"Understanding more about my disability helps me to understand myself better, and I’m still learning. I know I have flat affect, which in my case is more complex due to the way cerebral palsy affects my brain and emotions.
A specific area of my brain, responsible for emotional responses, remains inactive. This impacts my ability to manage alertness, attention, vigilance and stress. It also affects how able I am to complete tasks efficiently and respond to daily experiences. This is where I physically, mentally and emotionally struggle.
Unlike others with flat affect who may feel emotions but not express them outwardly, I experience something different. I don’t just struggle to show emotions – I don’t have them in the way that others do. My brain simply doesn’t translate emotions into physical responses. Flat affect is a symptom of other conditions, in my case autism. It is not a condition or disorder on its own."
People don't have a clue as to what I'm talking about when I mention flat affect, which can be very frustrating at times.
My flat affect stems from being exposed to traumatic events too many times, whereas yours comes from having cerebral palsy.
Many people think I'm shy and quiet, but it's more that I'm hyper-vigilant at times and other times I'm wondering what the appropriate reaction should be at that moment.
In my case it becomes more of a delayed stress reaction, which means that I am well aware of what is happening at that moment, but it won't register with me until later.
It would be nice to know what I'm feeling right at that moment rather than not feeling much of anything at all, because of what I had to survive through as a child.
Thanks Randy. Yes, from what you've said Randy about PTSD, flat affect can be part of that diagnosis.
But I'm not sure I would worry too much about what others think, what's important is what you think, know or believe.
It's easy for others to stand in judgment, but the reality is that no one can know or understand what we have, unless they have experienced the same thing.
The world would be so different if instead of judgments being passed, people were empathetic towards other people's needs, rather than them judge.