Published on 12, July, 2020
I have been reading about alexithymia lately. Does anyone here know that they have this, and if so I am interested to know how you describe your feelings. I'm asking because I tend to describe my feelings in terms of an analogy rather than saying what the feeling is e.g. - 'I feel like a deflated bouncy castle.' Would a person with alexithymia be unable to do this?
Thanks
I'm fairly sure I have this as I score quite high in the online tests and there were a number of references in my autism report, that I didn't describe either my own or other people's feelings and emotions.
I've used writing to express feelings and emotions since I was young, sometimes in an oblique way, sometimes using analogies, although I use analogies more when I'm trying to explain an idea than a feeling.
The question from my assessment which struck me as most odd was being asked to describe happiness. My response was that I looked for contentment rather than happiness. When they pushed me to describe a time I was happy, I talked about being on holiday but nothing about how I felt. I was asked how I felt physically and I was just confused and asked if I was meant to feel something physically. To me happiness is something in your head and not physical.
Thank you