Alexithymia? What's that? An Island?

Hey guys~

Another post? I am annoying... I know ;)
As you know, I only write when I really have a lot on mind. And so this time too.

Today I want to write about the island "Alexithymia". It's a beautiful one. Blue sea, high palms and the perfect nearly white sand beach! You should really go there for you next holidy trip!
Look at the picture isn't this place amazing?
The water is really warm, about 23°C! In the evening you can surf on the waves or just eat a coconut during the sunset. ~



Guys? I am just kidding... Alexithymia is not a island... it's more a illnesss... nee.. that's also not the correct word... is a personality trait. About 10 procent of our population has to deal with this.
So lets talk a bit about  what this "disease" is.

General

Alexithymia means someone who is "feeling cold", so means cold... unfeeling... is not able to get strong feelings/emotions. For these people it's also really hard to talk about this topic, because they don't really know who the feel... Often they feel empty inside and other people say that they have no heart. In some way thats true. People like this, don't cry during a funeral, they don't feel anything when someone close dies or get bad injured. They just feel nothing.. or not very much...

But how do someone get this illness?

Mostly the first symptoms are noticeable during childhold. A aberration between the child and it's environment.
A normal child learns who to emote. They know what face they have to make if they fear, cry, laugh, etc. and also know what the otherone feels. But some people don't go through this progress and never learned properly who to act/'feel'. This disability influence the whole life, like the job or partner choice, friendships and psychical status.

Someone with Alexithymia (these people we will call "Alexthyme" here) can't really deal with emotional experiences. They think, act and communicate 'factor-oriented'. That's why they are often have many troubles while communicate with other people. For example, your best friend tell you about a scene in a movie, where everyone cried because that was so sad, but you don't feel anything. Or if you watch it with this friend and you just see him crying. But nothing is inside you. No sadness, not even happiness... just nothing.

That's why people with this disorder learn who to act. If they laugh, than often only because they know that they have to do in this situation, but it isn't real. These people are very good actors, 'cause they have to were a mask in public, all the time.
It's also typical for Alexthyme to eliminate feelings. Often they also have psychical problems, but it's a bit hard to treat someone if this person don't know who to feel or don't want to.

In many studies people find out that there are realations between Alexithymia and depressions/eating disorders/drug abuses/and more... Although Alexithymia isn't a official illness, Alexithyme have big troubles in their life. This disorder is a risk factor, if the affected person experience a situation where it's important to know how to deal with feelings. At this point they can easily get depressions or anxiety disorder.

Reasons for this are genetic factors as well as emotional neglect, for example the child have to grow up under a lot of pressure or with a family where showing feelings is a no-go.
But sometimes people use this illness as "safety factor"... Sometimes the affected person have to go through so many negativ experiences, that they automatical starts to get ride of feelings.... Mostly that's the only way to deal with it.


Yeah... Sorry for this long post. I hope you find it interesting and perhaps you know someone who could have this disorder, than be careful! These people are just liars and it's dangerous to trust them. Don't get too close...

Thanks for reading~
Crylicx