Alexithymia - Quiz and Discussion

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I got 139, but when I ook up the symptoms on the internet, I read people with alexithymea have a bad or weak imagination and fantasy. I'm in the contrary of that, I have more fantasy and imagination than all people I know. I do have a other traits of it, like the slight ability to describe emotions, but the difficulty to describe them detailed.

Result: 123

I show high alexithymic traits.

Result: 92

You show few to no Alexithymia traits.

With a lot of the questions unanswered.

56.

I do not have Alexithymia, but I have one trait resembling it:

156

Not news to me, my psychotherapist had to give up on having me describe my feelings - she even gave me a paper with emotion words so that I could reference it.

Alexithymia runs in my both my father's and mother's families.

Z

177

Not sure if 'win' is the right word

I got 112; some traits. However, the more I think about it, the more certain I am that I don't have it. I generally know when I'm sad and happy, and can discuss it with other people. Actually, I don't think about emotions much at all.

109. Possible traits.

I don't think I have this disorder after reading the description, it doesn't really fit me. A lot of "undecied" answer though...

Alexithymia is a strange construct. The person who originated the term has expressed misgivings about it.

It literally translates to "without words for feelings", It isn't defined as a disorder per se, but rather a trait that people have to various degrees. There were a lot of bad studies showing alexithymia was correlated to all sorts of mental disorders; however they mostly derive from clinical populations - people who were already messed up. If you researched red-heads in an inpatient hospital, you would find lots of depression and schizophrenia correlated with red-headedness.

Verbal expression is not necessarily meaningful, especially for feelings.
When people attempt this, they often end up simply babbling in circles about the people and events which induced the feelings. This sort of verbal excorcism is the therapists Favorite Thing (at the rate of $100/hr), but doesn't come naturally to everyone, especially males.

And it doesn't necessarily help.

A recent study challenged the notion that talking about feelings helps resolve them; it found just the opposite - the more people talked and talked the worse off they were.
Talking Out Trauma: Not Always a Help

It seems to me that the construct of alex. is an attempt to pathologize those with differing - and possibly superior - modes of expression. How would you verbalize the exhaltation of beethoven's ninth? The morning sun of Monet's garden?

Should you try?

To me, alexithymia is not a disorder, it is a misguided belief which seeks to pathologize any dissent from it.

VMSnith,

Evidently it is difficult for you to put yourself into the mind of someone who has difficulty understanding and regulating emotions. The construct is about more than just not having words for feelings.

Imagine how difficult it would be to make a decision if you often don't know what you are feeling.

Imagine how difficult it would be to have a romantic relationship if you can't easily access your emotions.

Imagine the anxiety that would be produced if you couldn't distinguish between how you feel emotionally, and how you feel physically. Are you excited or are you sick?

Imagine how you would respond if intimacy brought on nausea, not comfort.

If you can imagine those things, then you might have an idea what alexithymia is all about.

I don't feel that the construct of alexithymia pathologizes a mode of expression, for me it helps me to understand myself so I can work on being more effective with expression.

Z

Result: 74
Non-alexithymia: You show few to no alexithymic traits

Showing the right emotion is my only problem. I have no problem feeling my emotion and feeling others' emotions.