u/AnniesNote

​

Hi all. After recently going through a diagnostic journey (32yr old female) and having a confirmed AuDHD diagnosis, I've been discussing further with my therapist about possible emotional processing differences I may have and the topic of alexithymia came up.

My therapist and I discussed how I feel emotions and she urged me to journal and think on it for next time. I am a bit torn on whether I think this term fits or not.

To go into a bit more detail, I feel like I can feel most emotions physically but don't always know how to outwardly portray them. For example, happiness. I feel it, almost like a radiant light in my shoulders, and I know what happiness and/or excitement feels like, but I don't often know how to show it and most of it is internalized. Like, sometimes even when I find things funny, other than a grin and chuckle, I usually cannot laugh fully.

Similarly with sadness, it is not always shown by tears but I often describe sadness as a deep ache in my gut.

Further, things such as arousal can be felt physically but I would have no idea how to portray that outwardly as an emotion, if that makes sense.

Another thing would be that I don't normally feel hunger like a standard person does and have urgent bathroom urges like my body "forgets" to tell me. I know what my stomach growling feels like, but usually I feel it so infrequently, by the time it tells me I am hungry, it almost instantly turns to nausea from being overly hungry (which then makes me unable to eat).

Would this be considered a quirk of my AuDHD or alexithymia? Sorry if this is not very clear and thank you to any who reply 😊

Hi all. After recently going through a diagnostic journey (32yr old female) and having a confirmed AuDHD diagnosis, I've been discussing further with my therapist about possible emotional processing differences I may have and the topic of alexithymia came up.

My therapist and I discussed how I feel emotions and she urged me to journal and think on it for next time. I am a bit torn on whether I think this term fits or not.

To go into a bit more detail, I feel like I can feel most emotions physically but don't always know how to outwardly portray them. For example, happiness. I feel it, almost like a radiant light in my shoulders, and I know what happiness and/or excitement feels like, but I don't often know how to show it and most of it is internalized. Like, sometimes even when I find things funny, other than a grin and chuckle, I usually cannot laugh fully.

Similarly with sadness, it is not always shown by tears but I often describe sadness as a deep ache in my gut.

Further, things such as arousal can be felt physically but I would have no idea how to portray that outwardly as an emotion, if that makes sense.

Would this be considered a quirk of my AuDHD or alexithymia? Sorry if this is not very clear and thank you to any who reply 😊

*Tagged NSFW for potential adult/sensitive topics*

TLDR-- how much detail is too much when talking about sex related topics in therapy?

I'm sure this has probably been asked in some way, shape, or form, but I at least didn't see any recent ones. Also, I have recently had an ASD diagnosis (adult), so apologies if any of this comes across poorly).

Anyway. I have been with my current therapist for roughly 4 years now. I've had a lot of life stuff going on in this time (job loss, car accident involving broken bones, two semi major surgeries, and the loss of a parent). Naturally, because of this, we haven't always had space to discuss many of the things I initially started therapy for (lol) because of other pressing matters.

We have recently finally been able to start discussing more of the core reasons I began therapy for. One of the topics is related to trauma from childhood SA and how that relates to my identity and sexuality.

I don't vocally talk about this subject well and the one time something sort of came up regarding sex a couple of years ago (specifically sexual side effects from medication), I panicked, shut down, and said I didn't want to talk about it. My therapist (the amazing, patient, therapeutic woman she is) gave me the space I needed, while telling me that topics awkward for me aren't necessarily awkward for her, leaving the space open to me.

We are starting to reintroduce the topic at my initiation, however I'm curious as to how 'in detail' to go about sex topics with her, as she is not specifically a sex therapist (I believe she is a LMHC). Obviously, she is comfortable to some degree, but what kind of details are appropriate to discuss? Are things like self pleasure, as well as the actual sexual side effects I had been experiencing from medication (anorgasmia) topics okay to discuss?

We are both female, so for me, that makes it a tad more comfortable, but (likely) trauma from the SA makes the topic overall difficult for me (especially vocally, I don't quite have the same issue writing it down) so, what would be a good way to bring up what is okay with her to discuss? Sorry for the essay, and thanks to any who respond.

Hi all. I am a recently diagnosed autistic female adult. I have suspected since I was much younger that my older brother (who has diagnosed Tourettes Syndrome) is also autistic, and how that may affect his Tourettes.

He appears to be more severely autistic (please correct me if this is improper wording) than I, has more meltdown type tantrums, so approaching this idea with him may be a bit intense for him. His Tourettes are a severe case and impedes his day to day life and I wonder if because he may also be autistic, both coexisting conditions could be affecting each other. No doctor has ever explored or had this thought, however, we live in a very rural area (USA) and healthcare is not always accessible.

I am curious if any with similar conditions experience and how could help him to explore this idea without overwhelming him. Thank you to any who reply.