Finding Words for Feelings: How Therapy Can Help with Alexithymia & Neurodivergence
- M. Guy
- Sep 2
- 3 min read
Updated: Nov 5
Have you ever noticed that it’s hard to put your emotions into words? Maybe your chest feels tight, your stomach knots, or your body feels heavy — but you can’t quite tell if it’s stress, sadness, or something else. For many people, connecting with emotions can feel like a puzzle, and the right words often seem out of reach.
At Acorn & Anchor Therapy Centre, we work with clients who experience these challenges, sometimes related to alexithymia — difficulty identifying and expressing emotions — and often seen in people who are neurodivergent. Neurodivergence, including conditions such as giftedness, autism, ADHD, or other differences in cognitive processing, can affect how emotions are experienced, recognized, and expressed.
Understanding these patterns allows us to provide specialized and individualized therapy that meets each client where they are.
Even when words fail, your body can provide important clues. Through relational therapy that incorporates the mind-body connection and interoception — the practice of noticing internal sensations — and other cultivated approaches, we help clients tune into the signals their bodies give and gradually unlock the emotions behind them.
This approach helps you better understand your feelings, express them safely, and strengthen your relationships.
Why It Feels Hard to Put Feelings Into Words
When emotions feel unclear, daily situations can feel overwhelming. You might:
Struggle to explain what’s wrong when someone asks.
Find it hard to communicate your needs in relationships.
Focus more on physical symptoms (like headaches, tension, or fatigue) than on internal feelings, sensations or emotions.
Feel disconnected from yourself or misunderstood by others.
For neurodivergent clients, these experiences can be even more pronounced. Differences in processing sensory input, attention, or emotional signals may make identifying and expressing feelings more complex. This is why tailored, compassionate support is so important.
How Therapy Can Help
At Acorn & Anchor Therapy Centre, our specialized and individualized approaches are grounded in best practice for supporting clients with alexithymia, neurodivergence, or difficulty expressing emotions.
1. Build Emotional Awareness
We use tools like emotion charts, guided reflections, and interoception exercises to help you recognize what your body is signaling and put those sensations into words.
2. Strengthen the Mind-Body Connection
Learning to notice physical cues — a racing heart, tight shoulders, or shallow breathing — allows you to identify emotions earlier and understand their impact on your body.
3. Explore Creative Expression
When words feel insufficient, journaling, art, or metaphors can give you safe and meaningful ways to communicate your inner experiences.
4. Improve Relationships
We work on clear, practical communication strategies that help you express needs and feelings in your relationships, even when naming emotions is challenging.
5. Provide a Compassionate Space
Most importantly, therapy offers a safe, non-judgmental environment. You don’t need the “right” words — we meet you where you are and move at a pace that feels comfortable.
Moving Forward
Feeling disconnected from your emotions can sometimes feel like a wall between you and the life you want.
The good news is that with the right therapist, that wall can be gently taken down. Over time, you can feel more connected — not only to your emotions but also to the people around you.
At Acorn & Anchor Therapy Centre, we understand how isolating alexithymia and challenges related to neurodivergence can feel, and we’re here to help. If this resonates with you, reaching out could be the first step toward building a stronger connection to yourself and others.
Contact us today to schedule a consultation — taking that first step could open the door to a deeper connection with yourself and those around you.
