Flat affect

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I think it isn't a matter of trust, but rather a matter of not being able to read you. My son gets flat effect and I am always worrying that something is wrong. I don't know how he is feeling or if something is bothering him. Not being able to know what someone is feeling makes people unsure of how to proceed.

Also, people tend to focus on themselves. So sometimes it could be that when they don't get the reaction they expect, they start to focus on why that is. But because they focus on themselves they think things like, did I say something wrong, is he/she reacting to me?

Just my perceptions.

I've never understood the term myself as I had not heard of it before, but assume it means depressed looking in facial features or lacking emotion. The neuropsychologist listed flat effect as one of my diagnoses is how I first learned of the term.

I find that a lot of people say that they cannot trust me, or think I'm lying. When I'm just the opposite. I'm very honest and trustworthy.

I've never heard the term before, but like Ticker I'm assuming it means something like having an unexpressive face - if so, I'm pretty sure I've got it, as people around me often seem to assume that I'm depressed or worried about something.

Here's what the Internet says it is and oddly Aspergers nor Autism is mentioned.

"A severe reduction in emotional expressiveness. People with depression and schizophrenia often show flat affect. A person with schizophrenia may not show the signs of normal emotion, perhaps may speak in a monotonous voice, have diminished facial expressions, and appear extremely apathetic. Also known as blunted affect."

I believe I have developed a more flat affect as a result of so many problems appearing nervous, flirty or incompetant. It just seems easier to look at others like yeah whatever.

Yep, that's me all right. People seem to assume I'm just laid-back.

I have gotten that most of my life.. people are always asking me why i look angry all the time, So i got better and faking it or trying harder not to be flat..
annd ive been told by someone he couldnt read my emotions.. that was depressing

if it bothers you, then i would work on it. fake it. practice your facial expressions and affect. maybe take a theater class.

i don't have flat affect all the time, maybe half? and with a couple of people close to me i am able to tell them-- nothing is wrong, i am perfectly fine, i feel happy, i just have flat affect right now. and they can accept that. i have explained that they should believe my words more than my face.

with everyone else, if i care, i make an effort to "play human" and act like i am in a play- overexaggerated. this is very draining, so i don't make an effort all of the time.

I was told that I should look at the person face and try to imitate the expression that they showed.

Wow, I have this. I never knew what to call it. I basically thought of it as 'reading lines' or 'wooden acting'. You know when an actor doesn't show much expression or character when acting.

I've found I can appear really intense sometimes, which isn't really the same thing as FLAT, the way I understand it.

So my solution is to find all kinds of ways to relax. I had really bad "generalized anxiety" starting when I was in my early teens, and I coped by developing a flat affect so people wouldn't know I was freaking out all the time.

Since then, I started taking (under medical advisement, of course) this wonderful stuff from a company called KAL called "Beyond St. John's Wort."

Strangely enough, it eliminates the anxiety almost 100%, but ... I'm almost WITHOUT fear, now. I'll speak my mind about anything, to anyone, anytime, anywhere.

Wrap it up, I'll take it!

Patrick

In my late teens, it always puzzled me when people came up to me and said "smile". As far as I was concerned, I was smiling, but I guess it just didn't show on the outside.

I don't recall ever being aware that it produced a lack of trust in other people. I don't see trust as instantaneous, it usually develops after a person gets to know me.

Do you need a prescription for that?
St. Johns Wort isn't really working for me.

Yes - when people say, "Come on - cheer up!" when, as far as you were aware, you were just presenting a normal, neutral expression.

My father tells me that I look 'hostile'. If he perceives anything short of doing as he does, walking around with an inane grin on your face, greeting total strangers like they're your best friend, as 'hostile', then I honestly think that it's him who has the problem in this case - severe paranoia. And he must see an awful lot of 'hostile' people each day, because plenty of NTs don't go that far.

In the USA, there's no prescription required, BUT I ran it by my psychologist (Dr. Robert Vitaletti in Denver, CO). He said "OK, but drink a lot of water with it."

This stuff is way more than St. John's Wort: It has all the B-vitamins in it to help your brain build all the right neurotransmitters, correct your reuptake, etc.

It's about $8/month. I get it here:
http://vitanetonline.com/description/98 ... %27s-Wort/

I'm really excited about it. I've been on it since 1999. It makes being an Aspie a lot more tolerable, and I'd say I feel connected to other people more than I ever did before. People at work still think I'm weird, but my boss can't complain because I catch things NO ONE else does, and all my patients just think I'm nice instead of weird.

This is the only other thing I take, and I think it helps a lot, too:
www.chews4health.com/rathertasty
(I have to be honest here: I'm a distributor for Chews4Health because I like it.)

The bottom line is: No one notices I have the social skills of Mr. Data, because I'm relaxed and things don't bother me like they used to.

Patrick