"I have no emotions" ...

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Okay, I have known several other aspies, males, who claimed to have no emotions, yet behaved in ways that suggested they did have emotions.
I am just wondering what some aspies mean, exactly, when they say they have no emotions, as I thought everyone has emotion of one form or another, even if they are unable to identify it, name it, or recognise it.

I know I have emotions, I am aware of them being there, of feeling, but I often cannot name much other than the more obvious ones, such as happy, sad, angry, frustrated, depressed. In fact, sometimes I am not sure I even get those right in matching the word to my feeling, and if someone asks how I am, or how I am feeling, I often hesitate and have problems describing it without thinking about it.

But I have never believed myself to have no emotions, and I notice that some aspies on wp talk of their emotions quite a lot in posts, and others not at all.

Do you consider yourself to have emotions, or to have no capacity to feel at all ?

Last edited by Graelwyn on 29 Jul 2011, 10:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I think they just don't know how to describe what they feel but don't think the definition of the word 'emotions' cuts it.

I don't know as I'm a very emotional male aspie myself.

Last edited by Jonsi on 29 Jul 2011, 10:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

i remember when i did. my heart would beat really fast and i would get nervous around people or not say something to hurt someones feelings or do something. now im just like a dried. when im around people i feel nothing.

I do have emotions in response to specific events. I often say that I am not very emotional, but what I really mean is that my mood does not vary a lot over the course of the day. Compared to most people, I have very long-lasting stable moods. But I do have the full range of emotions, even though I cannot identify or describe them consistently. I often say things like, "I think that I feel ___"

Too many conflicting feelings is usually my problem, but I often feel absolutely nothing at all about something.

I have emotions. They're actually very strong and sometimes overwhelming.

Oh, I've got emotions... But the way that I feel, interpret, and express emotions is not quite right. There is some dysfunction there. Here's how I understand it:

1. Feeling: I sometimes find it difficult to really know exactly what emotion I am feeling. It usually becomes generalized as "angry" or "anxious". So all of the detail and nuance of "frustrated" "apprehensive" "distracted" "fatigued" "agitated" "wary" "perplexed" etc tends to escape me. I'm well aware that those sorts of feelings exist. But I confuse them or don't seem to be able identify them when they happen. Also, I don't think that I feel the full range of intensity of human emotion. Here's a metaphor... imagine the color spectrum. Most other people see all the colors. But I may only see Red/Blue/Yellow. I think that other people feel things more deeply than I do.
2. Interpreting: This has to do with perceiving emotions that others display. I'm terrible about that. I either don't notice their emotion unless it is very strong, or I will sometimes incorrectly label their emotions. This has, of course, resulted in many many social problems.
3. Expressing: I may feel a certain way inside. Let's say "happy". I go around feeling happy. Yet other people will ask me "what's wrong?", or "did something happen to you?" ... I frequently don't show the correct emotions verbally or through body-language. I seem to perpetually come off as either anxious/depressed/angry or totally flat. And those are certainly not always my emotional states.

Emotions are and have always been one of my most daunting challenges.

Last edited by Acacia on 29 Jul 2011, 10:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I know I have emotions, but I do know my "emotional amplitude" is less than average (At least the amplitude above the positive axis, lol), thus I'm "relatively emotionless".

Of course, I lack intrapersonal insight so who knows (Other than that one depressive girl online who claimed I was far less emotional than she was...)? And if I were an aspie, I'd definitely lack intrapersonal insight about NT-type of characteristics, right?

I feel sadness. I feel fear to social situations, no, not fear just dislike. I feel anxiety (it is a feeling?) I feel laugther, and I like to smile alone while I am driving. I feel shame of to do something wrong, again, in social situations.

Yes, I have lots of feelings, or emotions, or things.

I am not able to jump for a good new. I can not cry if someone crash my car. I don't get angry with the life if i can't find my wallet. I am the best to see in most of accidents the funny part.

I had insomnia. I had my heart beat accelerated. I had cold sweat in my hands. Every of this because a woman, but nothing else.

I don't know if this is enough of fellings.

Maybe its just at the time he said it that he didn't have emotions. I have said that before to people but I meant I didn't have emotions at that time. I often have emotions but they are usually the wrong ones at the wrong times.

There have been times when I felt no emotions and it was usually when I was very overwhelmed. I just took in the situation like I was a couch or something. Then later when I had time alone and away from the situations all the emotions spilled out at once and I was hysterical in ways good and bad. Then I sort through them, go over and over things in my mind, re-feel them and realize I actually was feeling at the time but was too overwhelmed to register it at the same time I was taking in the sensations.

I have emotions just like anyone else. But I do sometimes feel emotionless. It's actually a good thing. I can get so much accomplished when I'm like that.

I sort of have emotions but at the same time not really. I have always suspected that my emotions are just learned behaviors and that i am just imitating. I can turn my emotions on and off at will, they are not mandatory. I have a mental image of a little switch and i can flick it on and off whenever i see fit and my emotions correspond. So i guess you could say i dont feel, but on the other hand i do, i respond and behave the same as if the emotion was genuine but i can choose to feel or not. I try to always keep the switch on because i seem to make people uncomfortable when its off, not that i do immoral or terrible things when its off, im just completely apathetic and it is apparently very eerie. Im not sure if this is an effect from my AS or if im just some sort of sociopath. Either way i see to it that i always do the right thing because if i am an unfeeling sociopath then i dont matter and should just serve all the people with real emotions, if i do genuinely feel then i guess im just dedicated to my fellow man. It doesn't really matter which it is, i established unbreakable rules for myself in case i am some sort of sociopath, so my behavior will remain the same no matter what.
So is it my AS, or am i sociopathic, or some other form of insane, or what?

when i say that i dont have emotions, i usually mean that my emotions are different from those of an NT.

i indeed feel sadness and fear, but anger, for example, is an alien concept to me; i only get annoyed with the next step being agression and hate.
also; explaining the emotions i have is something that's hard to do, so just saying "i dont have any" is the easy way out.

I have emotions but I can turn some feelings off when I dont need them, and so I deal with unexpected tragic or dangerous etc. situations very productively. But in addition I can switch state from positive to negative within a second without being able to control it. People around me dont notice this if they dont speak to me... I claim to have the full range, but it seldom corresponds to how other people seem to feel. Also my emotions can be more extreme than what is common, which leads me to think my range is wider.

It sounds to me like you've learned an effective coping method for dealing with times when emotions would hinder things (make you feel bad without reason or cloud your judgement or make you incapable of acting in emergencies)? I know what you mean by having a switch. I decided a while ago not to use the switch cause I like the feeling of emotions and I personally only used it to block out feelings toward people who'd hurt me, which in general I don't want to do cause every person's well meaning at core. So I instead now just get overwhelmed easily or in extreme cases my emotions turn themselves off. But you don't sound like a sociopath, just someone who's learned this is the best way to deal with life.