Topic: Alexithymia and Autism

I have autism and according to the questionnaire on this site I'm strongly Alexithymic. How do I cope? With what? Although I was only recently diagnosed with autism the condition has obviously been there for my entire life, likewise if I'm Alexithymic that's also probably been there for my entire life too. So I don't need to consciously cope with either of them as such. Autism and Alexithymia are just there, they're part of what I am and always have been, so I don't know any other way of existing, of being me.

amyes87, Alexithymia doesn't compound the problems of autism, it's just an integral part. E.g., it's hard to pick up on somebody's emotional state when you don't have a good grasp on emotions in the first place. So the problems you've (probably) been having reading people (since you're autistic) can be attributed to Alexithymia, even though you've always looked at it as a problem due to autism (before you heard of Alexithymia). I.e., any coping mechanisms you've been working on for your autism are still appropriate.

I always knew I was different, I didn't see the world like other people.

My job is in electronics engineering and I've always joked that all engineers are borderline autistic. My aspergers was only discovered a year or two back (Self diagnosis) and today I found out I have Alexithemia. I think they are probably closely related.

i have autism and i took the test and scored 185.
thats pretty high right?
also i dont like anybody, or myself.
so i use the internet a lot.

treshcen, you aced it. Most people with Autism score pretty high on the test. What I've also found is that people with a "low" score (130s) have emotions, but they're just screwed up. Really high scores are indicative (from what I've seen on this site) of shallow emotions. I have my moments, but most of the time I'm emotionally dead (score in the 170s).

GenX, I went into IT and became a software engineer. All the stem professions are heavily populated with aspies.

I too am autistic. And not clear on what you are asking.
How to cope with autism or alexithymia, or both? Resources for both?
This here seems to be the only alexithymia resource I have encountered online. However, there are occasionally alexithymia topics on autism forums if that is helpful in any way. I have also started with a new therapist who is familiar with both (as they can often occur together) and she has had some further insight than most into my inabilities.
Resources for autism for adults are unfortunately scarce. There is the possibility of support/social groups or appropriate therapies by region depending on where you are, but that too unfortunately seems to be too variable to be useful in my opinion. Autistics, it seems, can't even socialize with each other, and many therapies for autistic adults assume intellectual disability, when in fact many adult autistics are of above average intelligence.
I find coping with both easier when one encompasses and acknowledges them, and does not try to "fake" being either neurotypical or empathetic.

CV, we live in an intolerant world. Most people are NT, and they won't accept you unless you're NT, too. If you don't fake being NT, most people will treat you like you're a leper. CV, how can you get through life without pretending to be NT?

I've never pretended to by NT, even before I knew that's what it was called. I didn't know I was autistic either, neither did anyone else, until I was recently diagnosed. Other people mainly just assumed I was a either weird, mentally deranged or a visitor from another planet. At school I was originally known as Space Case of Space Boy but when we began to learn Latin some bright spark decided to called me Moon Boy, because of the Latin link between words Moon (Luna) and Lunatic. The nickname was quickly shortened to Moony and it stuck. The simple fact was that I stuck out like a sore thumb. It wasn't intentional, I didn't go out of my way to be wacky and different it just came to me naturally, that's just how I was, how I am and how I've always been. Even as a very young child I realsied that I was different and I tried to copy the behaviour of other boys when I was at infants school, but failed miserably. Apparently a faker stands out even more, and is viewed more negatively, than someone who is just naturally odd. Although I was called Moony, I was seldom picked on or bullied because most of the other kids at school appeared to view me as a mildly amusing and essentially harmless little chap, a sort of class mascot who was in need of protection. I guess it made them feel important and adult to stop anyone else from picking on the class retard. That's been the story of my life, I'm just me and since infants school I've never pretended to be anything else. In the main people view me as odd but they simply accept it and generally treat me pretty pleasantly. However even though I am now an adult they still view me with a degree of kindly disbelief, as if I really were a strange kid from another planet. Some people might view that as being condescending or patronising but I just accept it, because it makes absolutely no difference to me whatsoever how other people view me.

...we don't live in a vacuum. How other people view you can be deleterious to your lifestyle. I used to work as a contract programmer (software consultant) so I was never at the same jobsite for long. I've had to find more conventional (lower paying) work for the last 14 years, so I've had to fake being NT to "fit in"; it doesn't work. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but two years seems to be the longest I can work at one place (some jobs let you move around in the company, so I can work in those companies for four years by moving from office to office). I was even told by one manager that I was a "great programmer", while she was firing me; 3 months on that job. I think I'm just not doing a very good job pretending to be NT; maybe its something else.

http://www.nature.com/tp/journal/v3/n7/full/tp201361a.html

Mixed emotions: the contribution of alexithymia to the emotional symptoms of autism.

The author of this paper states that many of the symptoms associated with autism are actually symptoms of Alexithymia. The paper goes on to say that autism is the result of signal connectivity issues in the brain, and so is Alexithymia; hence the high number of autistic who have Alexithymia. Primary Alexithymia is the result of connectivity issues in the limbic system; i.e., between the anterior cingulate and the anterior insula.

I had a brain scan done this year, and it shows I only have theta wave activity in this part of my brain; the type of brain waves you have right before falling asleep (my emotions are never awake). So, according to this paper, I should have Alexithymia.

This paper ends with the conjecture that there is a type 1 Alexithymia (a lack of physiological arousal from emotions) and type 2 (physiological arousal is present but the emotions don't have a connection to cognition).

http://www.nature.com/tp/journal/v3/n7/full/tp201361a.html

Mixed emotions: the contribution of alexithymia to the emotional symptoms of autism.

The author of this paper states that many of the symptoms associated with autism are actually symptoms of Alexithymia. The paper goes on to say that autism is the result of signal connectivity issues in the brain, and so is Alexithymia; hence the high number of autistic who have Alexithymia. Primary Alexithymia is the result of connectivity issues in the limbic system; i.e., between the anterior cingulate and the anterior insula.

I had a brain scan done this year, and it shows I only have theta wave activity in this part of my brain; the type of brain waves you have right before falling asleep (my emotions are never awake). So, according to this paper, I should have Alexithymia.

This paper ends with the conjecture that there is a type 1 Alexithymia (a lack of physiological arousal from emotions) and type 2 (physiological arousal is present but the emotions don't have a connection to cognition).

I don't have theta waves in my limbic system, but delta waves; those are the type of waves your brain produces when you're sleeping; i.e., my emotions are asleep.