Published on 12, July, 2020
How come my understanding of facial expressions is so primitive that if people are not smiling I interpret their thinking as dislike of me?
It's due to autism.
It is the same with me although I tend to interpret someone not smiling at me as either they are unhappy or annoyed.
I am constantly asking people I am close to how they are feeling. Not knowing makes me a bit panicky.
It's one of the 'triad of impairments' for diagnosis.
See below:
'Language and communication: difficulties in recognising and understanding verbal and non-verbal language, such as gestures, facial expressions and tone of voice.'
Absolutely but not all allisics people are hyperempaths, by far (a mere 2%), otherwise autistic people wouldn't have so much trouble. So I find it interesting to understand how people who are also largely blind to the emotional state of others deal with this aspect in a different way than autistic people do.
That's a very good question indeed! Hyperempathy is not a typical allistic trait in any case. It can cause overloads when in crowds and requires training to cope with it.
I thought hyperempaths were more likely to be autistic. Many traits on our spectrum we have in extremes, so we are more likely to be either hypersensitive or hyposensistive, and the same with empathy, we are more likely to have too little or too much.
Hyperempaths do not need people to tell them how they feel, they feel it themselves inside like a mirror. Empathy at large involves emotional and cognitive aspects.
Annie said:not all allisics people are hyperempaths,
I believe I am empathetic when someone tells me what they are feeling in an obvious way eg. they tell me or they cry.
As far as I understand it empathy is understanding a person's thoughts and feelings from their point of view.
Not recognising facial expressions and non-verbal signs isn't something I see as related to empathy.
It's the recognising that's the hurdle.