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Alexithymia is a complicated condition. It is not officially recognized in the ICD-10 (what is used to bill insurance companies in the USA and to simplify medical diagnosis for archival purposes of offices). It can be found in the APA booklet that describes different traits and medical conditions, however. In the APA, it is described as “noun. an inability to express, describe, or distinguish among one’s emotions.”
Now, that sounds simple and a lot of people might think “yeah, I go through that”, but like all “issues” per say, there’s a spectrum. It can be very mild where occasionally you find yourself “stuck”, but it can also be severe. For myself, I would classify myself as moderate-severe, but definitely severe in times of trauma and stress.
For myself, I often feel like I have a mountain’s worth of words in my head but I do not know how to accurately get them across to other people (even those I feel very close to emotionally) without coming across as “superficial”, “lazy”, or “uncaring”. This is one reason why I have found such a strong passion for writing. It has been a way for me to get out what’s going on in my head in a safe, secure, and controlled method.
I am definitely empathetic. I cry with emotional scenes all the time in movies. I cry when I read emotional scenes in books that are well done. But “feeling my feelings” in a way that I know how…
