💬 What Is Alexithymia? Understanding Emotions That Are Hard to Name

Celine Dyer
Jan 12, 2024
1 min read

For some neurodivergent individuals, identifying and expressing emotions doesn’t come easily—not because they don’t feel emotions, but because it can be difficult to understand or describe what those emotions actually are.

This experience is known as alexithymia.

🧠 What Is Alexithymia?

Alexithymia refers to challenges in:

Identifying and naming one’s own emotions
Understanding how different emotions feel in the body
Describing feelings to others
Interpreting the emotions of others in social situations

It’s not a mental illness, but rather a trait or way of processing emotions that’s common in neurodivergent people.

🧍 How It May Show Up

Someone with alexithymia may:

Struggle to say whether they are feeling sad, angry, anxious, or excited
Find it hard to explain emotional experiences or needs
Appear emotionally “flat” or disconnected—when in fact, they’re feeling things deeply
Miss emotional cues in conversations or group settings

These challenges can sometimes lead to misunderstanding, or difficulty accessing emotional support—because if you can’t name what you’re feeling, it’s harder to ask for help.

💡 Why It Matters

Understanding alexithymia helps create more compassionate and supportive environments. When we know someone might struggle with emotional language or cues, we can adapt how we connect, support, and communicate with them.

By building emotional awareness and offering support that’s attuned to neurodivergent experiences, we can help people feel more seen, safe, and understood.