Difficulty identifying emotions linked to poor mental health in autistic people *updated*

Thank you, Mantra. The more I think about it, the more I think it's linked to autism.

I found this article interesting:

Roughly half of autistic people experience alexithymia, which translates to ‘no words for emotions’ and is characterised by difficulties with identifying and describing one’s own feelings.

www.spectrumnews.org/.../

Thank you, Dawn. I had a lovely day out with family today, a fabulous walk, and visited a little farm with the new family toddler. The sun was glorious and all was well with the world at least for one day.

Thank you, Plastic.

I've had this when I had depression quite a few years ago. I would cry a lot and feel as you described.

I also experienced it when I was grieving the loss of a family member. Sometimes the tears would stop me completely. I used to refer to the grief as it was a living being with its own agenda and timescale, because it wasn't something controllable or fully understandable - certainly not linear!

Yet, I've also experienced something close to it when I'm exhausted and have bottled up emotions or anything unprocessed. If things aren't being processed, even subconsciously, then it'll come out eventually somehow. Maybe as tears, maybe as grumpiness, going quiet, etc. It can be different each time, and the resolution can be different each time.

Hope you are feeling better today.

I don't know your age or gender, but I used to get that a lot with PMT - but not exclusively then.  I agree with the others, indulge it.  Better out than in, whatever the cause.  If you try to suppress it, it will just burst out in other ways.  Crying can kind of be cleansing.  If it goes on and on without signs of having been purged from the system, then's the time to get some professional advice. (Virtual hug)  Hope you feel better soon.

That's perfectly ok.

I don't know if it's an autism thing. 

Or a human thing in general. 

But I do wonder if it happens more often in people with autism. 

I have bad depression and go through phases like this that can last up to weeks, months, years. I eventually get to a point where I 'run out of tears' but still feel like all I want to do is cry. 

But if it lasts a couple of days, even a week, I'd just say what others have said and allow yourself to wallow in it. I know 'wallowing has a negative connotation. But it's not always bad as long as you don't spend weeks, months wallowing. But from my experience the more you try to fight it the worse it becomes which makes me think maybe wallowing isn't as bad as people make out. 

I don't know. 

How are you feeling today?

First of all, I hope you are feeling better today.Unexplained crying can be a sign of depression.mSometimes I find yourself crying a lot more often than I’d like to and without an apparent cause.

How are you feeling? 

Yes, it's usually a couple of hours, a day or even a couple of days. Nothing is obviously wrong. Nothing I can put my finger on. I just feel overwhelmed. I don't have any control over my sadness. It just comes and then I spend time trying to figure out why, when there is (usually) no identifiable cause. I start to attach reasons to it which only makes it worse.

Thanks, Plastic. I'm not consciously sad about anything. It's just like I'm overloaded by sensory input and want to cry (and bawl) for no reason.

This happens to me too more than I would like I was thinking about whether or not it is an autistic thing is it the same for you in that it can last for a few hours or a few days or weeks etc and it comes and goes it does for me

This happens - indulge yourself in it, you'll feel better for a good bawl.

If ever I feel like that, I trigger it with sad songs or films to get the most from it.

Hope you feel better tomorrow.