Autism In Therapy - Alexithymia Is Massive!
Channel: Thomas Henley
Date: 2022-12-14

Alexithymia can be a massive roadblock in the success of psychotherapy (among many things like masking).

Alexithymia is a difficult identifying and categorising your own emotions… and a good portion of Autistic people have this.

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In psychotherapy, I can talk very plainly, openly and calm about events that would usually make others feel uncomfortable 

It sounds like a good thing, but it leaves me very detached from my experiences and the emotions attached to it.

You can’t confront a negative experience, when the emotions are lost in the Alexithymic haze

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The way I remember how I felt, is by visualising myself in the same scenario whilst monitoring if my emotions change.

I look for my common physical/psychological reactions to emotions I can’t locate easily.

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The problem is, I need to do this when speaking to a therapist… so this can make it fairly difficult.

What other situations do you think may be impacted by Alexithymia?

Let me know down in the comments! 🤟🏻