“Unlocking the Emotion Mystery: Alexithymia and Autism”
Written on 23rd Jun 2023 by Alex Lowery
Alexithymia is common among people who are autistic. Alexithymia is a condition where people struggle to recognise and identify their own emotions or other peoples emotions.
As a result of alexithymia: autistic people may appear cold and emotionless because they simply don’t identify the emotions they’re feeling let alone express or show these emotions.
This can also be one of the reasons why an autistic person might appear to lack empathy. It depends but sometimes the fact that they have alexithymia might also mean they aren’t aware when what they’re feeling is empathy. I myself definitely struggle to put myself in other people’s shoes full stop though.
I definitely still find that I’m not always aware of my emotions though. Sometimes my mum might pick up that I’m stressed before I am.
I also found when my dad died I didn’t feel upset at all on conscious level but it did seem to affect my behaviour and motivation to do things so it’s quite likely his death did impact me in a way I wasn’t aware.
I also have found when family members are seriously sick: it often doesn’t seem to affect me at all but sometimes my mum picks up on a change in behaviour which indicates there may be a way it affects me that I’m simply not aware of.
My mum often picks up when I’m anxious before I do as well. Sometimes I find I’m anxious and stressed about something but I don’t even know what the reason is. This definitely tells me that I do experience alexithymia a lot.
Thank you for reading. If you or someone you know may experience alexithymia please do let me know in the comments below.
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