i suck at explaining emotions?

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like, if someone asks "how do you feel?" i seriously dont know. "like..kinda..happy i guess?"

last week i watched kurt cobain-about a son. its basically him talking about himself for about 2 hours.
i can tell you the facts (sang for nirvana, did tons of heroin), but if you asked me what kind of person he was, i wouldnt have any answer, even though i just spent the last 2 hours listening to him talk about himself.

any ways to improve this?

What you're describing sounds a like 'Alexithymia'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexithymia

This is why I almost always respond to that question with "meh". I don't particularly feel like anything. Neutral, usually.

I'm like that most of the time, too. I have to guess what my emotions are until I figure it out randomly months later. One of my Aspie friends is the same.

hi random253.

yes I have this all the time.

I really have trouble identifying which emotion I am feeling. I am still not accustomed to it. I either feel "relaxed" or "uptight". Mostly uptight.

I first learned about ASD when I went to a psychotherapist to get help (because my partner was depressed). After several sessions the psychotherapist told me that she could not read my expressions or emotional states, and she asked me if I had Aspergers. Hmm what is that?

When she asked me what I was feeling (at a given moment), I would be able to visualise something, for example a triangle, but this had no association with an emotional state.
I find that it takes me a long time to figure out emotions, both in others and myself.

After learning more about ASD, I have identified that my practically absent self-emotional recognition is because:

1. I have a very high systematizing quotient (not so handy for emotions)
2. I have very very very poor recognition of subtle facial expression
3. I am frequently overstimulated by environmental factors, which confuses my bodily "feelings", to the point where I cannot distinguish my emotional "feelings".
4. my body language and facial expressions do not reflect NT concepts. (eg. when I feel happy my face looks robotic)

I am trying to accept that my ability to interpret subtle emotional messages will probably not improve, because my, um, ratings for this are suck.

What I find helps to process emotions is:
1. talking to myself when I am alone. Hearing my thoughts outside of my head helps.
2. trying to develop relaxation strategies (eg. exercise, breathing) that chill my body out.
3. modifying my environment where possible to reduce interference.
4. learning in a systematic way about names and symptoms (physical and behavioural) of emotions.

Hope that is interesting to you.
bye.

Every time I have to explain my emotion, I just end up crying.

I used to put on a bright smile and say 'f****d up!' ... which made people stop asking.

Practice helps. Best to begin with physical sensations, like hungry/tired/alert/hot/cold etc.
That might sound odd, but I myself have a hard time telling when I'm hungry. So I have to look at the symptoms of low blood sugar, and think about when I ate last and what I ate and then come to the conclusion that I might be hungry, or not.
And ... well, that's what I usually do. I go by my physical symptoms when there are any, go by the situation and then come up with the name for what I am feeling. Once I've been pretty sure about a situation and feeling, it gets easier to compare my current state to the memory. But it's work. It's often easier not to think about it.