Alexithymia: The Science of Emotional Blindness (with

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Alexithymia is the inability to understand or recognise emotions, so this week Noah joins us to talk about his feelings...
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References & Further Reading
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...
neuro.psychiatryonline.org/do...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
www.britannica.com/science/em...
www.sciencefocus.com/the-huma...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...

[@SciGuys]

Use code SCIGUYS at the link below to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan: incogni.com/SCIGUYS Are you autistic? Do you experience Alexithymia?

[@Kaltag2278]

Yes and yes, getting better with therapy and practice 💪🏽

[@dq8431]

probably autistic and not really

[@Geeking768]

I am a diagnosed autistic person and experience this all the time, my therapy sessions are mostly silent when im asked how im feeling and why lol

[@user-cs6cl8er4u]

i have autism, im not sure about alexithymia, but because im autisic one of my special interests/hyperfixations is actually noah's music (lol) so, i just wanted to say how much i love it :) (and please come to australia!!! (and queensland, please!!!!)

[@nataliatheweirdo]

yesyesyes

[@luke]

someone should write a song called that

[@NoahFelixx]

Good idea. I think it would have a pretty cool music video!

[@MAX.IS.K00L_]

Definitely, it should be played on a tour.

[@JW-biswede]

Ummm….actually…😂 Love you guys!❤

[@Over.thewillow]

Alexithymia: the science of emotional blindness (with @noahfinnce) sci guys #258 is a bit of a long name for a song

[@asherapparently]

there should be a music video for a song like that it’d be pretty sick tbh

[@starting-fires]

this episode should be called cory diagnoses luke and noah for 63 miniutes straight

[@the_bandcamp_one]

isn't that just half the whole podcast /hj

[@lizwrites2463]

weird request but I thought this community of neurodivergent queer nerds might be interested: the new york state schools are having a mascot contest and the best one by far is a canonically non-binary acorn named Oakie from a teeny tiny environmental science school full of nature nerds who compete in weird sports like kayaking and lumberjacking. I don’t even go to a SUNY school but i’ve become unreasonably invested in supporting this fun little acorn. If you want to help Oakie look up “suny mascot madness” and go vote, they’re in region 3!

[@llamasontheeastside]

Aww, this is so sweet! Oakie the acorn, the concept of march madness for mascots 😂 and this request. 😊 It looks like I’m too late to support them ☹️ but Oakie made it to the semifinals! 🥳

[@aster_11]

Alexithymia made me cry the first time I listened to it, it was so relatable and Noah was able to express things through words that I never could

[@he.said.teenjiejer]

i’m autistic and i do a lot of theater. luke and noah talking about music videos was really interesting because it made me realize that acting has made me understand my emotions more. edit: oh my god this episode is so fucking eye-opening. luke talking about the color wheel of emotions and having all the vocabulary, but still not having the ability to describe your emotions was so incredibly relatable to me. i can’t even say how many times therapists have handed me that color wheel of emotions when i’ve been unable to articulate my emotions and i’ve just had to hand it back. all it does is overwhelm me.

[@aven813]

me while watching this: *my head hurts...it's almost 6pm...hmm maybe I'm hungry*

[@superdrwholock]

It's the most frustrating thing, my worst parts about having autism and ADHD are 1. This, 2. I'm Socially inept, 3. Sensory issues that limit my ability to go out and do things, 4. I struggle so much with concentrating unless something interests me and 5. Comparing myself to other autistic people who are way better at masking and thinking omfg why can't I be like that and cope better. I know that is an unhealthy thing to do but I still do it. I have 'level 2' autism which it confuses me how there are levels like what is the cut off point between the levels but I also understand that these labels help people conceptualise it better

[@Goldie-qc9pn]

I have alexithymia but not autism. Within the past few months tho, my gf of almost 6 years told me it wouldn’t hurt to get tested for autism. I turn 20 this year, and I am a high achieving electrical engineering student with ADHD. Because I’ve known I was ADHD for a long time, I’ve chalked up most things I experience to ADHD. However, I have noticed I relate far more to those who are AuDHD than those who are simply ADHD or autistic. Who knows? I simply wish to better understand myself and those around me, so I am open to whatever language ends up doing that the best. The problem is, I want these things to be figured out by someone else telling me, cus the only experience I know is my own. How am I supposed to know how what I am doing relates to the “norm”?

[@isjitaradalhard7472]

29:29 "I refuse to be advertised to"...during an advertisement 🤣

[@MythicalSquidInk.]

This is the longest add for a song

[@oddsocks3723]

This video did not need to call me out personally 💀

[@Teacup-ht4xd]

im autistic and when i listened to noah's song for the first time I felt so damn understood. thank you noah for your music, it helps me a lot. and thanks sci guys for being my FAV podcast I LOVE SCI GUYSSSS

[@torijeri]

I definitely experience Alexithymia as well as poor interoception. It’s actually quite scary because I can be in a serious amount of pain but I won’t know that’s what it is. I’ll know i’m in pain but I won’t be able to understand the severity of it or if it’s bad enough for me to go to the hospital. People always would say it’s just a “high pain tolerance” but since I also can’t tell when i’m hungry until my stomach starts growling or need to go to the bathroom until i get pain in my bladder I think it’s all just cus my interoception is dogshit lol YES i am also autistic ✌🏼

[@Goldie-qc9pn]

That’s very interesting. I also struggle with the bathroom one specifically. I don’t know why, but I would go an entire day or two without using the restroom just cus I forgot. I schedule my trips to the bathroom now. I don’t think I have the same thing as you, but I felt like sharing cus I thought what u said was interesting. Weirdly, when I moved out of my parents house and went off to college, I suddenly could feel when I needed to use the restroom which was really odd at first. The feeling sucks and it’s really uncomfortable and all consuming. Idk how ppl deal with it their whole lives. I also don’t even know if it truly is to the same level as most people. I doubt I’ll ever know.

[@superdrwholock]

I get weird issues with that too, I sometimes go to the toilet feeling like I need to pee and nothing happens, had that ever since I can remember. I've also had very bad stomach pains particularly as a kid to the point it would wake me up at night it was awful but it seems to not be as bad now that I'm older

[@Cabin7_official]

Alexithymia is such a relatable song 😭

[@TomiThemself]

That 2:24 "Uhmm, liver" lol

[@Kaltag2278]

How does anyone have control over their face at all times? I can barely remember how to breathe or what my hands should be doing. I can't concentrate on that many things at once.

[@Howdidyouknow04]

I don’t think I have alexithymia but I am autistic.

[@Itsamebutnotmario]

For A Long Time when I was a child/early teenager I was terrified of being like a sociopath because I felt (hah) like i didn't feel anything at all even though I'm a very expressive person in an outsider perspective. Also, as a trans person, coming to terms with my gender was a whole thing bc there were some kinds of Bad that came from dysphoria, but I couldn't really pick them apart from the other Bad and then I just thought I was faking everything ever

[@basketchaos]

When the song Alexithymia came out, I looked up the word so that I could have a better idea what the song is about. I havent felt so called out since I took the RAADS-R test 😅 I just had the opportunity to sit down tonight and try to do more research on it, just in time for your episode on it!

[@DreamNLego.]

I knew this would be my fav song on the album because idk any songs that talk about this.

[@riotroyale]

i am definitely neurospicy, and so i tend to have emotional blind spots when it comes to empathy and trying to sympathize with people; and i often end up sharing similar issues with folks in an attempt to try and relate but it often comes off as "i have more problems/im not listening to you right now". trying to balance my social blindness with my constant hyper-vigilance amongst other people is sooooo annoying.

[@karl8272]

just saw noah in dc the other night this is what i need thank you

[@rainen7817]

I really enjoyed this video, it was cool learning about an experience I’ve never heard of. I saw Noah perform a few days ago in Fort Worth Texas!! It was amazing, I’ve watched him since I was little and love his and Cory’s content. Thank you guys so much for existing and making me feel a bit less alone

[@kawaiicharlie9650]

I have noticed from this podcast that i use the same emojis when i text, only to show emotions. I dont use any enojis other than the obvious expression ones and that is to show the tone of my text. Otherwise i wouldnt use any emojis at all.

[@sabinajoh]

I think a few folks might crack their alexithymia egg ALSO I RELATE TO THE HSP COMMENT! I got it like 6 years before I got diagnosed with autism. I truly think I was just autistic

[@piddlydiddly]

Great vid. I know you can't get therapy "wrong" but I've gone through CBT about 5 times now and every single time I get actions/feelings/thoughts all mixed up, they're all exactly the same thing to me and it just makes CBT impossible, but it's the gold standard for my diagnosed conditions, so.... joy!

[@user-in8it1rx6l]

I have missed u guys... Perfect after a long weekend.. Silly, fun sciguys

[@Perr1n]

2:25 emotions come from the liver, confirmed.

[@koda5209]

I've tried describing this as I dont know how to cough unless i have a cough. I dont know my emotions until i have one. I think I'm in a constant state of feeling neutral. Or maybe low emotion where i cant pin point it.

[@clariluna]

I have Borderline and this is super relatable

[@bleh3.2]

I sent my friend a video talking about something and I listened back to it so many times because first I had to listen to with my volume up to make sure I sounded how I wanted to and then I had to go back and listen to it at the volume he usually has his phone to make sure it sound the same before I let myself send it to him, I actually cannot use emojis though because I'm so conscious of how it would sound, I'll sit debating over whether or not to use just a regular old smiley phase because what if it comes off not how I wanted it to

[@mathieugeorgesjustin]

Ofc every sentence in a text should end with an emoji. 😬

[@noahsev12]

yes i am autistic and yes i do in fact have alexithymia

[@MawceResimont-rd3sw]

Yes and yes

[@KittyKate10778]

i am audhd and experience alexythmia (i also cant spell that word) its not fun especially since i grew up chronically ill and saw a lot of drs who frequently asked how im feeling and got i dont know as a response

[@asherapparently]

HEAVY on the not knowing when you’re hungry…. i only notice that i haven’t eaten when i start to physically feel something, like when i start to shake 😭 otherwise i just,, forget?

[@Teacup-ht4xd]

sammmmmeeee

[@bleh3.2]

Sometimes you sit down to watch a silly goofy podcast by silly goofy guys and get hit by realization after realization and now you gotta sift through your whole life experience going "so that's what that was, interesting maybe that autism diagnosis isn't such a bad idea" I've always hated how people ask "how/what are you feeling?" cause like I know that I'm feeling an Emotion and they know that I'm feeling an Emotion and they're waiting for me to tell them what emotion but suddenly I can't open my mouth because I literally have no idea how to describe the Emotion other than 'kinda feels a little wonky in my stomach' and apparently that "doesn't make sense" and "I need to give more explanation, am I angry? scared?" like my guy I do not understand how specific emotions feel I don't know what you want me to do about that

[@adamalkhawaja2003]

I have autism and alexithymia 🥲

[@sakaimae]

I can't wait to watch this whilst stuffing my face with pizza :D

[@TomiThemself]

Goddamn, now I don't know if I am actually on the asexual spectrum, or I just have a sort of alexithymia. Fascinatingly enough, a lot of autistic people are on the aro-ace spectrum, so what if we are not actually 100% aro-ace but we just don't understand our emotions (gosh, that sounded quite acephobic and wrong, but genuinely, that I feel might be the case for me, cuz I still KNOW that I feel SOMETHING, but I just don't know if what I feel is romantic and/or platonic (or maybe even sexual) love - it's there, just dunno what/which). If I am wrong (and it's not due to alexithymia), than still, there is still a fascinating comorbidity between being neurodivergent and aro-ace. Why's that? I kind of understand why a lot of neurodivergent people are trans/non-binary, but definitely next episode of SciGuys could be about either: 1. Why are most neurodivergent people aro-ace?; or 2. Neurodivergent people, and attraction/gender-alexithymia. Genuinely, that would be a really fascinating video, cuz I feel that I and many other neurodivergent people just don't understand our feelings, attraction and identities, while these things are much more instant to neurotypical people...

[@sn0wy2055]

Yes, thank you!!!

[@karl8272]

yes i do have autism!!

[@karl8272]

OH HELL YEAH BROTHER!!!

[@szymonp1701]

mm the tysm

[@LennySpring]

Once again realising that I’m not the norm..

[@user-up4fp1bf6l]

I don’t have autism and I didn’t know what alexythemia was before seeing this video so when I heard the song I thought Noah legit just made up a word. I actually thought the name was supposed to be about being trans because Alex is a like a stereotypical trans guy name…

[@leannecuster1490]

So like blind people would have different emotions from seeing

[@a_ggghost]

STAHP CHAGNING VIDEOO TITEL

[@tinklostboy]

I have a bellybutton 🐌🥦

[@5p0ng35]

:0

[@user-in8it1rx6l]

😂😂😅🤣😆😃😂

[@BecauseICouldNotStopForDeath]

This one hit hard for me. When I have feelings, I tend to create a story to understand them. Im upset (or any emotion, really), but I have no idea how to process that. Ok, I'll pace for hours and "process" that through a character. It is most likely not the same emotion, definitely not the same context, but I have felt something. It's easier to feel through someone else than to sit down and try to explain to myself what and why my body is experiencing this. I can understand someone else's feelings but not my own. It's why I love to watch movie/TV and read or, as stated above, to create stories. Like I was 20 years old when I first felt hunger. I would go long periods of time without eating sometimes two days before I'm like, "Why is my body shaking???" Think on it for a long time and try to figure it out, listing all the possibilities and then be like, "Oh, right, I need to eat. When was the last time I did that???" I now have alarms and set times to do so because even though I now know the feeling of hunger, my body and mind will just forget to do something about it because I'm doing another task. Thank you for the video it helped a lot!!!

[@user-in8it1rx6l]

😂😂😅🤣😆😃😂