Physical Feeling When Experiencing Happiness?

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hello!

okay, before I start: this is my first time posting so let me know if i've done something wrong!!

SO ive had depression for a few years and was only diagnosed early 2015 and have been on anti-depressants for six months. i was also diagnosed with Autism late 2015. so, suffice to say, feeling positive emotions in any capacity is a wild ride for me and i can't tell whats normal, whats expected, and whats Autism.

there have been moments when i feel really happy or satisfied about something that i feel a pressure in my chest. as if a big balloon had been blown up in my chest. i need to take deep breaths and sighs to alleviate it a bit -- but its not an entirely awful feeling. i just feel really full. basically i feel like ! !! !! !! !! on the inside.

ive experienced this after seeing some friends (like, friends i ACTUALLY like) and going back home and thinking about the day we had together. at first i thought it was anxiety, but when i talked to my psychologist about it, it didnt really feel like it fit. my heart wasnt racing and my chest didnt feel like it was caving in -- but that it would burst with emotion. the same after ive had a laughing fit with my sister.

its happened again while watching one of my favourite shows after not seeing it for a couple of weeks, along with stupid amounts of smiling and the literal feeling of not being able to handle it.

so tl;dr: anyone else feel like they will physically burst when they're happy? and is this an autism thing?

It is perfectly normal to feel like that when you are happy, but having trouble identifying which emotion you are feeling is an autism thing. It's interesting you should bring this up, because there have been studies about where people feel different emotions that are quite interesting.

I usually feel what I think is a more intense experience of happiness than NTs do, and it takes less to make me happy. I often will become hyperactive, and do something physical, like jump up and down, or run around, or begin to speak very quickly. I think the feeling that I experience is manifested in this way.

No, or at least not yet, but I experience some -intense- lows. Or it is just me thinking they are intense because I have not properly allowed myself emotional experience most of my life.

I experience what juuzou describes from time to time, but it's really rare. It's like a 'fullness' in the chest that's not necessarily unpleasant.

I suspect I have a panic disorder (Frequent enough panic attacks) so I know that feeling tightness in my chest in response to anxiety is a completely different sensation here.

I've thought before that if the 'full' feeling is what happiness is supposed to feel like, I only truly feel happy maybe once a year or even less.

That is a very interesting graphic representation of what the different emotions look and feel like.