This might sound dumb, but does anybody else have the issue of not feeling emotions?
Evidently, I have emotions, but don't feel most of them. My (otherwise excellent) therapist set me up in a DBT group, but it kind of feels like I'm in the wrong class. The group is supposed to help with emotional regulation, but it seems really focused on helping people who have really strong emotions reel them in. I have the opposite problem. I occasionally have physiological responses out of nowhere but they seem completely random. I don't feel whatever emotion it is, so I have to sort of reverse engineer it (consult a chart) to determine which emotion corresponds to the response.
For years, I've found it easy to discuss traumatic memories with horrified acquaintances (and sometimes strangers) because I have no emotional connection to those memories. This also makes it really hard to determine where the line is between "interesting story that adds to the conversation", and "story that will horrify and/or traumatize listeners". Apparently, I cannot begin EMDR or other trauma therapy until I can "feel" these things, but I need to work through this stuff in order to stop randomly losing gaps of time throughout my day.
Anyone else have this issue? If so, do you have any suggestions? Has anyone been successful in figuring out where the feelings went?
Evidently, I have emotions, but don't feel most of them. My (otherwise excellent) therapist set me up in a DBT group, but it kind of feels like I'm in the wrong class. The group is supposed to help with emotional regulation, but it seems really focused on helping people who have really strong emotions reel them in. I have the opposite problem. I occasionally have physiological responses out of nowhere but they seem completely random. I don't feel whatever emotion it is, so I have to sort of reverse engineer it (consult a chart) to determine which emotion corresponds to the response.
For years, I've found it easy to discuss traumatic memories with horrified acquaintances (and sometimes strangers) because I have no emotional connection to those memories. This also makes it really hard to determine where the line is between "interesting story that adds to the conversation", and "story that will horrify and/or traumatize listeners". Apparently, I cannot begin EMDR or other trauma therapy until I can "feel" these things, but I need to work through this stuff in order to stop randomly losing gaps of time throughout my day.
Anyone else have this issue? If so, do you have any suggestions? Has anyone been successful in figuring out where the feelings went?