Is having no emotion good or bad?
 

My psychiatrist put "flattened affect" in her letter about me to my GP. This is because 90% of the time I have little or no emotion, I just feel nothing.

Do you think this is good or bad?

Tbh I like having no emotion, because I find emotions difficult to understand and difficult to handle. I don't understand emotions either in myself or others. When other people are showing emotion, I have to work out what their emotion is using context in their speech (like "I'm really happy this happened" or "this is really annoying me") because I can't read emotion using body language and tone of voice.

Do you have a lot of emotion? Or, like me, do you have very restricted emotions?

Yes I do, apparently it's part of my aspergers.

Same. My psychiatrist said it was part of my Asperger's too, looking at the letter she typed.

I've literally learnt of my aspergers 3 days ago, so I'm afraid I've buggar all else I can add xD

Don't worry. How do you feel about your Asperger's diagnosis?

Dunno. I don't think it's really sunk in yet to be honest, I really know very little about it :/ It's not actually a diagnosis as such yet, more of a 'to be diagnosed' I guess... You?

There are some good resources on the internet, try the National Autistic Society website (google it).

I was diagnosed almost 7 years ago so I know a lot about it (you can ask me questions if you want). To be honest the diagnosis was a relief because it answered a lot of questions, and made my school treat me better when I was there. Also with my AS diagnosis, I am getting the right support in University.

I'm 19, apparently that's wayyyyyy older than most people are diagnosed? I'm almost angry that it's just been picked up because I've had psychiatric input since I was 13.

It is an old age to be diagnosed. I'm sorry to hear that you weren't diagnosed earlier. I wasn't diagnosed until I was 16 but I had psychiatric input since I was 12, so I felt angry too. I had severe behavioural problems as a child and they diagnosed me with ADHD and Tourette's Syndrome at the age of 4, which tbh I think is bullsh*t because I have autism, not ADHD and Tourette's (I don't know where the Tourette's bit came from - I never had phonic tics).

Weather it is good or bad is unltimitly up to you. If you think or feel your lack of emotion is having a negative effect on you quality of life then I guess you call it bad. However if you feel your lack of emotion has little to no negative effect on your life then it's not really bad.

I don't think emotion it's self has a good or bad status. It is all relative to the person/people effected and experiencing the emotion.

True. I don't care for emotions and anyway I don't understand them. So it's not bad for me. What about for you?

I have mixed opinions about it.

I work in the NHS and I feel when I am at work it is an advantage to be emotionless. You can't get emotional about other people's problems, it is unprofessional and so being unemotional is an advantage.

Where as when it comes to my relationships with my family and partner I like to show emotion so they know how I feel and I can talk it out.

Fair enough.

I cannot really apply emotions to anything, well except for loving my dad.

I have EUPD, so I have a lot of emotions and emotional variation. But sometimes I feel nothing for days due to the constant feeling of emptiness. When I'm on the emotional rollercoaster I'm usually on, I long to feel nothing, but when I feel nothing, I want to feel something again. I can't win, really. I went off Prozac because I had a total flat affect and I hated it. I also think that whether it's good or bad depends on the person.

True.

We may not know each other super well, but you and I have been around RYL awhile, Olympia. Your lack of emotion has never impacted your ability to help out others around here. To be honest, you're one of my favorite members here (maybe because we're similar?).

So I wouldn't say in your case "flattened affect" is good or bad. It just is.

I agree that it's not good or bad. I also have somewhat restricted emotions, although it's never been explained why. I do feel emotions, but much less than most people and they are not as big a deal to me as most people. And sometimes I feel nothing about things that would bother others to no end. I see it as just a part of my personality that has its pros and cons just like any other personality. It allows me to keep myself more under control than some people, and I like it because I tend to think logically and dismiss my emotions that aren't representative of anything outside of my own reality anyway. Just makes it a bunch easier to have less of them since I think that way.

I'd say the biggest downside is not having empathy for people who can't control their emotions. I understand having them, but I can't understand losing control over them. Which can put strains on relationships when I can't understand why people are acting irrationally/out of emotion. Also, I can read emotion, but I tend to put a smaller emphasis on how something affects someone than it actually does. Which makes me underestimate how upset/bothered other people can be by things. It also makes it difficult for me to discuss my viewpoint with others as most people I've known are unable to understand (or even try to understand) why I think logically/rationally rather than emotionally. Like when something really doesn't bother me, people don't believe me/accuse me of lying. But other than issues of me not getting other people and other people not getting me, I don't see it as bad at all. It just is. And I like the way it influences my decision making to a more logical path.

Pale Moon, thanks, that is kind. I think you are a good and valuable member of RYL as well. I like helping people so I try my best.

Beautiful Seclusion, thank you for that post. I'm glad in a way that people here can relate because I thought I was odd. It is hard to deal with emotionally charged situations, I agree, although I have my protocols for how to deal with them, which helps sometimes. Logic is a powerful tool, and when I am not ill I manage to take things in logical steps.

When I have been ill however, I show a lot of anger/rage and distress.

my GP once used that same phrase!!! I have one extreme and the other (i.e no emotions or massive sudden overreactive emotions) but no middle ground as it were.

as has been said wheither it's good or bad is subjective, it depends upon how it effects you personally or your relationships with others perhaps

I am very emotionless alot of the time, i put it down to aspergers, but i've noticed it's alot worse since i started anti-psychotic meds. When i do get emotions they are often very intense especially anger/rage and sandess, but i sometimes hate feeling so "empty" all the time.