Comment by Cheese Mann (cheese-mann) on Which things were you surprised to learn are not metaphors? · 2024-11-21T22:36:49.478Z · LW · GW

This feels closely related to Alexithymia or emotion blindness

Extremely common in: people with ADHD / Autism (potentially over half)

Fairly common in: people who have PTSD, people with substance abuse issues (possibly causal, alexithymia -> drugs to feel something), and men (male-normative alexithymia)

People with alexithymia often identify their emotions primarily through physical sensations

For me (a male with autism, ADHD and PTSD) I can tell I'm feeling scared or anxious if my legs get cold (I believe this is a common form)