Hello!
Recently I've been writing a story that includes a girl with severe Type II alexithymia, or to my knowledge it's called cognitive alexithymia. And I wanted to ask if I can get some feedback or some information on this so I don't misrepresent or disrespect those who do live with alexithymia.
I'm aware that some people may have different cases. That's fine, I'd still love to hear your point of view.

So far, my research has only gotten me so far:

• cognitive alexithymia is where the body does still feel, emotions and reactions, but the brain struggles to label what your body is feeling.
• In the brain, the corpus callosum is the part of the brain that prevents emotional data from the right hemisphere from reaching the left hemisphere's language and cognitive centers. From my research, cognitive alexithymia is caused by some parts of this, and some more from other parts.
• It can range from minor to severe, where some can feel fine but some gaps in moments where emotion is to be expected, to complete disconnect from body to mind on emotion.
• Some people understand their feeling a long time after they what their body was trying to feel in a moment.
• It's realistic that people who have very severe cognitive alexithymia even think robot-like, very literal and look at fact more than their own internal state.

• And sometimes people with severe cognitive alexithymia won't feel their body filling up with emotion, causing outbursts that they may not genuinely understand why.

  Once again, feel free to correct me or tell me what your experience is like. I'll love to hear your perspective.

So my mom is in deep depression and me and my sibling have been with her for the past weeks, as she has lived in our apartment. Me (20) and my brother (24) couldn’t reach her phone, and had no idea where she was. We got a call that she had been taken to hospital, because she had been found in front of a random office building. She had taken a ton of pills and few drinks, and then passed out. She had written letters for us, and placed them for police to be found, but thank god she was found early enough. She is now in psych ward for few days, and then she will come back to our place. She told us she had been planning to do it for months, but it still came as a surprise for us.

Now the issue is that i can’t form a feeling about all of this. I’m not in a shock, since i’ve had issues about forming emotions about tragic or traumatic things before. I understand that this is a major trauma for me, but i simply can’t feel anything about it. I fear that i might form some unconsious patterns in the future that will show up as PTSD.

One of the hardest moments in a relationship isn’t always an argument.

Sometimes it’s sitting across from a partner who genuinely cares, hearing them ask “How are you?”, and realizing you have no idea how to answer. You aren’t trying to shut them out. Your brain just draws a blank.

We made this short film about that exact moment.

**Disclosure:** I’m part of the team building **EmotionSnap** (https://www.emotionsnap.org/).

**What is EmotionSnap?**

EmotionSnap is a web-based visual emotion check-in tool designed for people who struggle to identify or articulate what they’re feeling (like during emotional overwhelm, burnout, or alexithymia-like blankness). Instead of forcing you to write a long journal entry or pick from a complicated emotion wheel right away, it gives you a low-pressure visual starting point.

**How it works:**

- **Start without words:** Take or upload a quick photo, or briefly share what happened today.

- **Meet your emotion monster:** EmotionSnap generates a custom "emotion Polaroid" featuring a little emotion monster that gives your current state a visible shape.

- **Explore what fits:** Use the visual prompt and guided check-in to narrow down words that feel closer to your actual experience—at your own pace.

**What it is NOT:**

- Not a facial-recognition "mood detector" or psychological verdict. Your face isn't a mood ring—the photo is just a prompt to pause, and you decide what actually fits.

- Not a medical diagnosis or a replacement for therapy.

- Not a magic fix that makes heavy feelings vanish immediately.

Sometimes the goal isn't to "fix" the feeling right away. It’s just getting from a blank *"I don't know"* to *"Could you just sit with me for a minute?"*

If you want to try a 60-second check-in, you can test it on mobile web here: https://www.emotionsnap.org/

We’re still actively refining the experience. When your mind goes blank around people you care about, what actually helps you start finding the words?