Reduced Emotions - is this autism-related?

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VeryManyHorses
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18 Mar 2018, 4:19 pm

Throughout much of my life its seemed that I don't feel emotions as much as other people. Things that almost invariably seem to evoke a strong emotional response in others usually get little to no emotional response from me. I'm sometimes even baffled at why these things could evoke an emotional response in anyone - the way others respond to them seems very alien to me. There are definitely times when I feel strong emotion, but it's relatively unusual and I can't easily predict what causes it. This seems to have become worse as I've got older, as I remember having much stronger emotional reactions to things when I was younger, often in circumstances to which I barely respond emotionally nowadays. It frustrates me, as I often wish I was more sensitive. I'm just sensitive enough that there have been times where I've felt awe or some other kind of deep emotion, and this has always made me want to seek out more of these experiences, yet I've rarely found them where others seem to, or even where I used to.

I'm just wondering if this is related to autism, or if it's something more particular to me. I've looked into autism and emotions a little, and what I've read seems to be very inconsistent. Some of what I've read implies that autism leads to emotions being experienced less intensely, but I've also read that autistic people experience more intense emotions.



ASPartOfMe
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18 Mar 2018, 4:26 pm

Autistics often experience emotions atypically.


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VeryManyHorses
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18 Mar 2018, 4:36 pm

ASPartOfMe wrote:
Autistics often experience emotions atypically.


Is there any particular way they're supposed to experience emotions, or can they experience emotions differently from the norm in various ways?



lostonearth35
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18 Mar 2018, 7:55 pm

When I'm feeling a strong emotion the astronauts can see it from space.



CockneyRebel
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18 Mar 2018, 8:51 pm

Not in my case it isn't. I feel emotions more strongly than most people. If you've met one autistic person, you've met one autistic person.


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SteveSnow
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20 Mar 2018, 8:23 am

In my experience autists tend to be on one extreme of the emotional scale or the other. Some feel emotions extremely strongly and don't have a middle ground. Where as others, including myself, don't have a middle ground and only feel the emotions on the extreme ends. Sometimes if I try really hard I can notice a feeling that is in the less extreme area but mostly I just exist.


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