Alexithymia: Wow! My ex has a disease and they named it after him. LOL

How often have you heard a girl complaining that her boyfriend doesn't open up to her? "He won't share any of his deepest thoughts with me!" or "He just seems so distant!" or "My feelings and so forth."

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We bet he never considers those vague feelings of hurt that she can't quite verbalize but it's all his fault anyway.

Believe it or not, two out of those three complaints may be explained by an interesting little condition called alexithymia. Alexithymia is the term for not fully understanding and being able to express one's emotions. Everyone on Earth has some level of alexithymia, but it can become drastic when people experience higher levels of it. Eight to 10 percent of people suffer from high levels of alexithymia, which is enough to piss their girlfriends off on a day-to-day basis. In case you haven't guessed, this condition is more common in men than in women. Alexithymia has reared its unloving head in pop culture many times, in almost every screenplay-by-numbers romantic comedy where "Men and Women are Different!" is the only theme of the entire movie.

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"Wow, how weird is it that we're polar opposites, yet have been brought
together in our tastes for wacky hats? Let's have sex!"

Along with being unable to get mushy with their girlfriends, people with alexithymia also tend to have less of an imagination. Sufferers of this condition usually have very logical and realistic dreams, such as walking to the store or eating a bowl of cereal. Not, like, a sexy bowl or a falling-off-a-cliff bowl or a bowl that's in its underwear in front of the whole class -- just a bowl.

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This in no way symbolizes your empty, lonely life. It's literally just a bowl.

Now that your girlfriend has no doubt diagnosed you with alexithymia, you're probably wondering what the treatment is. The answer? Hugging. That's right. The medically prescribed treatment for alexithymia is a good old-fashioned hug-off. In a recent experiment, two researchers studied couples that were suffering from the effects of alexithymia. They discovered that in relationships where the couple shared affectionate communication, such as hugging, touching or even taking certain positive postures during communication, there was a significant positive impact on the condition. The more hugging the couples did, the less of an impact the condition had on them. In case you're wondering, yes, until videos of kittens eating lollipops becomes a recognized form of treatment, this is officially the most adorable cure in the history of medicine.

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There's your experimental therapy for the day. You owe us $200.

You can (and should) follow Andrew Martin on Twitter. Read more: 6 Personality Quirks You Didn't Know Were Medical Conditions | Cracked.com http://www.cracked.com/article_19228_6-personality-quirks-you-didnt-know-were...

via cracked.com