Topic: Looking for help explaining myself to a significant other

I have tried to explain to my wife, and she seems to get it.


How have you tried to explain?
I have found a number of articles on alexithymia and I am sure there are better ones than I have found.

It seems like everyone with alexithymia is different just like everyone who is “neurotypical” is different. My husband has alexithymia. We are working on how to meet each others needs. I’ve done a lot of reading on the subject. Perhaps she should be doing the same. I find that what is out there is very negative when it comes to maintaining healthy relationships. There is this perception that healthy relationships rely on deep emotional connection. There is a lot more to it than that. My parents marriage is great and my stepdad also has it and my mother doesn’t.

This is a difficult task. I have met many people with this condition after I was officially diagnosed and it manifests in many different ways. For me, I have massive emotional outbursts after not coping or recognizing actions and feelings, sometimes weeks, a few times months. I also have a lot of muscle tension in my body constantly, like im on edge, but I dont feel any anxiety or stress on a daily basis.

It took me a really long time to figure these things out with the help of professionals.

What I found worked best for my family was a general YouTube video that explains the condition in broad terms, and in my case, the video listed the 3 most common form that alexithymia takes, and I told them which one closely related to me with the help of my therapist who was a specialist in autism to aid my explanation as best she could.

It took a lot of work and it takes a lot of work for me to constantly monitor my actions throughout the day. You can do it too.