What it is, who it affects and why

Alexithymia is a term you may not have heard before. But it describes something that many people experience: difficulty identifying, distinguishing and expressing their emotions. It affects how people manage their emotions at work, in their relationships, and even within themselves. It can also change the way a person analyzes their environment and how they interact with the world.

It’s not easy to know if someone you know has alexithymia. Often a person does not even realize that he himself is suffering from it. It is largely an internal phenomenon that a person experiences.

The term “alexithymia” was first described in research in the 1970s and there is no clinical diagnosis. However, it is estimated that it affects around 10% of the general population. The word itself is taken from Greek roots – “a” (steps), “lexis” (words) and “thymia” (soul or emotions) – and translates, roughly, to “no words for emotions” .

Alexithymia is closely linked to the feeling of interoception, which is the ability to interpret and label one’s internal states. People with reduced interoception, also called “alexisomy,” cannot easily tell if they are hungry, thirsty, tired, excited, or in pain.

It is important to emphasize that alexithymia is not a unique experience. It differs from person to person. People with autism, for example, suffer from it at a higher rate – between 33% and 66% compared to the general population. It is also more common in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression. Some people have always suffered from alexithymia while others contracted it as a result of trauma.

If a person is unable to identify what they are feeling, they may be more likely to suppress or ignore these bodily sensations and less likely to alleviate problems. This way, it is more difficult for them to regulate themselves emotionally and they may feel overwhelmed more often.

A hallmark of alexithymia is an outward-oriented thinking style. This is where people focus on what is happening around them rather than their own emotional processes to gain information. A person with alexithymia may need to look back on an event to understand how they felt at that particular moment using contextual clues. They often adapt their actions to deal with them in future situations.

For autistic people in particular, alexithymia can make it difficult to interpret social cues such as facial expressions. It can become overwhelming and lead a person to collapse.

People with alexithymia may also react differently to events that typically provoke communal emotions, such as the death of a celebrity or the announcement of a marriage. Reactions that may seem inappropriate to others can lead to misunderstandings and frustration among those involved.

Emotional awareness

Alexithymia affects the way a person experiences and interprets their emotions, from noticing physical sensations in the body to identifying them as specific feelings and deciding to respond. Understanding when a person is experiencing difficulty in this process can help determine what type of support they may need.

Although alexithymia can affect a person’s connection to their emotions, emotional awareness is a skill that can be developed as an adult and improved over time. Practicing naming emotions and physical sensations is a strategy that can help people with alexithymia understand themselves better. Another is learning to identify how these elements are represented in the body.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.