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alexithymia

bodily sensations eating emotions hunger pain
by
Livia Farkas (author)  

First published: 2 August, 2023 | Last edited: 12 January, 2026 || 📚🕒 Reading Time: < 1 minute

Alexithymia is difficulty assigning names to feelings, describing them to others or talking about them. It is considered a separate neuropsychological condition but has significant overlaps with autism.

This term is also known as:
emotional blindness

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Related Terms

interoception

Interoception is the ability to notice and identify feelings inside one's body, like thirst or hunger. It also includes the ability to notice and regulate temperature changes or notice pain.

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Sensory processing difficulties

Sensory processing difficulties are a group of traits associated with neurodivergence. They're part of the wider group of sensory processing differences, meaning all the ways neurodivergent brains handle sensory information differently from neurotypical peers. Any of the brain's 8 sensory processing systems can be affected by processing difficulties.

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hearing sensory touch vision
Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD)

Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) is a potential grouping of sensory processing difficulties. As individual sensory processing difficulties are spread across a wide range of diagnoses, SPD is often used as a shorthand to describe significant neurodivergence-related sensory issues that are persistent in a person's life and limit their participation in everyday life, regardless of what diagnosis they would officially belong to.

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sensory overwhelm

A feeling of immense distress, a sensory overwhelm / autistic overwhelm is a strong reaction to stimuli caused by the compounded effects of stress, exhaustion, lack of safety, a sense of danger, unmet needs, too much information, noise, sights or sounds, smells or touch.

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hearing information light sound touch
justice sensitivity

Justice sensitivity is the heightened awareness of rule violations and inconsistencies, paired with an intense emotional and physiological response. For many neurodivergent people, fairness and consistency function as essential navigational tools when you can't reliably read social cues or predict what will happen next. When rules are applied inconsistently or stated expectations don't match actual consequences, your nervous system registers this as a genuine threat to your ability to navigate the world safely. The intensity of your reaction reflects the pattern violation itself, regardless of the moral weight of the situation. Justice sensitivity is morally neutral—it tells you when a rule has been violated, but not whether the rule was good or fair in the first place.

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communication self-image society thoughts
restriction

Restriction means being prevented from moving freely or being confined against your will. It can include being held down, trapped, or having your movement controlled by others. This is particularly important for neurodivergent people, who have historically faced harmful practices where restriction was used to stop stimming, force compliance, or 'manage' sensory overload.

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About the Author

  • Livia Farkas

    Livia Farkas is an adult education specialist with a joy-centred approach and a sharp sense for simplifying complex ideas using silly visual metaphors.

    Since 2008, she's written 870+ articles, developed 294 distinct techniques, and co-created 8 online courses with Adam—with 5,302 alumni learning neurodivergent-friendly approaches to time management, goal setting, self-care, and small business management.

    Her life goal is to be a walking permission slip for neurodivergent adults.

    View all posts

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