Autism and emotional depth?

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I saw emotional depth being described as a fundamental feature of empathic ability.

People with great emotional depth supposedly do not get as confused as often about their emotions as others, especially when they have many different emotions at once, which often confuses other people. Even when they feel several emotions at once, they do not have a crisis and turn numb and unfeeling to protect themselves or attempt to deny the emotions because they're afraid of how it makes them feel, but acknowledge their emotions and accept them, even when they're overwhelming or unpleasant.

So do most autistic people posses the same amount of emotional depth as non-autistic people?

By that definition of emotional depth I have a lot of it personally. I'm very aware of my emotions and my emotions are also very layered.

One professional once claimed it was disordered to feel several things at once actually. Apparently, normal people only ever feel 1 emotion at a time? That would mean that if you loved someone, you would stop loving them when you're angry at them (for not cleaning the dishes for example!) or would love them a lot less until you stopped being angry at them.

I can't believe that's right somehow.

You?

Do you have emotional depth/feel many things at once and are aware of it?

^^ I believe I have previously had the ability to remain very calm when blessed with a very emotional situation. However, as of late - perhaps due to my happy diagnosis blessing me with anxiety - when I feel a number of emotions simultaneously I begin to panic and the only method I possess to stop this is to play a happy video game or read a book. ^^ Whereas, previously I would accept the emotion (such as sadness) and see why that could be the case yet also view a happier way of considering the situation and often feel very happy after this. ^^ When I attempt to accomplish now, I believe my happy thought pixies rush within me too fast and I cannot remain calm whilst considering each of these thoughts in turn. I believe this is causing me happy difficulty as of the moment as I a rather struggling with matter for an examination next week yet am panicking due to my happy struggle and thus cannot concentrate on my happy little studies without becoming very scared, and hence I complete less work and then become more scared. I believe this is very silly of me, yet the little pixies within me are rioting and do not appear to be able to control this as I once could do so. ^^ This is certainly my happy and silly fault I believe. I am also very sorry if I have not answered your question Sora.

I have very little emotional depth. I normally do not understand my own emotions. I hate the question "how do you feel about that?" My answer....usually a blank stare....

I sometimes can sense a generalized feeling of anxiety....my heart races, my stomach feels funny and my knees will get weak. I get this feeling sometimes for no reason.....sometimes it's because I know I've done something wrong and I have to own up to it....other times it's because I'm running late, other times it's because someone is making me angry...but I also get this feeling when I'm around a guy I am sexually attracted to.....to me it all feels the same. I can't separate and identify most of my emotions.....I know there is a term for this.

It doesn't mean I can't feel....I just don't know I'm feeling.

The two I can identify are euphoria and rage. I know when I'm euphoric because I feel really good...I feel like I'm floating...I might giggle uncontrollably or laugh hysterically. Then there is rage....it starts out with that generalized anxious feeling...then something else happens. It's almost like an electrical shock to my brain...my ears ring, my heart pounds in my head, I feel a cold tingling feeling at the back of my head, and my vision will blur for a moment.....then I snap....I throw something, I break something, I might claw at my skin or bang my head on a wall........

Emotions like sadness and sorrow are very hard for me to identify. I'm sure I've felt sadness....I can feel it sometimes when I look at a picture of my mother (who passed away in 2007). It feels a little like euphoria at first....but then I get the feeling in my stomach like I'm anxious. Then I feel a pressure in the front of my head....behind my eyes. It's not really a bad feeling to me, just a very strange one.

There are some emotions, like jealousy, that I will never be able to understand....

I'm emotionally deep. I end up feeling a million strong emotions at the same time and I don't know what to do with them
I can also go from really happy to really pissed off in matter of seconds.

Hmm... you can love someone and be ticked off at the same time, happens to me a lot lol... Anyway, I seem to only have one emotion at a time, but I feel them very strongly. I also describe them well too.

90% of the time I don't think I feel anything. The rest is mostly anger/anxiety. It sounds crazy but I like feeling deeply, even if it's sadness. It raaarely happens.

Sober anyways...

This is a difficult topic to consider because there's no strict definition of emotional depth, but I'll have a go at describing how the characteristics described apply to me.

I'm not aware of feeling many things at once. There's a background level of worry/anxiety always present to a degree; I'm aware of that, but not able to process it well and end up with somatic symptoms. (This is why I got diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder.)

I recognise my most familiar emotions, and spent years learning to do this and to manage them. Previously, they would overwhelm me several times a day. My feelings concerning other people remain extremely confusing. My feelings about myself can be equally confusing. I have a significant number of alexithymic traits.

Over the years I've become even better at accepting my emotions and rarely feel ashamed of them, which is quite advanced. I've also learnt to recognise the emotions emanating from defensiveness, bias, and insecurity, and am quite adept at not letting them intrude into other areas (e.g., when dealing with the outside world). However, I occasionally feel numb--a self-protection mechanism--being vulnerable to intense pain otherwise (due to difficulty understanding others' motivations). When actually in such pain, I don't have the ability to deny the feelings; I feel them fully. Often, it's all or nothing with me.

The ability to correctly interpret and properly respond to one's own emotions varies across all neurological conditions. Those in the autistic community are no exception. I personally believe that emotional depth is best built through adopting a daily meditation practice. Meditation can allow a person a greater ability to both recognize and release emotional states. Something that has an increasing amount of neurological and psychological evidence.

Recognizing another persons emotional state can be challenging for most people on the spectrum. For me, this is evidenced by an inability to differentiate another person's social state from their inner state. I'm much better at getting a person's inner state. The social self is something that is not at all intuitive for me.

Hei,

i feel like that at times, but are you sure that you dont feel, or is it that you dont know that you feel? the latter is often the case with me, but it has taken me a long time to recognize this. at most times i feel like Marvin, the Paranoid Android...

and when i watch films with lots of emotions i sometimes feel like a robot, while other times i feel very much emotion..

I have a low EQ. The way I understand it is that my emotional range is narrower than most people but I think its also deeper, that the emotions I do feel I feel more intensely than most NTs. Often times I find myself experiencing an emotion or emotions in a situation and not being able to process or recognize what I'm feeling on the spot. It's only afterward, after some analyzing, that I can figure out what was going on, what I was feeling. I often react emotionally to situations without knowing what I'm feeling, like my emotions are ahead of my understanding. Lots of times I don't have an emotional response to things. When I do have an emotional response, it's like it hits me like a brick and I tend to over-react. I think people with high EQs have a broader range of emotions and are able to instantly recognize, process, and react appropriately to whatever emotions they are feeling.

Disordered to feel several things at once? That's laughable. I think it's normal for most humans, NT or aspie, to feel complex, even paradoxical, emotions. Feelings aren't mutually exclusive. I often feel happy and sad at the same time, or angry at someone but also miss them terribly.

I DO understand my emotions, but I'm not able to put any words on them though.

I think it's the other way around. People with "poor" emotional depth do not get as confused.
Autistic people are having so much more feelings to cope with, and that would also explain the difficulty in describing the emotions, or "finding word".

It simply because these words doesn't exist.
Think like this. If all the words that describe emotions were taken out of a (NT)person's language, how would he respond if you asked how he felt?

That's of course just a thought.

I'm not sure about my emotional depth. I know that I feel a lot of emotions but I just can't always explain them or put a name to them. I know when I'm depressed, angry & happy but with anything else I just get totally confused & don't know what to say when people ask how I'm feeling.

I don't know.

I have no problem identifying what I'm feeling. What happens is I can't always identify any specific cause or find any good ways to cope.

Anxiety, depression, and anger tend to completely consume me at times. I don't think the average person experiences these feelings as strongly as I do. I'm also extremely sensitive and feel shook up for a long time after any kind of confrontation or major disappointment. I don't get over anything quickly.

I'm deep...

I can hold destructive apocalyptic anger and fury together with sweet innocent fuzzy warm feeling and compassion I can call them on command and I can make them go away.

It has made me master my emotions, my life.

idk if i can take this my step sisters have austim but are great there mom treats me and my siblings like s**t just because she thinks where "normal" i dont know if i can take it anymore

you should protest in form of silence, and refuse to answer questions and tasks that go against your nature (going to the store or cleaning is cool but if you have the vacuum cleaner like I do, then say you will do the dishes) a parent always pushes her children, and thinks some behaviors are rebellious and just to mess with her. Don't go against her but show her that you will not take anymore of her abuse. Make her know she's causing you pain. Don't blow up in her face and act what they will call "crazy", that is a emotional explosion when you can't find the right words and turn to brute force or loud noise to get your point across. Just be cool as a cucumber and let her know that you will not do certain things.