Not sure that I have Alexithymia
10.07.2014 by smerdyakovHello, I've just heard about Alexithymia a few days ago, and I feel that I definitely have some of the symptoms, but I'm not sure if I have Alexithymia. I would appreciate someone clearing this up for me.
- I am definitely a utilitarian. I believe in doing whatever is beneficial to the majority, without any concern for feelings.
- I don't know if I have what could be called empathy. I try to help other people but have no reason to.
- I can distinguish between emotions, eg sadness, happiness, anger, etc, but sometimes I feel weird things that I have no idea how to describe. For example, out of nowhere feeling like my life is repetitive in a kind of deep, profound way.
- I do sometimes get weird pains in my stomach, and sometimes my body feels very cold out of nowhere.
- Lastly, my dreams are very ordinary, mostly about going to school and being in class, I have heard this is a symptom.
Thanks in advance for clarification.
check out the "can you relate" section
01.08.2014 by jadeprincess
listen, none of the traits are definite. for me, it was almost immediately apparent that I have alexithymia once I looked it up. however, it is possible that you have depression instead. depression, by the way, appears more treatable.
Talked to a therapist
05.08.2014 by smerdyakov
Thanks for the reply. I did have severe depression for a time, but now it's pretty much gone. I talked to my therapist and she thought that alexithymia was a good diagnosis.
Take the test
01.09.2014 by Toxophile
Have you taken the test?
http://www.alexithymia.us/test-alex.html
How did you score on it? If you score fairly high, see if you can find a therapist who is very familiar with alexithymia to help you further.
Not sure either
21.08.2015 by marty1468
Hi everyone,
I've just done the test and got 142. I'm still not convinced that I have alexithymia though as I think I just keep my feelings repressed.
I do however know when i'm angry or happy. I'm never sad or depressed and in fact I have no idea what these emotions feel like. I had a girlfriend once that was on Prozac 24/7 for depression and I really couldn't understand it.
I find that the longer i'm in a relationship the more i try to avoid sex and i find it a little bit dirty. My current partner tells me that it makes her feel closer to me but i just feel like it's an instinct for me rather than an emotional need/want. Most of my relationships have ended because of this.
I hardly dream at all.
I have noticed that since my daughter was born 9 years ago that some things make me tear up a bit and I don't know why. I find it kind of embarrassing to be honest. Usually when i watch a happy ending ina video or movie. This is the reason I don't think I have alexithymia and it's possibly something else.
Any feedback would be welcome.
Courage makes me cry....
27.08.2015 by DXS
What elicits the tears in me is movies that show courage. For me, the people on Flight 93 on 9/11/01 showed the greatest amount of courage.
A movie called THE GUARDIAN with Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher showed courage. Took me a long time to figure this out, that it's courage I admire and will get tears out of me.
In the same boat
10.09.2015 by SiskoPup
I'm in the same boat, to be honest until 2 hours ago I had never even heard of alexithymia but the description of it and what everyone is describing pretty well sums up my perception of life. I experience the physical results of emotions to some degree, however if at the time you were to ask me how I feel, I generally go with "content" or "fine", it rarely veers from there. For example, I just watxhed a movie called Still Alice and I was crying during parts of the movie, but I can't tell you why I was crying.
When I took the test, I scored 136. I've never seen a psychiatrist or anything, so I have no clue if I really have alexithymia or not, but I've never been able to connect to people on an emotional level and tend to actually get bored if people are talking to me about how they feel about something.
