I learned about alexithymia literally yesterday, and it’s opened my eyes so much it’s actually such a relief. I looked up a few videos and yeah the way reaserches talk about it is awful and also they talk about it like it’s the end of the world and the most awful thing… it’s not, I’m just unaware of my emotions, and now I know that I know It’s not just apathy. It’s GOOD to know this about myself! A couple of months ago my ex broke up with me and my mum had a stroke one day after another, and I was like great I know I should be feeling sad so that’s how I’m going to approach this. I never actually felt sad or cried or anything, it was more I was relieved that it was clear what I should be feeling and therefore that’s what I must be feeling, so even though I never actually felt sad I knew I was and I could take action based on that. It’s like if something bad happens people feel sad, something bad happened to me therefore I must be feeling sad. Yippie! I know I must be sad! Were-as normally it’s like “oh I haven’t washed in 3 days and I’ve been playing Skyrim until 3am, those are the actions of someone who is depressed, I must be depressed.” I knew this wasn’t the normal way of processing my feelings but I though it was just because I was autistic, and well, I was kinda onto something. I’m neurodivergent and that isn’t a bad thing, it’s just different
You have absolutely blown my mind with this video. I will thank you in more detail when I figure out the words for it. (And no, that was not a joke, 😉👍)
Holy shit you just opened my eyes. Whenever I read about I couldn't understand the explanation, the wording and examples didn't make sense! You finally helped me understand, thank you so much 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼
Argh, so much this! A large part of what I've been doing in counselling over the last two years is learning "ohhh, this physical feeing/sensation in my body means I am angry/anxious/sad etc." With my counsellor doing a lot of "I notice some anger there when you said x". I listened to that mini series within the podcast and again could see a lot of myself and my journey in that.
When my stomach muscles are sore after a workout my brain interprets the feeling as anxiety and starts trying to explain it by coming up with things to be anxious about. It usually takes a half day at least of feeling uncomfortable and on edge before I remember what's happening and work my way out of the anxious state.
Cool! That's part of why I love somatic experiencing therapy so much, it teaches us to tune un with our bodies and recognize sensations. And I'm gonna check out the podcasts too! Thanks! 😃
The more pain thing, i think its a mistaken chicken egg relationship. :intereoception is being able to feel internal sensations in our body. Intereoception tends to be poor when proprioception (feeling our bodys place in space ÷eg not banging our knee on the coffee table) is poor. Proprioception is e poor in people with connective tissue disorders (eg Ehlers Danvers Syndrome, hypermobility). The connective tissue disorder also causes a lot of issues that cause pain (frequent dislocations, gastrointestinal problems, overtight muscles, easy bruising, , etc plus a whole heap of comorbidities that cause pain). So to me, i just see that people with connective tissue disorders are more likely to have both pain and interoception issues. Oh, and connective tissue disorders, just like alexithymia are more common in autistic people.
For me anger means deep cleaning the house. Sad means sitting in a stupor and watching it fall apart. Ive started being very open with a few close people about my alexithymia experience. I said for example to my sister ( who experienced trauma) "I feel very intensly about what you are going thru. I just dont know what i can say to make your situation better.
I learned about alexithymia literally yesterday, and it’s opened my eyes so much it’s actually such a relief. I looked up a few videos and yeah the way reaserches talk about it is awful and also they talk about it like it’s the end of the world and the most awful thing… it’s not, I’m just unaware of my emotions, and now I know that I know It’s not just apathy. It’s GOOD to know this about myself!
A couple of months ago my ex broke up with me and my mum had a stroke one day after another, and I was like great I know I should be feeling sad so that’s how I’m going to approach this. I never actually felt sad or cried or anything, it was more I was relieved that it was clear what I should be feeling and therefore that’s what I must be feeling, so even though I never actually felt sad I knew I was and I could take action based on that. It’s like if something bad happens people feel sad, something bad happened to me therefore I must be feeling sad. Yippie! I know I must be sad! Were-as normally it’s like “oh I haven’t washed in 3 days and I’ve been playing Skyrim until 3am, those are the actions of someone who is depressed, I must be depressed.”
I knew this wasn’t the normal way of processing my feelings but I though it was just because I was autistic, and well, I was kinda onto something. I’m neurodivergent and that isn’t a bad thing, it’s just different
Love this - thanks for such an enlightening description of alexithymia.
You have absolutely blown my mind with this video. I will thank you in more detail when I figure out the words for it. (And no, that was not a joke,
😉👍)
Holy shit you just opened my eyes. Whenever I read about I couldn't understand the explanation, the wording and examples didn't make sense! You finally helped me understand, thank you so much 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼
Argh, so much this! A large part of what I've been doing in counselling over the last two years is learning "ohhh, this physical feeing/sensation in my body means I am angry/anxious/sad etc." With my counsellor doing a lot of "I notice some anger there when you said x".
I listened to that mini series within the podcast and again could see a lot of myself and my journey in that.
When my stomach muscles are sore after a workout my brain interprets the feeling as anxiety and starts trying to explain it by coming up with things to be anxious about. It usually takes a half day at least of feeling uncomfortable and on edge before I remember what's happening and work my way out of the anxious state.
Cool! That's part of why I love somatic experiencing therapy so much, it teaches us to tune un with our bodies and recognize sensations. And I'm gonna check out the podcasts too! Thanks! 😃
The more pain thing, i think its a mistaken chicken egg relationship. :intereoception is being able to feel internal sensations in our body. Intereoception tends to be poor when proprioception (feeling our bodys place in space ÷eg not banging our knee on the coffee table) is poor. Proprioception is e poor in people with connective tissue disorders (eg Ehlers Danvers Syndrome, hypermobility). The connective tissue disorder also causes a lot of issues that cause pain (frequent dislocations, gastrointestinal problems, overtight muscles, easy bruising, , etc plus a whole heap of comorbidities that cause pain). So to me, i just see that people with connective tissue disorders are more likely to have both pain and interoception issues. Oh, and connective tissue disorders, just like alexithymia are more common in autistic people.
For me anger means deep cleaning the house. Sad means sitting in a stupor and watching it fall apart. Ive started being very open with a few close people about my alexithymia experience. I said for example to my sister ( who experienced trauma) "I feel very intensly about what you are going thru. I just dont know what i can say to make your situation better.