#restricted affect

[openmindpsych]

shoutout to people who don't speak in complete monotone but still have a smaller range of emotional expression than others.

shoutout to people who often get misinterpreted because they express a lot of different emotions in very similar ways.

shoutout to people who have the "wrong" reaction to a situation (e.g. laughing when bad things happen) and get treated worse for it.

shoutout to people who have exaggerated emotional expression and gets seen as overdramatic or manipulative.

shoutout to people who struggle to express their emotions in the "right way".

[turboautistdog]

the thing they dont tell you about restricted affect is that if you only have 2 facial expressions you make BUT one of them is smiling you just kinda fly under the radar. so when people are constantly misunderstanding you 24/7 they dont really have an explanation for why because your facial expressions are normal, right? right?

[openmindpsych]

does anyone else with flat affect have people confessing wild things to you?

do people confess crazy things to you unprompted?

yes, i DO have flat/restricted affect

yes, i DON'T have flat/restricted affect

no, i DO have flat/restricted affect

no, i DON'T have flat/restricted affect

nuance/somewhere in between

i don't know/i don't remember/other/bald

Voting ended onNov 8, 2025

people will tell me the most personal things after not knowing me for very long and i'm wondering if it's because of my minimal reactions. for me at least, i don't always like telling other people particularly shocking things because it can be overwhelming to then have to deal with their strong reaction. but someone can tell me the most shocking, out of pocket, horrifying, or taboo thing ever and i'll just be like "okay". for a long time i viewed this as a negative, like i wasn't responding properly, like i was "supposed" to be mirroring others' emotions better. but now i'm wondering if it actually helps me sometimes? by providing a more low-stakes listening ear?

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[openmindpsych]

i wish it was more widely known and discussed that emotional experiences and expressions are both spectra. not as in each individual experiences a spectrum of emotion (though that is true) but as in there is a spectrum of how emotional someone is and how emotional someone acts. some people just feel less feelings. some people just feel more feelings. some people's emotions last longer or shorter. some people express their feelings more or less. all of this is normal and should be discussed way more as part of the variety of human experience

[autisticproblems]

Is rigid facial expression part of autism? I often get told that I have to smile, even when I actually smile.

I have been told that my facial expressions are so subtle that it's hard to notice changes in them, and the same happens to be true of my tones of voice. I think it's called "restricted affect" when you don't show emotions a whole lot in your facial expression or vocal tones, and it's not uncommon for autistic people to have restricted affect like that. I've met a lot of autistic people who are more emotionally expressive in their facial expressions and vocal tones than NTs are, conversely. So I would say that for autistic people who experience it, it's related to autism to have affect that is more emotionally expressive or less emotionally expressive than NTs.

- metapianycist