Asperger's Syndrome and emotions

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People with Asperger's are not empathic. This means that no emotions are generated by the subconscious processing of audiovisual information before entering the conscious part of our brains because this process is simply lacking.

Nevertheless, people with Asperger's Syndrome experience emotions that can feel as intense as any NT emotion, however it appears to me that emotions are generated differently for different Aspies and that some Aspies may exhibit only very little emotions while others are on emotional rollercoasters all the time.

I wonder what processes generate these emotions and why it is our emotional life is considered egocentric even when it involves our love or friendship for someone else.... Can anyone elaborate on that?

I cannot add much here, but I can at least describe some experience of my own ...

I was once making a project proposal to a group to which I also belonged, and someone who did not foresee any personal gain or benefit ahead for himself in that project interrupted to ask what was in it for me ... and his implication turned enough others against the idea to kill it altogether.

I grieved for that man in his short-sightedness. Everyone involved would have been blessed in one way or another while we all selflessly did something for still others we had yet to even meet.

I am not sure that I agree with your premise.

First of all, a lack of empathy is not the same thing as a lack of emotional response to sensory input.

Speaking personally, I do, indeed, lack empathy as a subconcious component of my psychology, but I am perfectly capable of arriving at an empathetic response cognitively. But even if we rephrase the premise to say, "People with Asperger's lack subconcious empathy..." I am not entirely sure that this can be applied as a universal satatement.

However, the question around the source and nature of emotional response, can stand alone, without the circumstance of empathetic reaction.

For my part, my emotional responses are certainly subconcious, and they are very short-lived. My usual emotional state is neutral, and deviations from that are the exception to the rule. Absent ongoing stimulous, reactionary emotional states like amusement, frustration or anger usually revert to my "rest state" within seconds.

Lack of empathy is the lack of INSTINCTIVE or SUBCONSCIOUS processing of sensory input BEFORE any conscious pondering.



Lack of instinctive or subconscious processing of sensory input before any conscious pondering actually explains pretty much all of the major symptoms common among people with Aserger's (from lack empathy to prioritisation issues, face recognition issues, sound processing issues, ...).



In case of empathic people, emotions are mostly triggered by empathic imput. In our case, however, there is no such input yet many of us have emotions just as strong as NT people. That is something I find peculiar.



What makes you so certain that process is subconscious rather than conscious?

According to who? I've never seen that definition of empathy.

Also, instinctive and subconscious are NOT the same. There are many things which are subconscious which are learned, not instinctive.

Please define empathy.



I see little difference between the biologically determined sub-conscious brainprocesses and the socially determined sub-conscious brainprocesses. But considering you do believe there's a difference, please tell me whether e.g. the left amygdala is responsible for the biologically determined sub-conscious brainprocesses or the socially determined sub-conscious brainprocesses? I mention the left amygdala because I see a limited activity thereof as a very significant factor in Asperger's Syndrome.

I didn't say there was. It's all biological. But some of it is learned, even if subconscious. I take instinct to mean we don't have to learn it at all.

As for the empathy, it's not up to me to define your word for you. I simply would like to know the source for your claim about empathy.

I feel emotions a lot from fiction. From reading a book or watching a movie I feel what they felt for hours afterward. Avoiding horror films is good for me, because all I feel is this big emotional... tension? For hours afterward. I can't even explain it. Music is the same way, I can feel the tone. It's distressing a lot of the time, but I still like to feel emotions that way.

But with real people it is different. I do not know what they are thinking, or do not understand it. So how can I feel their emotions?

Things to me have a lot of associations. Most of them are just _____ = good, ____ = bad. If someone says _____, and I associate it with the word bad, I feel bad. But they said ________ (something bad), and described something in this situation as the color green or yellow or orange, it would = good. This is because yellow and orange are good, and green is peter pan.

Once I figure out if something = good or bad, that is how I feel about it when it comes to real life.

I "store" my emotions in any real situation and usually explode later. Emotions are a funny thing when I think about it.

I dislike showing emotion, particularly because I know how frustrating it is dealing with people who are either too emotional in general or frustrated and emotional.

Mine are weird. I never know what I feel right away, it's like it hasen't processed yet, then a few months later it'll come back into my mind randomly and I'll know what I think about it.

To use a normal everyday example, if I've just seen a film, I'll be able to say today if I like it or not from very basic details, but nothing more. A few months later the film will randomly come back into my mind, and only then will I start remembering my favourite parts, if I really liked it or not and why, etc.

I've tried to find out if I like a film properly right after I see it, but that rarely works properly.

It's like that with everything, though, including thinking of what was said in social situations, what my opinion on a person I met was, etc.

It seems like some instinctive or intuitive behavior is defined genetically and other behavior is defined during the early stages of childhood, where disfunction can lead to conditions like e.g. BPD. In such a case, the normal processes of developing these instincts/intuitions are hindered resulting in excessive fear responses and emotional numbing in other areas. Their emotions towards certain people or certain objects also tends to change more rapidly and more radically than among neurotypical people as the emotional response to even limited input easily becomes very intense.



According to Wikipedia, empathy is the capability to share another being's emotions and feelings. Some argue that rationally analysing a person's emotional state and reasoning and creating a certain feeling as a response to that is also a form of empathy, however I do not see how one can speak of empathy when the emotion is not the response of a subconscious trigger as with intuitive empathy (that does not exist among people with Asperger's).

So, that was just your own personal view of what empathy is. Okay. I think it would have been more appropriate to say that (back in your second post in the thread), rather than writing something that reads like you are giving a standard definition.

Just replace "empathy" with "instinctive empathy" or "intuitive empathy" wherever I mentioned it and the standard definition should apply.

I just don't see how emotional responses triggered by rational processes can be regarded as genuine empathy rather than a replacement thereof or addition to it.

My personal experiences with emotions are as follows: I can't empathize with others for the most part, but I do have intense emotions sometimes. They usually center around my frustrations with social activity, or usually lack thereof.

I can't add a whole lot but I did want to say emotions have been the biggest thing bugging me lately. It started when I was hugged and it left me with this odd warm feeling since then I am just plain confused.