Alexithymia. Do you struggle? Can it be improved?

[ofwarren]

www.spectrumnews.org/news/people-alexithymia-emotions-mystery/

Alexithymia is one of my most troublesome symptoms. I recognise anger, and embarrassment but I struggle with a lot of the others. I feel like my emotions are just either feel good/feel bad and there is no nuance. I actively avoid things that make me feel emotions because I just don't like the feel. I get confused. I cry at things that are supposed to be funny or when I'm supposed to be happy.

I'm seeing the same thing happening in my son who's waiting for assessment. He frequently says he's scared when he's excited or very happy. He holds his tummy so I'm assuming the adrenaline coursing through him feels like fear, as it can do to me.

Does anyone else struggle with this and is there any way to improve the symptoms?

Ds2 mainly experiences this. I just feel either happy or angry. I can't tell when I'm depressed as it takes me so long to think about and correctly identify a feeling. I'm not particularly bothered by it, but ds seems to be.

Perhaps try a mood app where you can plot your moods and feelings? When I had depression the mood app helped me to plot how I was doing.

I'm not sure if this will help you at all, but I've worked with a couple of children with this, and we have worked on identifying feelings in their body and mindfulness. We focus on tying up a feeling with what else might be happening (the bigger picture) so that they can both identify their own feelings better, and improve their "show not tell" writing.

Zones of regulation work has also helped some children I know. I have no experience of adults though.

It is long and slow work, but the mindfulness in particular has helped.

Good ideas, thank you both. I will look into the suggestions.