Flat affect

Post Reply New Topic

Has anybody been told they have a flat affect? For those who don't know, a flat affect is basically a blank face or a poker face as some say.

I have been told this is something I show. I think it's my concentration face, like when I'm lost in thought or trying to listen to somebody this is probably how my face is, though usually I'm not aware of it.

When I was in middle school my math teacher (whom I personally felt comfortable with) kind of teased me. One time after school he saw me walking, blank face, head down, hands in sweater pockets, and he began walking beside me like this. I didn't realize at this time that my face was blank so I didn't understand why he seemed to be making an angry face at me. He explained that he was copying me and showing me what I looked like and he told me to smile more.

In high school there was a very nice boy a little older than me who also told me to smile more. He said I always look so serious and it probably scares people off. He was trying to help and would make goofy faces to make me smile but I didn't know that I wasn't smiling.

Many therapists have commented on this as well. It's annoyed to be told to correct something you aren't even aware of and probably have little control over.

I hate being told to smile more.

I do have flat affect. My mother said I don't show emotion. When I was diagnosed, I was described as barely showing any emotional reaction. A friend of mine who considers herself relatively unemotional said she felt like a bubbling emotional cauldron next to me.

I have no control over it. When I fake expressions, it feels so artificial I can't stand it.

I'm the same. If I fake an emotion for too long it sometimes makes me angry, like why should I pretend to be (enter emotion here) when I don't feel that way? I've also been told I might have a touch of Alexithymia (difficulty in experiencing, expressing, and describing emotional responses) because I usually don't know what I'm feeling unless it's an extreme emotion and even then I have a hard time telling people what I'm feeling if I do know. I'm not sure if that plays a part in my flat affect.

I suspect it probably has a lot to do with alexithymia.

I have to pretend to smile all the time because if I don´t do this people think that I am depressed.Sometimes, I forget to do that and the ask me are you OK?Your face was scary.When I am very focus in something I forget, that I have to gesticulate or change my voice.

Your teacher sounds quite rude.
I haven't been told that I have a flat face, but most of my expressions around people are forced, so maybe I do. I was told that my voice is monotonous though.

Lola- The last therapist I saw believes I am depressed. He commented on my flat affect as well. I'm not sure if he thinks I'm depressed because of my flat affect or because he wants my money.

Elly- My math teacher was actually very nice. He was trying to get me to laugh because he said I always look so serious. People did that to me often when I was in school. They would copy me or make funny faces at me or tell me jokes to try and get me to smile. It was kinda annoying, but I know they were just trying to help.

I score 7 out of a possible 8 for flat affect on the Schizotypal Quiz. People ask me what I'm thinking about a lot because it doesn't show, and that seems invasive. It's often naughty and I don't want to say.

I don't have a dx of ASD, but I was always told that I have a very serious look, people would always point this out to me. They would always tell me to smile and reckoned I had a lovely smile, my voice is also monotonous a lot of the time which is annoying over the phone people would think I am male. I had a job as a receptionist my boss called me to his office and told me my voice was grey and I should try and change it. I couldn't/can't that's they way I speak, I still get mistaken for a male on the phone.

We run our own business and when I answer the phone they think they are speaking to my husband it's annoying but I am used of it.

My family always thinks that.I am not the only one who happen that.

Yep.

I don't understand why I have to twist my facial muscles into an unnatural position just to "advertise" I'm having an emotion.

If I tell you I'm happy, that should be good enough.

Yes, I've been told this by various friends and family, my therapist, and a counselor. I really really hate when people tell me to smile. I hate trying to fake a smile.

Oh God yes. Especially when I was younger, I used to get it about every day. "It's OK to smile you know." But the one comment I remember most was from a guy who had really been studying me over a good amount of time. He asked if I was from the midwest since I always had a "set expression" that never changed.

Now that I'm older and have learned to fake smile, people pretty much leave me alone.

When I was away at reform school someone that worked there did that to me. Even though I thought they were nice and liked me it still seemed like they were mocking me and it hurt.

Long before I had ever even heard of things like asperger's or autism I remember psychologists/counselors I had to go to as a teenager wrote in their reports about me saying that I had a "flat affect".

I also have poor body awareness, so sometimes I can't tell what my face is doing. I literally have to feel my face to feel if I'm smiling. For awhile in high school I tried to smile more, but I kept thinking "Am I smiling? I can't tell." It probably came off more as a grimace than an smile.