Questions about Dreaming
04.02.2014 by cardgameI have always wondered about myself and what I was. I recently found out about alexithymia and took the test. It says that I have a high alexithymia quotient. However one aspect of my personality seems to be different than what is describe for alexithymia sufferers. I dream very vividly in color and extreme detail. I agree that I don't dream about artistic ideas or crafts, emotional situations, or anything dealing with fear, sadness or happiness. But I dream... technically. I am my most creative during dreams and I use dreams to build, design and solve all kinds of difficult development (software/hardware) problem. In fact, it is because of my technically creative dreaming that I have the job I have and 2 patents.
So is this kind of dreaming normal among alexithymia people or is it something that is unique. I guess I am searching for an answer as to who I am and I guess I want an answer. I don't really have friends, I'm divorced ( obviously), and as far as I'm concerned I would be happy to be hermit in the mountains somewhere. So with an Alexithymia score of 150 i want to know that this is what I am.
re dreaming
08.03.2014 by gakama
Do you only dream at night while sleeping or do you dream/visualise during the day while at work.. or whenever you want.. also.. when you are dreaming , do you feel anything? Is there an emotional compenent to your dreams..
If u visualise/dream during the day while at work, is there an emotional component to the visualization ..
Am not even close to being an expert on this but the first thought i had is that you may have a mild form of autism..
re dreaming
08.03.2014 by cardgame
Usually no, dreams are not emotion and tend to be technical. it is only very few and far between when some wild weird dream pops up.
I can daydream but again not emotional, just technical. It like have an engineering program in my head and I am designing, drafting and engineering something in my head.
As for autism, I took the online test for that too and came out borderline aspergers. But my understanding is they are getting rid of aspergers and now you are just some variation of autistic.
Me too
29.03.2014 by ttme123
When I first found out about Alexi I thought it fit me perfectly... until I read the part about dreams. Generally, people with Alexi dream about everyday activities, but I've found that some people still have unusual dreams, but that they are still lacking in emotion and generally have some logical reason/aspect. Your dreams sound incredibly logical, and even useful. I don't see any reason why your dreams would specifically defy the symptoms of Alexi as they fit very well into the overall idea.
For instance, I dream often, and they're certainly not of everyday activities. Instead, I dream about whatever I was doing before I went to sleep. So if I was watching a show, I dream about myself as a character in the show, and I do things that would fit in that show. They would be considered logical and everyday activities mainly because of how big my shows/games/books on my life. I would also like to point out that I don't actually experience emotions in my dreams, just the actions. (Except for the 3 nightmares I've had in my life, all with a basis of fear about being useless, which can still be tied to the logical ideals of Alexi, as my actions in real life are done to benefit myself.)
I also daydream (in a way, but I consider my internal thought processes and imagination to be like a computer, I even wrote a paper about it, which I'll likely post somewhere on this site at some point) a lot, but often in a logical/beneficial way. In engineering and geometry I visualize the shapes and interact with them to solve problems. If I'm bored (often, because of my lack of emotional connection to people and events) I'll "play a movie" in my head (basically I visualize a scene, either one from a movie or a show or one that I make up, which I sometimes use to write short stories) and use that to entertain myself.
Basically an Alexi person can still have dreams, but generally they still fall into the "lack of emotion" and (usually) logical basis.