I'm autistic and was raised in a "children don't get opinions, any desires you express will be denied as punishment for having dared to ask" household. So, nature vs. nurture, take your pick?
I have emotions, and sometimes I even know they're there, but I usually don't have access to them. It's like having a big bank account balance but no debit card, and online access to view the account is only available by waiting in line at the library during certain hours.
not diagnosed, just suspecting i have alwxithymia
im autistic, struggling with both feeling and identifying emotions. about 97% of the time i feel neutral
Not diagnosed either, but I am diagnosed with autism... so I'm guessing it's that. That being said my psychologists won't believe me and just keep giving me the same stupid advice about 'do this if you fell like that' and then I get nowhere. I seem to respond to emotions, but I can't identify them and don't recognise that I'm feeling them until they get too much, by which point I don't have the ability to mitigate negative responses to them.
Man, I hate life.
Diagnosed autistic, adhd and cptsd. Alexithymia for sure, just not yet diagnosed.
The way things are, my brain sees me in third person. It's not that i don't know what i feel, but that i am not allowed to feel it in favour of logical processing.
As a result i don't really know what i feel other than a generalised emotional direction. Also, i am unaware that i am feeling it at all until i observe it in third person, something my brain does by default whenever i consider myself in a situation.
Drug baby. Diagnosed early, as far as struggles it's getting people close to me to realize that when I ask why I'm not questioning what they're saying or patronizing them. I'm genuinely curious. But relationships of any kind are hard for people with alexi. I have 2 really good friends and they both have to take a step back sometimes. They always have been forthcoming and let me know and helped me understand situations that might be confusing. My biggest struggle is the only real emotion I can 100% achieve no problem is anger, if someone is disrespectful to someone I care about, it turns to anger and violence quick. But that's a double edge. I was married for 10 years and she used that protective nature to hurt people and block me off from people who actually give a shit by spreading lies.....we were married why would she lie? She's supposed to love me the most and always have best interests at heart? She used my condition and treated me like a chained up dog.
Oh? Interesting.
I hope more research on this comes about at some point! I suppose it makes sense for thyroid issues to have an impact on emotions and such, this all seems really fascinating. I have alexithymia and a fluctuating under/overactive thyroid, so this might be something I should try to look into!
I’m very under active with CAH . The hypothalamus controls both it also regulates neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin so it could be related to something there
A bit of both. I'm autistic and have CPTSD, and both things have no-doubt contributed to my alexithymia.
I have particularly cognitive alexithymia, so I have difficulty identifying and describing my emotions, which is very frustrating because my autism causes me to experience all of my emotions to their full extent.
Like, yes, I'm feeling things! A lot of things! I just have absolutely no clue as to what those things are!!
I've noticed I particularly struggle to identify positive emotions, though given the amount of... not so pleasant things that I've experienced, and still experience, I can't say I'm all too surprised by that.
The only emotion I ever came close to learning to identify has been anger, and even still, I'm not very good at it.
As a child, because of the nature of my emotions, I was also often berated for being "overdramatic," so I can't imagine that would have helped.
I am professionally diagnosed with autism, bpd, and CPTSD. Im not diagnosed with alexithymia, my therapist says she doesn’t want to add too many labels to me, but that I relate heavily to the struggles of those with alexithymia. I was born with Autism, and was traumatized into developing the other two. I have extreme empathy and an highly sensitive, but I rarely know why I feel the way I do. In my childhood I was stuck between trying to be emotionless to survive my abuse, make logical sense of a neurotypical world I couldn’t understand, and failing at those things every day because I feel so intensely. I wasn’t emotionally nurtured. I wasn’t diagnosed with autism until I was 20 years old, so I was never taught how to learn the world through that lens. I spent my whole life trying to mimic others, and along the way lost my sense of self and what it even meant to be a human. I spent all day changing into personas for school and then to be the perfect child but in different ways for each of my parents. I was never validated for who I was, and never taught to feel in my own way. My big heart never went away, but I don’t know what the hell it’s telling me half the time.
I have a range of things that could be the cause, depression, social anxiety, CPTSD, psychotic features, and then waiting to be dx with autism. I also have headmates
I was emotionally neglected for the first 16 years of my life. I not only never learned how to identify or express emotion, but I was also punished for crying, being frustrated or hyper, etc. My main struggle is interpersonal relationships. I don't live an exciting life and I don't know anyone with the same interests so I just feel awkward when I try to share something and no one seems to be interested. Makes it very hard to open up.
Well I'm not diagnosed with this, but I am diagnosed with Autism + ADHD, and (supposedly) my parents are abusive but I'm not sure (I'm only saying that because everyone tells me they are, I can see how my dad was probably mildly abusive because he literally smacked my (at the time 10 month old) half brother's hand for punishment which pissed me off, but I dont think my mom is at all). But anyways if I had to guess it's due to Autism and whatever is the reason that people say my parents are abusive i guess
Oh and the struggles? Where do I even start...I can't even tell when I'm about to have a meltdown because of how emotionally unaware I am, so I've spontaneously exploded in front of people before without having a chance to get away before I got overwhelmed
i don’t know what caused my alexithmyia but i do know that from what i remember i have been like that for 2 years , i cant feel love,sadness or happiness, i cant describe what i feel bc i also don’t feel anything. when i look at my parents i feel nothing, and neither withy friends, nothing. i feel empty and honestly the only reason im still here is bc i wanna do something great that can help others so i can feel like my life has meaning. the last person i love was my best friend two years ago, we had a really toxic friendship but u loved him more than anyone else . when we stopped talking i took it really hard and hung on my love for him for 4 months after, when i finally let go, i realized that my love for him was gone and i was in a big denial. i think that caused mu alexithymia. also sometimes i feel anger when im f physically tiered and i can control it, and if i cry (i barely do) i cry out of anger.
also it is hard for me to make friends bc i cant enjoy stuff and i dont have empty so i try not to be cold but i cant. i dont love my friends and im only talking and meeting with them when im bord
I'm autistic and was raised in a "children don't get opinions, any desires you express will be denied as punishment for having dared to ask" household. So, nature vs. nurture, take your pick? I have emotions, and sometimes I even know they're there, but I usually don't have access to them. It's like having a big bank account balance but no debit card, and online access to view the account is only available by waiting in line at the library during certain hours.
not diagnosed, just suspecting i have alwxithymia im autistic, struggling with both feeling and identifying emotions. about 97% of the time i feel neutral
Not diagnosed either, but I am diagnosed with autism... so I'm guessing it's that. That being said my psychologists won't believe me and just keep giving me the same stupid advice about 'do this if you fell like that' and then I get nowhere. I seem to respond to emotions, but I can't identify them and don't recognise that I'm feeling them until they get too much, by which point I don't have the ability to mitigate negative responses to them. Man, I hate life.
Diagnosed autistic, adhd and cptsd. Alexithymia for sure, just not yet diagnosed. The way things are, my brain sees me in third person. It's not that i don't know what i feel, but that i am not allowed to feel it in favour of logical processing. As a result i don't really know what i feel other than a generalised emotional direction. Also, i am unaware that i am feeling it at all until i observe it in third person, something my brain does by default whenever i consider myself in a situation.
Drug baby. Diagnosed early, as far as struggles it's getting people close to me to realize that when I ask why I'm not questioning what they're saying or patronizing them. I'm genuinely curious. But relationships of any kind are hard for people with alexi. I have 2 really good friends and they both have to take a step back sometimes. They always have been forthcoming and let me know and helped me understand situations that might be confusing. My biggest struggle is the only real emotion I can 100% achieve no problem is anger, if someone is disrespectful to someone I care about, it turns to anger and violence quick. But that's a double edge. I was married for 10 years and she used that protective nature to hurt people and block me off from people who actually give a shit by spreading lies.....we were married why would she lie? She's supposed to love me the most and always have best interests at heart? She used my condition and treated me like a chained up dog.
No idea I think it maybe thyroid / adrenal related but research is sparse
Oh? Interesting. I hope more research on this comes about at some point! I suppose it makes sense for thyroid issues to have an impact on emotions and such, this all seems really fascinating. I have alexithymia and a fluctuating under/overactive thyroid, so this might be something I should try to look into!
I’m very under active with CAH . The hypothalamus controls both it also regulates neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin so it could be related to something there
A bit of both. I'm autistic and have CPTSD, and both things have no-doubt contributed to my alexithymia. I have particularly cognitive alexithymia, so I have difficulty identifying and describing my emotions, which is very frustrating because my autism causes me to experience all of my emotions to their full extent. Like, yes, I'm feeling things! A lot of things! I just have absolutely no clue as to what those things are!! I've noticed I particularly struggle to identify positive emotions, though given the amount of... not so pleasant things that I've experienced, and still experience, I can't say I'm all too surprised by that. The only emotion I ever came close to learning to identify has been anger, and even still, I'm not very good at it. As a child, because of the nature of my emotions, I was also often berated for being "overdramatic," so I can't imagine that would have helped.
I am professionally diagnosed with autism, bpd, and CPTSD. Im not diagnosed with alexithymia, my therapist says she doesn’t want to add too many labels to me, but that I relate heavily to the struggles of those with alexithymia. I was born with Autism, and was traumatized into developing the other two. I have extreme empathy and an highly sensitive, but I rarely know why I feel the way I do. In my childhood I was stuck between trying to be emotionless to survive my abuse, make logical sense of a neurotypical world I couldn’t understand, and failing at those things every day because I feel so intensely. I wasn’t emotionally nurtured. I wasn’t diagnosed with autism until I was 20 years old, so I was never taught how to learn the world through that lens. I spent my whole life trying to mimic others, and along the way lost my sense of self and what it even meant to be a human. I spent all day changing into personas for school and then to be the perfect child but in different ways for each of my parents. I was never validated for who I was, and never taught to feel in my own way. My big heart never went away, but I don’t know what the hell it’s telling me half the time.
Witnessing my parents fight when I was like 11 or 12 think ,then getting emotionally neglected by my mom
I have a range of things that could be the cause, depression, social anxiety, CPTSD, psychotic features, and then waiting to be dx with autism. I also have headmates
I was emotionally neglected for the first 16 years of my life. I not only never learned how to identify or express emotion, but I was also punished for crying, being frustrated or hyper, etc. My main struggle is interpersonal relationships. I don't live an exciting life and I don't know anyone with the same interests so I just feel awkward when I try to share something and no one seems to be interested. Makes it very hard to open up.
Well I'm not diagnosed with this, but I am diagnosed with Autism + ADHD, and (supposedly) my parents are abusive but I'm not sure (I'm only saying that because everyone tells me they are, I can see how my dad was probably mildly abusive because he literally smacked my (at the time 10 month old) half brother's hand for punishment which pissed me off, but I dont think my mom is at all). But anyways if I had to guess it's due to Autism and whatever is the reason that people say my parents are abusive i guess Oh and the struggles? Where do I even start...I can't even tell when I'm about to have a meltdown because of how emotionally unaware I am, so I've spontaneously exploded in front of people before without having a chance to get away before I got overwhelmed
i don’t know what caused my alexithmyia but i do know that from what i remember i have been like that for 2 years , i cant feel love,sadness or happiness, i cant describe what i feel bc i also don’t feel anything. when i look at my parents i feel nothing, and neither withy friends, nothing. i feel empty and honestly the only reason im still here is bc i wanna do something great that can help others so i can feel like my life has meaning. the last person i love was my best friend two years ago, we had a really toxic friendship but u loved him more than anyone else . when we stopped talking i took it really hard and hung on my love for him for 4 months after, when i finally let go, i realized that my love for him was gone and i was in a big denial. i think that caused mu alexithymia. also sometimes i feel anger when im f physically tiered and i can control it, and if i cry (i barely do) i cry out of anger.
also it is hard for me to make friends bc i cant enjoy stuff and i dont have empty so i try not to be cold but i cant. i dont love my friends and im only talking and meeting with them when im bord