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Overcoming Alexithymia... is it possible?

overcoming alexithymia lack emotions

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#1 OpaqueMind

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Posted 12 March 2013 - 09:18 PM


I think I have Alexithymia, which is essentially a lack of ability to understand ones emotions. It comes with a severely hindered imagination, and a lack of ability to empathise for others. Here's a wiki entry describing it in more detail - http://en.wikipedia....iki/Alexithymia. Due to its apparent prevalence I'm sure some of you have it. For those that don't, it's like nothing really means anything to you.The only distinguishable emotions are happiness or sadness. Sometimes anger. Subtler emotions do not cross the radar. And my thinking is purely logic-based. Essentially I feel like a robot. Whether it is neurological or psychological in origin I'm not entirely sure. It may or may not have been caused by prolonged substance abuse previously in life.

I have a few questions;
-has anyone who has abused drugs had this condition and it abated after stopping use, and if so how long did it take?
-does anyone know of any psychotherapeutic techniques to help deal with/get rid of this?
-are there any supplements that have helped those who have this?

It really saps all the zest out of living. I have no drive whatsoever. Most of the time I feel like a zombie, with very sporadic overwhelmings of sorrow or joy. I would greatly appreciate some help here.

#2 Tom_

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Posted 12 March 2013 - 09:49 PM

This bears almost no resemblence to Alexithymia. You are saying you don't seem to feel much emotion - that's anhenonia. A common symptom of depression. It could well be substance induced. Would you mind sharing what substances where abused? If not, what class of substance? I.e. opioid, stimulant...etc?

How is your sleep?
Do you tend to eat more than before you felt like this, less? the same amount?
Are the symptoms worst in the morning, evening? steady?
are you tearful or were you?
you mentioned anger, how strong is the feeling, in what context?
are you irritable?
have you ever had any psychiatric diagnosis before?

The most effective psychotheraputic treatment is behavioural activation. Doing stuff. Exercise is good, socializing even if you seem to gain nothing from it, even just picking up a book to read. Continue to build that up until you are functioning normally. google it. Look into mindfullness and cogntive therapy as well. The intentet and books have been shown to provide CBT and mindfulness interventions as well as any therapist so no need to worry about splashing out on one if you can't afford it.

I would advise the use of pharmacuticals. Start with an SSRI and follow a standard treatment algorithm - something I will provide more information on if you would like to hear it.

If you are suffering from a depressive episode - something I am quite convinced you are (once/if you answer the questions I will become more or less so); then you would fit the melancholic specifier which responds to increase noradrenaline neurons firing. DLPA, is a precurser to noradrenaline and between 500-2000mg may be helpful. Serontonergic functioning is usually a problem and so 5HTP at 50-100mg is also a good idea. NMDA and glutamate functioning has shown to be a problem in anhenonia. Acetylcysteine (in the form NAC) modulate NMDA receptors among other things.
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#3 renfr

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Posted 15 March 2013 - 05:00 PM

I also was kind of acting like a robot, in extremely logical and rational ways, no place for subtility and truly it was something hard to bear because in the end you don't feel like you're human.
I had this kind of extreme apathy as well.
Now this is almost cured if not already cured, my problem was dopamine deficiency and serotonin overload.



#4 jadamgo

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Posted 22 March 2013 - 09:33 PM

Tom is right: you're describing anhedonia way more than you're describing alexithymia. Alexithymics experience plenty of emotions but aren't very aware of them. Things like insight-oriented psychotherapy, mindfulness of body and emotions, and even just getting a few more years of life experience can help with alexithymia.

As for anhedonia, you need to treat the depression.

#5 OpaqueMind

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Posted 24 March 2013 - 06:22 PM

This bears almost no resemblence to Alexithymia. You are saying you don't seem to feel much emotion - that's anhenonia. A common symptom of depression. It could well be substance induced. Would you mind sharing what substances where abused? If not, what class of substance? I.e. opioid, stimulant...etc?


How is it possible to tell the difference between not feeling emotions and having them but not being able to feel them? Looking at it now it makes sense that it is probably anhedonia. The substances I abused were many and varied, but the ones that seemed to have knocked me off kilter so drastically were some stupid doses of MDMA and random combinations of all kinds of research chemicals especially stimulants and phenethylamines. I also had a month long addiction to methoxetamine, and have gone in and out of opiates for a few years (nothing heavy, tramadol, kratom and codeine mainly). About 4 years ago I did a ridiculous amount of mephedrone, well over 50 grams over the space of about a year, sometimes going up to about 5 grams in a single session (that shit is more fiendish than cocaine). Considering the mishmash of drugs I have done I doubt that'll be much help, but if you can glean any insight from it then that'd be cool.

How is your sleep?
Do you tend to eat more than before you felt like this, less? the same amount?
Are the symptoms worst in the morning, evening? steady?
are you tearful or were you?
you mentioned anger, how strong is the feeling, in what context?
are you irritable?
have you ever had any psychiatric diagnosis before?


-My sleep is usually pretty disturbed, I often wake up repeatedly throughout the night and have trouble getting back to sleep. However I'm slowly fixing that with CBT-I which is fucking awesome.
-I seem to eat more, or at least when I'm at the fridge I'll just gorge shit. I have pretty poor self-control in general, which is also something I'm working on. Although it's difficult when you're in the 'I don't give a fuck' mode.
-The symptoms seem to be worse in the morning, although that could be because I usually exercise and meditate late morning which noticeably puts me in a better mood.
-I have been a bit tearful recently. It's strange though, sometimes I'll get it by thinking myself into the abyss and sometimes I'll get the beautiful kind like when listening to a song that really strikes a chord in me.
-I think I was angry because of a recent relapse on tramadol and ketamine. I was angry with myself because I had been feeling good for a while then I hit a wall one day and just got high for a few weeks.
-Generally I can sometimes be irritable with people I'm completely comfortable with, which are those that deserve it least.
-I've never had a psychiatric diagnosis but I know that I have been depressed for quite a bit of my life.

The most effective psychotheraputic treatment is behavioural activation. Doing stuff. Exercise is good, socializing even if you seem to gain nothing from it, even just picking up a book to read. Continue to build that up until you are functioning normally. google it. Look into mindfullness and cogntive therapy as well. The intentet and books have been shown to provide CBT and mindfulness interventions as well as any therapist so no need to worry about splashing out on one if you can't afford it.

I will try some behavioural activation, sounds like a very good idea. I'm just a bit bogged down with uni work at the moment, coming up to the end of the academic year I have many assignments due.

I would advise the use of pharmacuticals. Start with an SSRI and follow a standard treatment algorithm - something I will provide more information on if you would like to hear it.

If you are suffering from a depressive episode - something I am quite convinced you are (once/if you answer the questions I will become more or less so); then you would fit the melancholic specifier which responds to increase noradrenaline neurons firing. DLPA, is a precurser to noradrenaline and between 500-2000mg may be helpful. Serontonergic functioning is usually a problem and so 5HTP at 50-100mg is also a good idea. NMDA and glutamate functioning has shown to be a problem in anhenonia. Acetylcysteine (in the form NAC) modulate NMDA receptors among other things.


Starting an SSRI seems a bit of a drastic treatment, considering the already altered state of my brain. And I will look into DLPA, sounds like it could be useful... I do usually feel very invigorated after a cold shower, which IIRC increases noradrenaline. I think I might have some sitting around actually, although I think it's just the L-isomer. Thanks for your detailed reply anyway!

I also was kind of acting like a robot, in extremely logical and rational ways, no place for subtility and truly it was something hard to bear because in the end you don't feel like you're human.
I had this kind of extreme apathy as well.
Now this is almost cured if not already cured, my problem was dopamine deficiency and serotonin overload.


Very interesting. Given that pretty much every drug of addiction disrupts dopamine production and that MDMA and psychedelics mess with the serotonin receptors, this may well be relevant to me.
If you dont mind telling, how did you find out that you had these things, and what course of action have you almost cured them with?

#6 OpaqueMind

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Posted 24 March 2013 - 06:32 PM

Tom is right: you're describing anhedonia way more than you're describing alexithymia. Alexithymics experience plenty of emotions but aren't very aware of them. Things like insight-oriented psychotherapy, mindfulness of body and emotions, and even just getting a few more years of life experience can help with alexithymia.

As for anhedonia, you need to treat the depression.


I don't see how it's possible to discern the difference between not feeling emotions and having them but not feeling them? From the wiki list of symptoms, what really struck a chord with me, on top of the inability to feel certain emotions was 3 and 4.

  • difficulty identifying feelings and distinguishing between feelings and the bodily sensations of emotional arousal
  • difficulty describing feelings to other people
  • constricted imaginal processes, as evidenced by a scarcity of fantasies
  • a stimulus-bound, externally oriented cognitive style.
My imagination is absolutely terrible, in terms of constructing fantasies. I literally cannot visualize anything. I never wonder about the future and have a very restricted autobiographical memory because of a lack of visualization ability. The way I think is also almost entirely externally oriented. I think in incredibly abstract terms, I can tell when I'm in conversation with friends. I barely feature in my thoughts, whereas others seem to have the anchor of self to hold all their memories and ideas in relation to.

#7 jadamgo

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Posted 24 March 2013 - 11:36 PM

It can be hard for a person to tell whether they have affective flattening or alexithymia. Usually, though, a depressed person's flat affect can be described as a change from the norm: "I don't feel things the way I used to" or "I feel empty inside" or "I just don't care about anything anymore." In contrast, people with alexithymia have been that way as long as they can remember. If there is any change, it's that an alexithymic person gradually develops more awareness of their emotions and finds it easier to talk about them.

It's much easier for third parties to tell the difference between alexithymia and flat affect. You can see emotions in the alexithymic's face, body language, actions. You can hear it in their tone of voice and sometimes even word choice, just like with any person's emotions. Just because the alexithymic isn't aware of their own emotions doesn't mean other people can't see the proof that they exist. But with depressive flat affect, you can see that they aren't making any emotional displays. Their face, body, voice, and words pretty much stay neutral or negative, with little change over the course of an interaction or even from day to day and week to week. They don't respond to things that would ordinarily aggravate or please someone -- no yelling at idiots in traffic and no joy at finding money they forgot they had.

What you describe still sounds more like anhedonia than alexithymia. You mention feelings and emotionally-driven behaviors in your posts. For example:

I have been a bit tearful recently. It's strange though, sometimes I'll get it by thinking myself into the abyss and sometimes I'll get the beautiful kind like when listening to a song that really strikes a chord in me.
-I think I was angry because of a recent relapse on tramadol and ketamine. I was angry with myself because I had been feeling good for a while then I hit a wall one day and just got high for a few weeks.

-Generally I can sometimes be irritable with people I'm completely comfortable with, which are those that deserve it least.



Alexithymic people most certainly do not understand the difference between being tearful because of depressive rumination, versus being moved by emotionally vivid music. They couldn't tell you why they felt tearful, nor why they felt angry, nor irritable.

It seems to me like you're suffering from MDD or something like it. Perhaps also some lingering post-withdrawal symptoms that will improve more quickly if you get the depression into remission, and keep it that way.

Oh, and definitely stick with the CBT-I, it really is fucking awesome. Fixing your sleep will make it much easier to heal your body and mind.
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#8 Tom_

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Posted 25 March 2013 - 08:43 AM

Put simply - alexithymia is the presence of emotions with poor ability to understand themw. Most notabley in autistic syndromes and personality disorders (borderline personality disorder & antisocial personality disorder are good examples) TBI (tramatic brain injury) is another time this is commonly seen. Anhedonia means the inability to feel pleasure but in gereral use even within the medical field is subed for blunted/flat affect - little or no emotion respectively.

is an example of depression with blunted affect, there is also tearfulness, possible thoughts of suicide bla bla bla. However it does highlight anhedonia quite well.

You said you can feel some emotions to an extent but not as you would expect someone should be able to and most emotions you expect you should react with simply aren't present. That is blunted affect.

#9 renfr

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Posted 25 March 2013 - 09:06 PM

This bears almost no resemblence to Alexithymia. You are saying you don't seem to feel much emotion - that's anhenonia. A common symptom of depression. It could well be substance induced. Would you mind sharing what substances where abused? If not, what class of substance? I.e. opioid, stimulant...etc?


How is it possible to tell the difference between not feeling emotions and having them but not being able to feel them? Looking at it now it makes sense that it is probably anhedonia. The substances I abused were many and varied, but the ones that seemed to have knocked me off kilter so drastically were some stupid doses of MDMA and random combinations of all kinds of research chemicals especially stimulants and phenethylamines. I also had a month long addiction to methoxetamine, and have gone in and out of opiates for a few years (nothing heavy, tramadol, kratom and codeine mainly). About 4 years ago I did a ridiculous amount of mephedrone, well over 50 grams over the space of about a year, sometimes going up to about 5 grams in a single session (that shit is more fiendish than cocaine). Considering the mishmash of drugs I have done I doubt that'll be much help, but if you can glean any insight from it then that'd be cool.

How is your sleep?
Do you tend to eat more than before you felt like this, less? the same amount?
Are the symptoms worst in the morning, evening? steady?
are you tearful or were you?
you mentioned anger, how strong is the feeling, in what context?
are you irritable?
have you ever had any psychiatric diagnosis before?


-My sleep is usually pretty disturbed, I often wake up repeatedly throughout the night and have trouble getting back to sleep. However I'm slowly fixing that with CBT-I which is fucking awesome.
-I seem to eat more, or at least when I'm at the fridge I'll just gorge shit. I have pretty poor self-control in general, which is also something I'm working on. Although it's difficult when you're in the 'I don't give a fuck' mode.
-The symptoms seem to be worse in the morning, although that could be because I usually exercise and meditate late morning which noticeably puts me in a better mood.
-I have been a bit tearful recently. It's strange though, sometimes I'll get it by thinking myself into the abyss and sometimes I'll get the beautiful kind like when listening to a song that really strikes a chord in me.
-I think I was angry because of a recent relapse on tramadol and ketamine. I was angry with myself because I had been feeling good for a while then I hit a wall one day and just got high for a few weeks.
-Generally I can sometimes be irritable with people I'm completely comfortable with, which are those that deserve it least.
-I've never had a psychiatric diagnosis but I know that I have been depressed for quite a bit of my life.

The most effective psychotheraputic treatment is behavioural activation. Doing stuff. Exercise is good, socializing even if you seem to gain nothing from it, even just picking up a book to read. Continue to build that up until you are functioning normally. google it. Look into mindfullness and cogntive therapy as well. The intentet and books have been shown to provide CBT and mindfulness interventions as well as any therapist so no need to worry about splashing out on one if you can't afford it.

I will try some behavioural activation, sounds like a very good idea. I'm just a bit bogged down with uni work at the moment, coming up to the end of the academic year I have many assignments due.

I would advise the use of pharmacuticals. Start with an SSRI and follow a standard treatment algorithm - something I will provide more information on if you would like to hear it.

If you are suffering from a depressive episode - something I am quite convinced you are (once/if you answer the questions I will become more or less so); then you would fit the melancholic specifier which responds to increase noradrenaline neurons firing. DLPA, is a precurser to noradrenaline and between 500-2000mg may be helpful. Serontonergic functioning is usually a problem and so 5HTP at 50-100mg is also a good idea. NMDA and glutamate functioning has shown to be a problem in anhenonia. Acetylcysteine (in the form NAC) modulate NMDA receptors among other things.


Starting an SSRI seems a bit of a drastic treatment, considering the already altered state of my brain. And I will look into DLPA, sounds like it could be useful... I do usually feel very invigorated after a cold shower, which IIRC increases noradrenaline. I think I might have some sitting around actually, although I think it's just the L-isomer. Thanks for your detailed reply anyway!

I also was kind of acting like a robot, in extremely logical and rational ways, no place for subtility and truly it was something hard to bear because in the end you don't feel like you're human.
I had this kind of extreme apathy as well.
Now this is almost cured if not already cured, my problem was dopamine deficiency and serotonin overload.


Very interesting. Given that pretty much every drug of addiction disrupts dopamine production and that MDMA and psychedelics mess with the serotonin receptors, this may well be relevant to me.
If you dont mind telling, how did you find out that you had these things, and what course of action have you almost cured them with?

I would say a lot of luck and coincidence.
I started supplementation back in mid-2011 after reading a post on longecity saying oxiracetam could make you more social and talkative through google.
Did a lot of racetams, Se-methyl-L-selenocysteine, choline, fish oil without significant results this lasted until june 2012.
Also did sulbutiamine from time to time but other supplements probably overrided the results (I guess bacopa did).
Then 4 months with bacopa + fish oil + vit C, a huge mistake as bacopa is extremely serotonergic, it caused PLMD when going to bed. Some research led me to the fact that bacopa lowers dopamine, knowing that sulbutiamine was dopaminergic I knocked down a few tabs and it worked for my PLMD.
October 2012, I stopped using bacopa, started with several vitamins and antioxidants, no improvement still...
Early 2013, I tried L-tyrosine + NALT, L-tyrosine didn't gave me anything, maybe NALT did.
Early February 2013, found out that vitamin D could help conversion of amino acids into their respective neurotransmitters (l-tyrosine -> dopamine, tryptophan -> serotonin, etc...) so I upped my vitamin D from low quality 2500IU to 10000IU, for about one week I had a dopamine surge (indicated by increased motivation, leg tapping, less brain fog, more sex drive).
mid february 2013 I went back to the good old sulbutiamine and it started rapidly to solve my problems, I took it for 1 month then withdrew 1 week (just a test) then started again 1 week ago, this is what I got from it :
- much more increased motivation, no more lethargy (no more sleeping during the day etc)
- no need for an alarm clock, I wake up naturally after 6-7h of sleep totally refreshed, before I would need an alarm clock to wake up after 7h of sleep and would wake up 9h after and with some tiredness
- increased sex drive
- dopaminergic syndrome (leg tapping, tweaking, ...)
- less brain fog, increased memory retention
- reversal of anhedonia
- anecdotically I don't feel ashamed to show my tastes to show what I do to people, before I was very "secret", ashamed of showing what I like to others and I was also very submissive I was trying to not annoy people even if they weren't actually annoyed.
- social interaction is much more easy, instead of being a challenge it's a no brainer, eye contact was something really hard for me to do, with sulbutiamine I can look at the other one without making an awkward eye contact or avoiding eye contact
also before I was kinda "mute", you know like a feeling of being unable or not willing to talk to another person
- words came out much more easily and therefore I can interact socially, before I was mentally slow and it would take me time to form proper eloquent sentences or just even have a normal discussion with another person
It's much more easy to manipulate the memories of my brain.
- Sentiment of fear is almostly inexistent
in other terms I almost reversed most of my issues and this make me feel really great, I guess most of my problem was because of lack of vitamin D that impaired conversion of l-tyrosine, eating too much which downregulates dopamine, etc... I also combine sulbutiamine with HIIT exercise.
Serotonergics are definetely my enemies, bacopa was truly destructive and counterproductive. (but I was like that before bacopaso it isn't entirely the culprit).
Serotonin is 99% the culprit for me and this is in adequation with studies showing that serotonin makes you lethargic, submissive (I guess that's a factor in being alpha male or not) and even suicidal (notably 5ht2a receptors).
I was indeed almost like you, too cerebral, too logical and so on and this destroyed my social life, also I was irritable to my family and they didn't deserve this, I was a total zombie alive in the outside but dead in the inside your nickname is a good analogy to that problem, an opaque mind that is.
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#10 Flex

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Posted 07 December 2013 - 07:54 AM

Tom is right: you're describing anhedonia way more than you're describing alexithymia. Alexithymics experience plenty of emotions but aren't very aware of them. Things like insight-oriented psychotherapy, mindfulness of body and emotions, and even just getting a few more years of life experience can help with alexithymia.

As for anhedonia, you need to treat the depression.


I don't see how it's possible to discern the difference between not feeling emotions and having them but not feeling them? From the wiki list of symptoms, what really struck a chord with me, on top of the inability to feel certain emotions was 3 and 4.
  • difficulty identifying feelings and distinguishing between feelings and the bodily sensations of emotional arousal
  • difficulty describing feelings to other people
  • constricted imaginal processes, as evidenced by a scarcity of fantasies
  • a stimulus-bound, externally oriented cognitive style.
My imagination is absolutely terrible, in terms of constructing fantasies. I literally cannot visualize anything. I never wonder about the future and have a very restricted autobiographical memory because of a lack of visualization ability. The way I think is also almost entirely externally oriented. I think in incredibly abstract terms, I can tell when I'm in conversation with friends. I barely feature in my thoughts, whereas others seem to have the anchor of self to hold all their memories and ideas in relation to.


I didnt read the whole thread but as far as I read, this remembers me a bit of myself.

Like thinking somehow robotic or autistic.

When my friends do gossip, I do rather analyse the topics and evaluate the subject of the topic like e.g.they are complaining about something and I`m instead searching for the solution and analyse their positions and maybe faults.

So my personal cause is Weed abuse, which increases this sort of behavior to me.
And as far as I remeber Quetiapine has helped me in this terms.

The difference was curious, like the analytical way of thinking and the "normal" way of thinking/ felling are somehow the exactly opposites to each other.

As for the anterior cingulate cortex I found this:

http://blogs.scienti...rug-is-tylenol/

( And for God´s sake, DO NEVER overdose Paracetamol / Tylenol It kills Your Liver very effective in high doses. The worst case is death due organ failure. )

And this:
Cholinesterase inhibitors and Nefiracetam may significantly reduce apathetic symptoms.
However, their efficacy was examined in relatively small clinical trials that require replication.
http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/20540829

SO if You are unsure about the causes of Your issues, here is some Info stuff:

http://www.cerebrome...te/struct_i.htm
http://www.psycheduc...n/brain pix.htm
http://brainmind.com/BasalGanglia.html

#11 Tom_

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Posted 07 December 2013 - 01:54 PM

Why on earth is starting an antidepressant drastic? I think that's mild. The idea is they will clear up whatever brain cooties you have.

When faced with extremely complex atypical presentations Stahl always empirically treats symptoms when no clear diagnosis can be made - something I've noticed all psychopharmacologists seem to do and something I strongly stand by.. Sertraline or Trazadone are great places to start with possible augmenters being Buspirone, Aripiprazole or Lamotrigine.

I'm glad to hear you are using CBT-I, Mindfulness and the like. It might be an idea to see a psychotherapist, somebody working with an integrated model who uses a lot of CBT and some insight orientated psychotherapy as well.
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#12 OpaqueMind

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Posted 07 December 2013 - 07:58 PM

Many people mention apathy on SSRIs, and they just seem to me to be a very blunt instrument to fix a (chemically) subtle problem. Almost all pharmacological intervention is inadequate for recovery from neurological damage, and the side-effects generally do more harm than good. I think there are certain unusual cases where someone might benefit from it, but given the efficacy is barely above placebo, and less than a good exercise regimen, it seems like there are more effective and natural options out there.

The problem is that most mental imbalances are systemically induced and therefore need to be systemically addressed. I've basically fixed all the problems I stated above with extensive neurofeedback training, eliminating dietary allergens and exercising frequently. I think the chinese have it right when they emphasise the health of the body in mental conditions, the body-mind is tightly integrated.

#13 brynnd

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Posted 01 December 2016 - 04:47 AM

This bears almost no resemblence to Alexithymia. You are saying you don't seem to feel much emotion - that's anhenonia. A common symptom of depression. It could well be substance induced. Would you mind sharing what substances where abused? If not, what class of substance? I.e. opioid, stimulant...etc?

How is your sleep?
Do you tend to eat more than before you felt like this, less? the same amount?
Are the symptoms worst in the morning, evening? steady?
are you tearful or were you?
you mentioned anger, how strong is the feeling, in what context?
are you irritable?
have you ever had any psychiatric diagnosis before?

The most effective psychotheraputic treatment is behavioural activation. Doing stuff. Exercise is good, socializing even if you seem to gain nothing from it, even just picking up a book to read. Continue to build that up until you are functioning normally. google it. Look into mindfullness and cogntive therapy as well. The intentet and books have been shown to provide CBT and mindfulness interventions as well as any therapist so no need to worry about splashing out on one if you can't afford it.

I would advise the use of pharmacuticals. Start with an SSRI and follow a standard treatment algorithm - something I will provide more information on if you would like to hear it.

If you are suffering from a depressive episode - something I am quite convinced you are (once/if you answer the questions I will become more or less so); then you would fit the melancholic specifier which responds to increase noradrenaline neurons firing. DLPA, is a precurser to noradrenaline and between 500-2000mg may be helpful. Serontonergic functioning is usually a problem and so 5HTP at 50-100mg is also a good idea. NMDA and glutamate functioning has shown to be a problem in anhenonia. Acetylcysteine (in the form NAC) modulate NMDA receptors among other things.

 



#14 brynnd

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Posted 01 December 2016 - 04:56 AM

okay so let me explain. when you experience Alexithymia you dont feel depressed. you may recognise that the situation is sad or like that it should be a sad moment, happy, or angry moment but it does not connect in your brain why you are feeling this way, therefore it goes away shortly after and you are left feeling like a robot again. same with happiness, anger, you can recognise that a person is happy,mad, etc but you cant feel for them because the feeling doesnt make sence to you because you dont know what to connect it to or what it feels like. 



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#15 Mind_Paralysis

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Posted 01 December 2016 - 10:08 AM

Whatever happened to Opaquemind? Did he overcome his Anhedonia? (and yeah, I agree with others here - it's anhedonia, NOT Alexithymia)

 

I wonder if he ever tried NSI-189? That compound seems to reignite emotion to the damn near BREAKING-POINT - to the point where some would even prefer to be dead robots then feel SOO GOD-DAMN MUCH...!

 

Holy crappola, that stuff makes me emotional! Everything is in overdrive, like, the very light around you becomes several magnitudes more emotionally powerful, like if you're in f***in' OZ or something!

 

Incredible stuff, but too powerful in some ways.

 

It would have been very interesting to see Opaquemind's anhedonia stand up to THAT...! ; )







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