Topic: Alexithymia and smell

& not as strong as yours.
Thx,Great insight about relationship between smell & emotions !

I can identify smells. I cannot handle "Floral" smells like in incense or perfume or candles. My mom always wore rose milk lotion and when it got REALLY HOT outside, that rose milk lotion SMELLED!

Yeah, I can kind of relate to this. Most typical smells I can identify pretty easily, like bacon, as you said, and my mom's perfume. But sometimes I'll smell something that invokes nostalgia in me, and I can neither identify the smell nor the memory associated with it, and it'll drive me insane (and when this happens, I can't even tell where the scent is coming from, either).

I'm not the person to confirm whether or not your theory is true, but I think it does have some validity. It is a pretty close parallel, and makes sense when you consider the link between smell and emotion. I think there's a connection between the inability to identify scents and the inability to identify emotions.

Hello this is my first time learning that there was a name for something like me I've been always wondering why I couldn't connect with someone who was crying or going through something. I always got why does your face look like that or what's wrong today my reply nothing because I have no feelings...

Hi Dollface.

Welcome. I have found a lot of support here. But I wish people would post more often.

Ever since the internet came out, I have googled the words "Inability to connect to feelings" for years, only to get "ZERO" results. Finally a couple years ago, this came up. So glad it's not just me.

My mom was frustrated with me my entire life. I didn't get challenged on facial expressions. I just got "told" how to "feel." My mom said she got "told" how to "Feel" by her mom, too, so it's what she learned. I think my Mom is a closet alexithymic but won't admit it.

... I can identify quite subtle smells and components. If anything I am overwhelmed by some 'common' smells, so called air-fresheners, a lot of perfumes and hair spray etc ... I find very unpleasant!

If anything I am overwhelmed by some 'common' smells, so called air-fresheners, a lot of perfumes and hair spray etc ... I find very unpleasant!

Whoa! When I initially read the OP, I didn't think of that. Perfumes, Air Fresheners, YES THEY ANNOY ME! O, and if a guy wearing a lot of cologne talks on MY phone, ARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!

Oh, by the way, a Scientist told me there is NO SUCH THING as an "Air Freshener." What those "products" do is deaden the nerves in your nose so you no longer smell the offending odor.

I just use an open jar of white vinegar, takes odors out much better....

Yes. Me too. Very often I don't know 'what is this smells' and 'where does it come from'.
You can google it. Sociopathic people are having similar troubles.

For me it's the opposite; I'm often the only one to notice different smells and many details. When I enter a room, I'm immediately overflown with the temperature of the room, its smell, if it's messy or not; and know exactly if that'll give me a headache (for example) if I stay there too long.

I'm oversensitive to goddamn details.