Emotion Recognition in Autism and ADHD

Emotion Recognition  in Autism and ADHD: Individuals who are autistic or have ADHD often struggle to identify their own emotions and emotions in others.  This can lead to social and emotional problems.  When an individual cannot accurately interpret the emotions of others, it may cause difficulties navigating social situations, building relationships, and responding appropriately to social cues.  These challenges can result in misunderstandings, conflict, isolation, and challenges in forming connections with others.  When we have trouble recognizing our own feelings from the signals are body sends us, it can make it hard for us to express ourselves.  We might feel frustrated, and have a tendency to have meltdowns.

Emotion Recognition in Yourself

Learning to identify your emotions can be challenging.  Strong emotions can sometimes be hard to manage and big emotions that are not dealt with well can lead to big problems. Probably the strongest emotion that is mislabeled is “ANGER.” When it is difficult to put a name to your emotion, it is called alexythymia.  Getting in touch with your emotions may involve doing things like paying attention to your physical sensations when you are having an emotion, developing a “database” of different emotions including an emotional vocabulary, and seeking out professional help.  The  following is a list of some emotions and the physical sensations you might feel while having them.  These are some concepts that might help you develop an emotional “database.”

• Happiness

  Feeling light, warmth in the chest, butterflies in the stomach, relaxed muscles, a smile on the face. 
• Sadness:

  Heaviness in the chest, tightness in the throat, feeling drained, drooping shoulders, tearful eyes. 
• Anger:

  Clenched fists, tense muscles, flushed face, rapid heartbeat, jaw clenching. 
• Fear:

  Rapid breathing, increased heart rate, trembling, feeling of tightness in the chest, goosebumps. 
• Anxiety:

  Tumbling stomach, rapid heart rate, sweating, feeling of unease, muscle tension. 
• Love:

  Warmth spreading through the body, feeling of connection, butterflies in the stomach, relaxed posture. 
• Shame:

  Feeling small, lowered eyes, flushed face, slumped posture. 
• Disgust:

  Wrinkled nose, nausea, stomach churning, feeling of repulsion.

  Important points to remember:

  • • These are general associations, and everyone experiences emotions differently in their body. 
    • Paying attention to your body sensations while you are having an emotion can help you better understand your emotions.
    • Mindfulness practices can help you become more aware of your bodily sensations associated with emotions. 

  What about the color wheel?

  Sure. Some people use the emotion-sensation wheel to pluck out emotions, but for some autistic or ADHD individuals, this can add a layer of confusion. Here it is:

  The Wheel is divided into three concentric circles- the innermost circle is made up of basic emotional terms, the outermost of more specific terms.

  • Six basic emotions – “Fear, Anger, Disgust, Sad, Happy, Surprise” – are listed in the center circle.
  • If you move out from the center to the second level, you will find various forms of that emotion more specifically listed.  For example, if you start with “Anger” in the center circle and then move to the next level, you find a range of adjectives that may describe anger more specifically: “Hurt, Threatened, Hateful, Mad, Aggressive, Frustrated, Distant, Critical.”
  • If you move even further out, you find even more adjectives to sharpen the distinction some more: “Embarrassed, Devastated, Insecure, Jealous, etc.”
  • In order to precisely identify your emotional states, you are supposed to pay attention to the sensations in your body, their quality, location and intensity.

  

   

  This seems simple enough.  Well, it might be unless you have alexythymia.

Emotion Recognition in Others

Recognizing emotions in others involves understanding their facial expressions to guide your social interactions.  This does not have to be a complicated skill to learn, although at first, it can be intimidating.  When learning about how others’ express their emotions, it is easiest to break it down into three categories:

• facial expressions
• body language ( posture, eye contact, and body movements)
• tone of voice (pitch, volume, speed)

Facial Expressions:  Key places to look to identify emotions in others include the mouth, eyebrows, and eyes.

Body Language:  Identifying emotions through body language is context dependent, and relies on the observation of :

• Eye contact:

  • Steady gaze: Interest, engagement 
  • Avoiding eye contact: Discomfort, dishonesty 
  • Rapid blinking: Anxiety, nervousness 
  • Dilated pupils: Attraction, excitement 
• Posture:

  • Open posture (relaxed shoulders, arms at sides): Openness, comfort 
  • Crossed arms: Defensiveness, closed off 
  • Slouching: Low confidence, sadness 
  • Standing tall: Confidence, dominance