Board index › General Discussion › General Autism Discussion

alexithymia and IQ correlation

Page 1 of 3 [ 44 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3  Next

Previous topic | Next topic

guywithAS
Toucan
Toucan

User avatar

Joined: 23 Apr 2011
Age: 54
Gender: Male
Posts: 285

06 Jan 2013, 12:12 am

does anyone know if there is a correlation between alexithymia and IQ?

i've been trying to figure this out, but as usual, psychology is focused on our weaknesses, not our strengths. there's a lot of discussion of problems related to alexithymia but very few related to whether as a group this includes above average IQ.

does anyone know?



EstherJ
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 Apr 2012
Age: 33
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,041
Location: The long-lost library at Alexandria

06 Jan 2013, 12:43 am

I don't know. However, I have a high IQ and score high on self-scoring Alexithymia tests



Tollorin
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 14 Jun 2009
Age: 43
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,178
Location: Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada

06 Jan 2013, 12:49 am

Generally high IQ peoples are imaginative and better at decoding emotions, which could reduce the prevalence of alexithymia. (Or maybe not.)


_________________
Down with speculators!! !


dabeshu
Blue Jay
Blue Jay

User avatar

Joined: 2 Nov 2011
Age: 29
Gender: Female
Posts: 78

06 Jan 2013, 12:51 am

If you are alexithymic, it is likely you also have a lower-than-average IQ.



Verdandi
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 7 Dec 2010
Age: 55
Gender: Female
Posts: 12,275
Location: University of California Sunnydale (fictional location - Real location Olympia, WA)

06 Jan 2013, 2:16 am

dabeshu wrote:
If you are alexithymic, it is likely you also have a lower-than-average IQ.


I have a genius IQ and I have alexithymia.



1000Knives
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 8 Jul 2011
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,036
Location: CT, USA

06 Jan 2013, 3:13 am

Mine's 110 and I'm highly alexithymic.



Bubbles137
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Oct 2010
Age: 38
Gender: Female
Posts: 563

06 Jan 2013, 3:16 am

i have a high IQ and am alexithymic! To the point where the main character in my PhD (a novel) is called Alex, lol.



dabeshu
Blue Jay
Blue Jay

User avatar

Joined: 2 Nov 2011
Age: 29
Gender: Female
Posts: 78

06 Jan 2013, 3:36 am

Verdandi wrote:
dabeshu wrote:
If you are alexithymic, it is likely you also have a lower-than-average IQ.


I have a genius IQ and I have alexithymia.


Indeed.

1000Knives wrote:
Mine's 110 and I'm highly alexithymic.


Wow that is a very high IQ.

bubbles137 wrote:
i have a high IQ and am alexithymic! To the point where the main character in my PhD (a novel) is called Alex, lol.


Wow I am extremely impressed.

Yes, my IQ is 159 and I guess I sort of have something similar to alexythmia.



Tollorin
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 14 Jun 2009
Age: 43
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,178
Location: Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada

06 Jan 2013, 12:37 pm

Alexithymia is not only about the difficulty to decode emotions, it's also having poor imagination and mundane dreams. So if you're imaginative you don't get alexithymia.


_________________
Down with speculators!! !


Tyri0n
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 24 Nov 2012
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,879
Location: Douchebag Capital of the World (aka Washington D.C.)

06 Jan 2013, 1:02 pm

dabeshu wrote:
If you are alexithymic, it is likely you also have a lower-than-average IQ.


Um, no...

If you have Autism Spectrum Disorder, it's highly likely that you are alexithymic (80% probability) regardless of your IQ.



Bubbles137
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Oct 2010
Age: 38
Gender: Female
Posts: 563

06 Jan 2013, 1:07 pm

Tollorin wrote:
Alexithymia is not only about the difficulty to decode emotions, it's also having poor imagination and mundane dreams. So if you're imaginative you don't get alexithymia.


Wish my tutor would realise that! She keeps telling me to 'just write' and gets frustrated that I only have one character in the novel, but I need to research, literally 'build' my character and story from theories/other people's characters so can't 'just write'!



Marybird
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 26 Apr 2012
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,818

06 Jan 2013, 2:23 pm

Tyri0n wrote:
dabeshu wrote:
If you are alexithymic, it is likely you also have a lower-than-average IQ.


Um, no...

If you have Autism Spectrum Disorder, it's highly likely that you are alexithymic (80% probability) regardless of your IQ.

Apparently, according to tests I took, I am alexithymic, even though I consider myself to be a very emotional person.

I also have scored as high as 148 on IQ tests. Although that is because I tend to be analytical and logical. irl, I don't seem so intelligent.



Marybird
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 26 Apr 2012
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,818

06 Jan 2013, 3:03 pm

dabeshu wrote:
Verdandi wrote:
dabeshu wrote:
If you are alexithymic, it is likely you also have a lower-than-average IQ.


I have a genius IQ and I have alexithymia.


Indeed.

1000Knives wrote:
Mine's 110 and I'm highly alexithymic.


Wow that is a very high IQ.

bubbles137 wrote:
i have a high IQ and am alexithymic! To the point where the main character in my PhD (a novel) is called Alex, lol.


Wow I am extremely impressed.

Yes, my IQ is 159 and I guess I sort of have something similar to alexythmia.

What do you sort of have that is similar to alexythymia?



emimeni
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 28 Sep 2012
Age: 35
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,065
Location: In my bed, on my laptop

06 Jan 2013, 3:23 pm

Tollorin wrote:
Alexithymia is not only about the difficulty to decode emotions, it's also having poor imagination and mundane dreams. So if you're imaginative you don't get alexithymia.


I think I have slight alexithymia, but I'm not sure. If you give me to start with, I can be quite imaginative. I also have very unusual or downright impossible events happen in dreams.


_________________
Living with one neurodevelopmental disability which has earned me a few diagnosis'


Verdandi
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 7 Dec 2010
Age: 55
Gender: Female
Posts: 12,275
Location: University of California Sunnydale (fictional location - Real location Olympia, WA)

06 Jan 2013, 3:54 pm

Tollorin wrote:
Alexithymia is not only about the difficulty to decode emotions, it's also having poor imagination and mundane dreams. So if you're imaginative you don't get alexithymia.


Not entirely true. Constricted imagination and mundane dreams are much more likely with people who have alexithymia, but it is considered a personality trait with varying severity, which means that some people may very well have less constricted imagination or less mundane dreams.

Most people here are significantly more likely to experience alexithymia than otherwise, simply because of its prevalence in autistic people.



Bubbles137
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Oct 2010
Age: 38
Gender: Female
Posts: 563

07 Jan 2013, 3:02 am

Verdandi wrote:
Not entirely true. Constricted imagination and mundane dreams are much more likely with people who have alexithymia, but it is considered a personality trait with varying severity, which means that some people may very well have less constricted imagination or less mundane dreams.

Most people here are significantly more likely to experience alexithymia than otherwise, simply because of its prevalence in autistic people.


There's also different types of imagination- I can't 'make things up' or imagine something that isn't the (the kind of 'mindjump' people on my course seem to make all the time when writing stories/poems) but I can rewrite other stories (I'm rewriting fairy tales for my PhD) like a kind of jigsaw puzzle where I used philosophical/scientific theories and write them into the structure of the story. The problem i have is plot and character- am v good at theory and visual description but find the actual 'creative' writing a lot harder. Doesn't mean I'm not imaginative at all though, and I think it's a skill that can be learnt (or that's what my tutor said anyway!), it's just v v hard!