I just stumbled across a blog called The Neurocritic, run by a 26-ish guy who declares (on the main page, even) that he "descended into a spiral of drug abuse and prostitution" as a teenager.
Huh.
Anyway, he has a post today on brain-scan research into something called alexithimia, which has nothing to do with anyone named Alex.
Here's a quote from another doctor's post:
The Harvard psychiatrist Peter Sifneos originally coined the term in 1972 to describe people who had extreme difficulty in emotional cognition. The word “alexithymia” literally means “no words for mood.” People with this problem lacked the ability to understanding, processing or describing their feelings verbally.
As a result, most people who have the problem are largely unaware of their own feelings or what they signify. As a result, they only rarely talk about their emotions or their emotional preferences, and they are largely unable to use their feelings or imagination to focus and fuel their drives and motivations.
Women might think they've seen this phenomenon before -- in every man they've ever met. I'd be offended by that stereotype, except I'm not in touch with my feelings.
