Ettina wrote:
Autistics don't have any trouble feeling emotions, just processing and understanding them.
My experience suggests that the emotional life of Autistic people is no less intense than that of other people (if not more intense), but it does tend to be less layered.
My own emotional life is largely an expression of the level of (dis)comfort I experience at any given time, whereas my girlfriend and other "neurotypicals" in my environment have a wide range of subtle nuances in her emotional spectrum that are completely alien to me.
... and that's precisely where the communication problems stem from. Autistic people and "neurotypicals" experience a different emotional spectrum, with different triggers, different sensitivities, different preferences, etc.
Communication problems stem from Autistic people struggling to comprehend the emotional spectrum of "neurotypicals", but also the other way around. It is just as hard for them to understand us as it is for us to understand them.
Ettina wrote:
Autism affects what stimuli triggers what emotions, and it can make you unable to feel certain social emotions such as embarrassment, but not the basic capacity to experience sadness, anger, fear and happiness is unaffected by autism.
Psychologists, psychoanalysts and neuroscientists commonly apply a triune model of the brain :
- * The Reptilian complex (aka "instinct" aka "the Id") : where primitive subconscious emotions (such as sadness, anger, fear and happiness) reside and which is correlated to primitive neurochemical algorithms that measure one's capacity to take care of oneself.
- * The Paleomammalian complex (aka "reason" aka "the Ego") : where individual consciousness resides, and which is correlated to defensive, perceptual, intellectual-cognitive, and executive functions.
- * The Neomammalian complex (aka "intuition" aka "the Super-ego") : where collective consciousness resides, and which is highly correlated to the internalization of cultural rules, mainly taught by parents applying their guidance and influence.
In individuals with Autism, the Neomammalian complex does not behave as it normally should, which could have any of a multitude of causes. Low-functioning Autists often have and underdeveloped Reptilian complex and/or Paleomammalian complex as well, whereas high-functioning Autists typically have a superior Reptilian complex and/or Paleomammalian complex to compensate for the failure of the Neomammalian complex.
That's why so many Autistic people are programmers, scientists and engineers (superior Paleomammalian complex) or designers and artists (superior Reptilian complex).
18 Mar 2015, 4:56 am
