Topic: Don't understand when they are feeling an emotion???

English Alexithymia Forum > Personal Experience

Don't understand when they are feeling an emotion???
11.06.2018 by Jacobbrownacro

I am a 116 on the Alexithymia scale. It says this indicates high alexithymic traits. I feel that I must be alexithymic but there is one trait which I don't have which alexithemics are supposed to have. The literature says alexithymics have problems identifying their own emotions. I feel that I have emotions but they are very weak. When I feel them I know what emotion they are.

So what I am asking is this ... Are you alexithymic and do you experience emotions but do not understand them? I have read of somatizing. This is when someone experiences an emotion such as sadness, and does not recognize it as sadness, but as a physical condition such as hunger or a headache.

29.12.2018 by oalineo

I don't feel emotions but I have kind of body's reactions.

For example, I never feel hungry, I know I need to eat because of stomachache or dizziness.
When I receive a message from the man I date (I don't even know what I feel about him but he's the only person in my life that I have ever missed, so maybe it could be love), I feel dizziness, tremors, and even nausea...
I think it could be a positive emotion but for me it's just unpleasant body's sensations...

And as you said, I don't recognize any emotions, when I'm not good I don't know if I am angry, sad or something else...

I don't know what it's like to be happy or in love with somebody, I feel just good or not good that's all...

21.06.2020 by User25660N61

I do different tests and experiments and alot of introspection and it has helped me identify what emotion i am actually experiencing. That seems to help. just that right there, knowing what emotion it is. Am i mad or sad. After you do it enough you start to see the pattern and understand sorta what means what emotions in which situations. That way even if in the moment I dont know what the sensations mean, I do know that is most similar situations I was sad not mad and the sensations are more like the sensations when I am sad and not mad(I usually cant tell the difference between the sensations. they all seem the same but may be different for you). So a lot of introspection and studying emotions and scenarios. It is a lot of work and can be draining but I am very functional and more understanding of myself and others I think than most other Alexi's.

21.06.2020 by User25660N61

I get physical sensations not hunger but sometimes headaches and stomach aches and nausea. The sensations are like a sea of sensations washes over my body, Everything turns kinda dark like colors are darker and everything feels and looks far away like looking through a disposable camera lens. when i was little i thought it was a coping mechanism.

07.07.2020 by ElizaJane

I can identify that I feel sad or happy or something, but I really don't understand mentally what that means if that makes sense. Like my body can react to certain emotions, the point being that I can recognize my sadness by the tiredness in my body and the urge to cry. However, I can't really express my feelings to someone. If someone were to ask me why I am sad, I could tell them the reason but not why I am feeling that emotion. Idk, it's weird.

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