Alexithymia: Please read

[moongal]

I felt compelled to share this article with ye guys as it really spoke to me. I do feel that we are shown so many times in this life how to deal with physical and even mental happenings in our lives, but yet the emotional is so left out.

Why? It is a major part of us, yet we are not thought how to really deal or cope with our emotions.

Do you ever feel?
• You have difficulty identifying your own feelings, emotions and body sensations.

• You have difficulty describing your feelings to other people.

• You have difficulty hearing or understanding the feelings of others.

There has been a lot discover about alexithymia in the past few decades and based on a recent study involving it has shown that alexithymia is not only a hindrance in our relationships but it also running riot and out of control...

The epidemic of alexithymia has spread because of two factors:

1. Almost none of us get any useful instructions in how to be aware of our feelings and what to do to express those feelings effectively. Few of us ever learn how to recognize the signs of feelings in others and how to respond to those feelings effectively. In other words, most of us are desperately ill-trained for one of the most important aspects of life.

2. Almost all of us have been in situations where the emotions we felt were so strong and unpleasant that we invented some way to tune them out. We gritted our teeth and squeezed them out of our awareness. Then we ate or smoked or drank or shopped until we distracted ourselves from the painful overwhelm. Whatever the mechanism of distraction, it can easily become locked in as a habit and eventually even a lifestyle. In other words, if you eat to distract yourself from anger or loneliness or any other feeling you don’t know how to feel, you can quickly become mired in a lifestyle based on handling your obesity.

I, myself, am not bad with words, far from it. However when it comes to expressing emotions it is a no go zone for me, and I have often preferred to stuff a good old choc cake down there instead.

It's not that we are lacking in emotions, but lacking in the ability to express them in a satisfactory manner, for you and for others. Being aware of yourself and your emotions, is not only a great way to recover from depression, EDs, mental illness but it gives us insight into ourselves and helps us to build great bonds with others.

For the remainder of this article check out
http://thedailylove.com/relationships-feelings-and-the-body/

Love you guys
Moongal x

[marcie]

This article is very informative and it opens our eyes to the reality of our emotions and how to deal with them. Thank you very much. God bless you.

[cr-sal]

Moongal; Wow! This is the bold facts, I have denied myself expression of MY feelings for so long, I am having to learn how to now. It's tough. I have an excellent psychiatrist that helps me deal with my problems, but there is no one to express my feelings to. I need to scream, cry, and talk for days; it won't happen for me. I don't have a situation that allows that.

[moongal]

Hey Cr-sal,
So you now have an outlet right your psychiatrist, I know it only one, and here of course always, but that is really helpful.

I think we have not been taught how to cope with our emotions that we don't recognise them when they are right there standing in front of you, being held in your heart and soul, instead we overlook them and use words like "fine" and "grand" to describe how we are...when we are anything but.

So next time you are feeling a powerful emotion, it doesn't have to be a rage or anything, but something that you recognise as off, sit down in front of a mirror (this works as you are talking with yourself, but also some find it uncomfortable so it's your own choice) and ask how to you feel, and really answer
how you feel
where you feel it (head, heart, chest, etc)
why do you feel this way?...you may not be able to answer this immediately, but you are stopping and you are acknowledging your feelings and that is so so important.

I've been in therapy for about 10 months now and slowly I am becoming more aware of my feelings, but also I am becoming more aware of people's lack of awareness towards their own emotions. It's so easy to stay on automatic and deny yourself your own feelings isn't it? And it's harder to sometimes be feel that hurt and pain and sadness?

But denying feeling it doesn't mean it's gone away, it just means that we are carrying it around.

I am so glad you've found a good psych that's brill, and a great step to success.

Love to you hun and thanks marcie for reading it, I think it was really informative. I think when it comes to emotions we are still holding the tools of cavemen.

Moongal x