Alexitimia the emotional veil

Content

• What is Alexitimia?
• Historical background of Alexitimia
• Main causes of Alexitimia
• How to treat alexitimia?

What is Alexitimia?

Alexitimia is a disorder of personality consisting of the inability to identify and describe their own emotions and those of others. The main alexitimia characteristic consists of a lack of emotional awareness and a poor or even null social and interpersonal attachment. In addition, those who suffer from Alexitimia have difficulty recognizing and understanding the emotions of others.

The main characteristics of Alexitimia are:

1. Difficulty identifying the different types of emotions and feelings
2. Limited understanding of what causes these emotions
3. Difficulty expressing one's feelings
4. Difficulty recognizing facial signals from others
5. Limited and/or rigid imagination
6. Constrained thinking style
7. Hypersensitivity to physical sensations

People who suffer from Alexitimia are limited in their ability to experience fantasies or dreams or think in an imaginative way. On the contrary, they present a very focused way of thought, based on facts and details that directly observe. People with this disorder are often described by others, including their loved ones, such as cold and distant. They lack skills empathic And they have great difficulty understanding and responding to other people's feelings effectively.

This does not mean that a person with Alexitimia can be pleasant and even be very intelligent, but he will lack a sense of humor, imagination and his priorities in decision making will be quite unusual or different from those of most people.

Historical background of Alexitimia

Alexitimia was first mentioned in psychology in 1976 and was described as a Deficit in emotional consciousness. Research suggests that approximately 8% of men and 2% of women experience Alexithmy, either with a mild, moderate or serious intensity. Studies also show that Alexithimia has two dimensions: a cognitive dimension, where the individual strives to identify, interpret and verbalize feelings, and an affective dimension, which consists in the difficulty of reacting, expressing, feeling and imagining Emotional experiences.

Main causes of Alexitimia

Alexitimia is mainly associated with a series of pre -existing psychological disorders such as autism, depression, schizophrenia and somatomorphic disorders, among others. It is very difficult for those who fight with Alexitimia to cope with coexisting psychological disorders due to their innate vulnerability to understand themselves and others, which complicates their recovery.

Other cases of alexitimia are neurological, which means that it is caused by a deficiency in the brain tracks that process emotion. But it has also been seen that some people develop psychological alexitimia as self-defense measure against a severe emotional stress disorder such as post-traumatic stress or even a terminal disease. Thus, as a defense mechanism, the mind "turns off" the ways that process emotions, which leads to a state of complete stoicity devoid of emotions. This type of alexitimia is generally reversible through psychotherapeutic means, and sometimes with the help of antidepressants.

How to treat alexitimia?

The first step is to realize whether the signs of loss of emotion recognition have a neurobiological or psychological origin.

Do not punish, embarrass or make fun of the lack of emotional response. Instead, we should practice patience. You can encourage you to explain your needs in short terms such as: "I feel tired, I don't want to go for a walk, etc.". We can also help them label emotions: "I see you angry, is there anything that bothers you?"The important thing is to help increase the awareness of the trigger or stress factors that are coming to the surface.

If Alexitimia suffers, the goal is strengthen your ability to identify and understand feelings. Self -teaching about the subjective experiences of others will also be very important. Learning emotional awareness can be a very difficult trip. Here are some ways to expand their skills:

• Read novels: The novels use abundant language to describe feelings, emotions, thoughts and experiences of all kinds. Studies suggest that this is a good way to learn expressive language, develop receptive language and obtain greater domain in the way of describing a personal story or story.
• To write a diary: Expressive writing can be very useful to enhance the ability to detect emotions. In general, it is recommended to write every day in a newspaper, describing more than simply of the events of the day. In the beginning this is very difficult for those who have Alexitimia, but the long -term objective is to expand the range of their observations inside and outside oneself.
• Psychotherapy treatments that enhance skills: The objective of these therapies is to enhance skills development. Treatments such as behavioral therapy, cognitive therapy and interpersonal therapy can help these people to be more attentive to states of personal feelings, as well as the way to better identify emotions in others.
• Group Psychotherapy: The interactive aspect of group therapy can offer these people new ways to explore their own thoughts and feelings, as well as the exchange of significant experiences with others. This mode of psychotherapy also deepens the feeling of connection with others.
• Make theater or go to dramarapy: Performing acting, dance, music therapy classes have been shown to help people with Alexitimia recognize and externalize their feelings.
• Hypnosis and relaxation: Hypnosis and guided relaxation techniques help improve emotional understanding through imagination.