What is alexithymia?

Alexithymia is a common trait in autism. It is a difficulty identifying and expressing our emotions. Ever since I was young, people would ask me "how are you?" and usually I responded with "I don't know". I didn't do this to be difficult. I genuinely didn't know how to answer the question. Alexithymia can make understanding our emotional awareness difficult. It does not happen to all autistic people and can show up in other disorders, but most commonly shows in autism. Alexithymia makes it extremely difficult to communicate our feelings and usually if we respond with "I don't know", we really don't know. I often times cannot identify how I am feeling and it is difficult for me, so asking constantly makes it harder on me because it is stressful.

I wanted to make a short post about this because it is rarely talked about and some people don't even know it exists. It is more common than people realize. The best way to help some is to show compassion and be understanding of the fact that it is difficult for them. It is important not to keep asking the same question and expect a different answer. It most likely wont happen and if they do give another answer, it is probably to get the person to stop asking, not really how they feel. I hope this helps someone understand more what autistic people may experience!