It is not easy for everyone to express their feelings. Whether people like it or not, according to psychological studies, about 5-25% of them, to one degree or another, suffer from what is commonly called alexithymia.
Alexithymia is the inability to define or verbalize an emotional state. Simply put, a person lacks the skill to describe their feelings. It would seem that there is nothing wrong with this, but his inability to talk about his inner experiences leads to the difficulty of recognizing them. As a result, he is unable to distinguish between his own emotions and other people.
Causes of alexithymia
Alexithymia is divided into congenital, or primary, and acquired, or secondary. It belongs to the first type, if it arises due to the abnormal development of the embryo, as well as diseases transferred in infancy. The causes of the second type of alexithymia are often mental trauma, stressful situations, and nervous shocks. Education can also play a role. Stingy with emotions or strict parents who forbid expressing emotions in public are quite capable of condemning their child to alexithymia in the future.
Signs of alexithymia:
- It is difficult to describe and understand your own feelings. This suggests that a person has them, he just does not know what to do with them.
- The desire for seclusion, and it does not appear immediately, but incrementally.
- Poor fantasy. Alexithymics are incapable of creative activity and work that requires imagination.
- Dreams are usually dull, with no plot.
- But the logic is at the highest level.
- Lack of faith in intuition.
- A person with alexithymia often confuses bodily sensations with emotional ones. To the question: "What do you feel?" he can calmly answer "presses", "presses", "cold".