Those who identify as aromantic may not feel love or a desire to participate in romantic relationships. It can be normal to identify as aromantic and isn't necessarily a sign of an underlying mental health problem.
If your self-esteem is low, you might believe that you do not deserve love or to be treated well by others. Trauma. Many trauma survivors feel unlovable because of the trauma they experienced.
People with alexithymia can feel love when it's strong enough. They just can't describe or express it in a way that provides others with emotional validation.
It might be challenging for you to show affection because your own family wasn't very affectionate. Or, you may have trauma to work through that makes expressing affection hard. It's also possible that you just naturally aren't someone who expresses their love for others through affection.
It can be quite normal in relationships for the level of physical affection and intimacy to vary. Relationships tend to ebb and flow when it comes to the intimacy level and closeness.
Parents, teachers, peers, society, and culture affect how people feel about kindness, empathy, compassion, and helping behaviors. Some conditions may play a role in a lack of empathy such as narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), antisocial personality disorder, and borderline personality disorder (BPD).
Whether you haven't felt love yet, have lost love for a partner, or identify as aromantic or asexual, not feeling love can be normal and healthy. Your motions may not be in your control and judging yourself for not feeling something can be counterproductive. There is nothing wrong with you.
Clinical experience suggests it is the structural features of dreams more than the ability to recall them that best characterizes alexithymia. Some alexithymic individuals may appear to contradict the above-mentioned characteristics because they can experience chronic dysphoria or manifest outbursts of crying or rage.
Although alexithymia is not a core feature of autism, recent studies have found varying degrees of this trait in 50 to 85% of individuals with ASD.
It can be because of the actions of those around you, because of a traumatic event in your life, because you lacked a good example of self-love, or simply because of a way of thinking that you innately practice.
People with alexithymia have difficulties recognizing and communicating their own emotions, and they also struggle to recognize and respond to emotions in others.
The prototypic person with alexithymia, however, is anxious, overcontrolled, submissive, boring, ethically consistent, and socially conforming, whereas the prototypic individual with psychopathy is anxiety-free, undercontrolled, dominant, charming, deceitful, and nonconforming.
Alexithymia may be related to the repeated experience of trauma and the nervous system's susceptibility to stress [13, 14]. Also, it may refer to a preexisting condition that increases the probability of developing PTSD. Multiple traumatization is another factor considered to increase the risk of alexithymia.
Schizoid personality disorder is one of many personality disorders. It can cause individuals to seem distant and emotionless, rarely engaging in social situations or pursuing relationships with other people.
An ongoing lack of healthy communication, like unwillingness to discuss your concerns, might indicate that you no longer love your partner. If you dread conversations with your partner and feel irritated by everything they say, it could also signify a change in feelings.
Some people, known as dark empaths, understand the feelings of others but don't feel these feelings themselves. They might act like they care, but deep down, they don't feel sympathy for you or have a desire to help. They use their understanding of your feelings to manipulate you.
Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is associated with an assortment of characteristics that undermine interpersonal functioning. A lack of empathy is often cited as the primary distinguishing feature of NPD.
People with BPD score low on cognitive empathy but high on emotional empathy. This suggests that they do not easily understand other peoples' perspectives, but their own emotions are very sensitive. This is important because it could align BPD with other neurodiverse conditions.
You can also call an unaffectionate person aloof. They're not particularly warm or likely to display much tenderness. Your very favorite people are probably not unaffectionate, but the opposite — caring, sympathetic, and kind.
Poor communication can erode the connection people have. Initial feelings of lust fade with time, which can make feelings of love seem less intense. People change over time, which may mean that people simply grow apart. Shifting priorities can mean that each person has separate, sometimes incompatible goals.