I struggle with depression and alexithymia. How do I write with emotion?
I struggle with depression and alexithymia. How do I write with emotion?
I have to write a paper about a place/time that I have an emotional attachment to or a place that has shaped my sense of self. I haven't really felt much of an attachment to anything for most of my life. Even if I did, I wouldn't even know how to begin describing the nature or cause of that attachment. I chose to write about the woods by my childhood home because I spent a lot of time there as a kid but I couldn't tell you how I felt about it in the moment or even how I feel about it now. I literally don't have the words
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I have the same combo of illnesses (though maybe less intense Alexithymia)
A useful resource for me is an emotion wheel (you can find one with your favourite search engine)
It has tiers to it, so you could start with happy, for example, then get more specific with the sub-categories
You and I both know there would be great difficulty in identifying what actual emotion you feel with regards to your childhood home, even with an emotion wheel. Since you're not being judged on the accuracy on the emotions identified, you can pick a few that sounds reasonable.
For me, your assignment would more feel like a language exercise of picking the right word that makes sense in context, rather than thinking about the actual emotions experienced. In this case, the emotion wheel would help by acting as a reference of emotions to consider, and act as a sanity check if you're writing something positive but chose an emotion that is a sub category of anger, for example
That's a really great way of thinking - "Understand the logic of the emotions, rather than the emotions."
My entire life is about using logic instead of emotions to make decisions. Fortunately I am slowly getting the help that I need, but for now: Using logic definitely allows me to get by in daily life, even if it would be better to be able to describe my actual emotions
That's a great idea! I've been so fixated on trying to follow the prompt, the thought of using one of my emotions wheels never occured to me lol. Thank you