did not identify the strong feeling as meaning that I loved him regardless of everything estrangement for years after he did not respond to my grievances

[youtubefans]

alexithymia " is it the result of trauma or autism ?

[JohnBrown-ignc]

Is alexathymia the reason I sound robotic when I talk?

[jimmycylon]

To me alexithymia displays in a different way. I can feel emotions but can’t figure out what is it and where it comes from. That makes it difficult for me to explain in therapy. But therapy worked well for me because when I talked about what happened my therapist helped me navigate the potential feelings and decouple with other noises. What you said sounds more like dissociation when people disconnected with their own emotions as a defence mechanism.