Autism, Alexithymia and Interoception
What is Alexithymia?….
Alexithymia is described as difficulty experiencing, identifying, and expressing emotions.
There is a high occurrence of alexithymia in the autistic population, almost 50% of Autistic people surveyed in one study expreincing it. According to research 13% of the population experience alexithymia. It's more common in AMAB people and one study of a Chinese prison revealed 30% of the inmates experienced alexithymia.
Now let's shelve that for a second and look at interoception.
Interoception is the ability to detect and attend to internal bodily sensations. Things like hunger, illness, feeling your heartbeat etc.
It's not hard to see how these two are connected right? After all emotion IS an internal bodily sensation isn't it?
It's long been thought that alexithymia in autistic people is connected to poor interoception because of our sensory differences… and that's a very easy and logical conclusion to come to.
Let's dig a little deeper….
Recent thinking is starting to link alexithymia to trauma and I have to say I'm inclined to agree…
Let's think about growing up autistic. Constant invalidation of our needs, sensory invalidation, sensory overwhelm, being misunderstood etc etc etc.
One study suggested that 50% of autistic people met criteria for post-traumatic stress. Thing is post traumatic stress is measured by traumatic life events which is a very NT-centric way of looking at it. What about masking? Sensory invalidation and trauma etc?
If you are Autistic or are in anyways connected to the community, you will know that trauma amongst our community is a very real thing, I'm yet to meet an autistic person that isn't traumatised in some way. So, having said that…
When we are invalidated from a sensory perspective, it teaches us that our bodies and instincts lie to us. When we have to mask (which we know IS a trauma response), we ignore our internal self and try really hard to present an acceptable version of ourselves to the world.
WE ARE TAUGHT FROM A VERY YOUNG AGE NOT TO TRUST WHAT'S GOING ON INSIDE!
Is it any wonder we experience problems with interoception and then alexithymia?
We are unable to be authentic….
We experience separation from self…
. What can we do about it?
All is not lost!
One of the most valuable things we can do to reconnect is getting in our senses! When we start exploring our senses again, it reconnects us with our internal goings-on and helps us learn our boundaries from a sensory perspective.
STIM, STIM, STIM… I often feel bad for our NT kin because it's such a joy they miss out on!
Find a community. Connecting with people just like you (double empathy) who experience the things you do is incredibly validating. Simple words such as "hey, I do that too" can reduce us to tears because we thought we were on our own in the world and we're not!
Learn from other autistic people and the community.
If you had a leaky tap you'd call a plumber right? There are no greater experts on autistic experience than the #ActuallyAutistic community…
Lastly, if you can find an autistic mentor for yourself or your young person… please do… Hands down, the most rewarding thing I do as part of my work is teaching people about themselves. It's so, so important I can't emphasise it enough.
Hope that helps
Much Love
Tanya <3
To book a consultation or get intouch please use the contact option on my website or email info@tanyaadkin.co.uk