You are one of the best people I've heard talk about this, in that you seem to be trying to do more than give a simple definition. One problem can be that the person is in so much sensory or emotional pain that these may override other sensations. For instance, if I connect with my emotions, that also means acknowledging that my body may be in scream pain. That's a real deterrent! Also, our (autism) emotions may not fit into the neat "emotion" terms that exist in our language. (I had a college-level voc by 10, and have a master's degree and am a writer, so vocabulary isn't the problem). I've found that making up my own compound words for what I'm feeling is helping. Some emotions, for me, come in amorphous shapes; like balls of tangled yarn that have to be consciously addressed and then picked apart. Once the emotions/reasons for the emotions have been identified, then I can assign that complex emotion a name. That has actually helped.
Thank you for your kind words and insight into your experience. The compound word idea is great! Check out our blog on emotion language that brushes the surface of this: www.kelly-mahler.com/resources/blog/emotions-emotion-language-human-connection-the-influence-of-interoception/
I have no problem feeling physical sensation like hot, cold, pain, etc.. What good does it do to recognize that the dish water is hot? I still have no emotion about it. The emotions i can feel are: Anxiety, hopelessness, sorrow, hate, rage, and pity.
Ok so it's about learning how emotions *feel* as *sensations* in the body. So you know the sensation of hot, cold etc like how it feels on your skin but you don't know how anger or sadness feels inside your body. Think of how you get a tummy ache and you literally *feel* the pain. Well, emotions also carry physical pain, along with good sensations too like how you get really excited and feel butterflies but in the best way possible. Those stuck *feelings* from repressed emotions need to work their way out of your body. So what that can look like is crying, muscle tensing, tremors in your legs and arms especially if you've gone through abuse, your body felt physically restricted, labored breathing, among other sensations. When they first happen you might get scared, I did, I thought I was getting "possessed" but over time I've realized it's the stuck emotions/feelings/sensations working their way out of my body. Dr. Peter Levine talks about this in animals how when they go into fight or flight, after the danger has passed, animals very literally shake off the adrenaline and cortisol in their system. Humans do not because we get taught to repress so all that adrenaline and cortisol is very literally stuck in our bodies on the physical level. When I first started shaking it freaked me out but let it happen. Check out shaking medicine here on UA-cam. Prompting shaking yourself vs the body shaking on its own feels very different but the point of shaking medicine is to signal to your body that it is safe and can release. Keep going, you got this 💪. If you want some more info on things that have been helping me let me know.
You are one of the best people I've heard talk about this, in that you seem to be trying to do more than give a simple definition. One problem can be that the person is in so much sensory or emotional pain that these may override other sensations. For instance, if I connect with my emotions, that also means acknowledging that my body may be in scream pain. That's a real deterrent! Also, our (autism) emotions may not fit into the neat "emotion" terms that exist in our language. (I had a college-level voc by 10, and have a master's degree and am a writer, so vocabulary isn't the problem). I've found that making up my own compound words for what I'm feeling is helping. Some emotions, for me, come in amorphous shapes; like balls of tangled yarn that have to be consciously addressed and then picked apart. Once the emotions/reasons for the emotions have been identified, then I can assign that complex emotion a name. That has actually helped.
Thank you for your kind words and insight into your experience. The compound word idea is great! Check out our blog on emotion language that brushes the surface of this: www.kelly-mahler.com/resources/blog/emotions-emotion-language-human-connection-the-influence-of-interoception/
I have no problem feeling physical sensation like hot, cold, pain, etc.. What good does it do to recognize that the dish water is hot? I still have no emotion about it. The emotions i can feel are: Anxiety, hopelessness, sorrow, hate, rage, and pity.
Ok so it's about learning how emotions *feel* as *sensations* in the body. So you know the sensation of hot, cold etc like how it feels on your skin but you don't know how anger or sadness feels inside your body. Think of how you get a tummy ache and you literally *feel* the pain. Well, emotions also carry physical pain, along with good sensations too like how you get really excited and feel butterflies but in the best way possible. Those stuck *feelings* from repressed emotions need to work their way out of your body. So what that can look like is crying, muscle tensing, tremors in your legs and arms especially if you've gone through abuse, your body felt physically restricted, labored breathing, among other sensations. When they first happen you might get scared, I did, I thought I was getting "possessed" but over time I've realized it's the stuck emotions/feelings/sensations working their way out of my body.
Dr. Peter Levine talks about this in animals how when they go into fight or flight, after the danger has passed, animals very literally shake off the adrenaline and cortisol in their system. Humans do not because we get taught to repress so all that adrenaline and cortisol is very literally stuck in our bodies on the physical level. When I first started shaking it freaked me out but let it happen. Check out shaking medicine here on UA-cam. Prompting shaking yourself vs the body shaking on its own feels very different but the point of shaking medicine is to signal to your body that it is safe and can release.
Keep going, you got this 💪. If you want some more info on things that have been helping me let me know.
No love ?
This could be a game changer for individuals with learning disabilities & mental illnesses finding this clue.
Could be due to trauma and the freeze response
DBT?