Typical deficiencies may include problems identifying, processing, describing, and working with one's own feelings, often marked by a lack of understanding of the feelings of others; difficulty distinguishing between feelings and the bodily sensations of emotional arousal; confusion of physical sensations often associated with emotions; few dreams or fantasies due to restricted imagination; and concrete, realistic, logical thinking, often to the exclusion of emotional responses to problems. Those who have<unk>  also report very logical and realistic dreams, such as going to the store or eating a meal. Clinical experience suggests it is the structural features of dreams more than the ability to recall them that best characterizes<unk> . Some<unk>  individuals may appear to contradict the above-mentioned characteristics because they can experience chronic dysphoria or manifest outbursts of crying or rage. However, questioning usually reveals that they are quite incapable of describing their feelings or appear confused by questions inquiring about specifics of feelings. According to Henry Krystal, individuals exhibiting<unk>  think in an operative way and may appear to be superadjusted to reality. In psychotherapy, however, a cognitive disturbance becomes apparent as patients tend to recount trivial, chronologically ordered actions, reactions, and events of daily life with monotonous detail. In general, these individuals can, but not always, seem oriented toward things and even treat themselves as robots. These problems seriously limit their responsiveness to psychoanalytic psychotherapy; psychosomatic illness or substance abuse is frequently exacerbated should these individuals enter psychotherapy. A common misconception about<unk>  is that affected individuals are totally unable to express emotions verbally and that they may even fail to acknowledge that they experience emotions. Even before coining the term, Sifneos (1967) noted patients often mentioned things like anxiety or depression. The distinguishing factor was their inability to elaborate beyond a few limited adjectives such as "happy" or "unhappy" when describing these feelings. The core issue is that people with<unk>  have poorly differentiated emotions limiting their ability to distinguish and describe them to others. This contributes to the sense of emotional detachment from themselves and difficulty connecting with others, making<unk>  negatively associated with life satisfaction even when depression and other confounding factors are controlled for. Associated conditions<unk>  frequently co-occurs with other disorders. Research indicates that<unk>  overlaps with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In a 2004 study using the TAS-20, 85% of the adults with ASD fell into the "impaired" category and almost half fell into the "severely impaired" category; in contrast, among the adult control population only 17% were "impaired", none "severely impaired". Fitzgerald & Bellgrove pointed out that, "Like<unk> , Asperger's syndrome is also characterised by core disturbances in speech and language and social relationships". Hill & Berthoz agreed with Fitzgerald & Bellgrove (2006) and in response stated that "there is some form of overlap between<unk>  and ASDs". They also pointed to studies that revealed impaired theory of mind skill in<unk> , neuroanatomical evidence pointing to a shared etiology and similar social skills deficits. The exact nature of the overlap is uncertain.<unk>  traits in AS may be linked to clinical depression or anxiety; the mediating factors are unknown and it is possible that<unk>  predisposes to anxiety. On the other hand, while the total<unk>  score as well as the difficulty in identifying feelings and externally oriented thinking factors are found to be significantly associated with ADHD, and while the total<unk>  score, the difficulty in identifying feelings, and the difficulty in describing feelings factors are also significantly associated with symptoms of hyperactivity/impulsivity, there is no significant relationship between<unk>  and inattentiveness symptom. There are many more psychiatric disorders that overlap with<unk> . One study found that 41% of US veterans of the Vietnam War with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were<unk> . Another study found higher levels of<unk>  among Holocaust survivors with PTSD compared to those without. Higher levels of<unk>  among mothers with interpersonal violence-related PTSD were found in one study to have proportionally less caregiving sensitivity. This latter study suggested that when treating adult PTSD patients who are parents,<unk>  should be assessed and addressed also with attention to the parent-child relationship and the child's social-emotional development. Single study prevalence findings for other disorders include 63% in anorexia nervosa, 56% in bulimia, 45% to 50% in major depressive disorder, 34% in panic disorder, 28% in social phobia, and 50% in substance abusers.<unk>  is also exhibited by a large proportion of individuals with acquired brain injuries such as stroke or traumatic brain injury.<unk>  is correlated with certain personality disorders, particularly schizoid, avoidant, dependent and schizotypal, substance use disorders, some anxiety disorders and sexual disorders as well as certain physical illnesses, such as hypertension, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes and functional dyspepsia.<unk>  is further linked with disorders such as migraine headaches, lower back pain, irritable bowel syndrome, asthma, nausea, allergies and fibromyalgia. An inability to modulate emotions is a possibility in explaining why some people with<unk>  are prone to discharge tension arising from unpleasant emotional states through impulsive acts or compulsive behaviors such as binge eating, substance abuse, perverse sexual behavior or anorexia nervosa. The failure to regulate emotions cognitively might result in prolonged elevations of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and neuroendocrine systems, which can lead to somatic diseases. People with<unk>  also show a limited ability to experience positive emotions leading Krystal and Sifneos (1987) to describe many of these individuals as anhedonic. Alexisomia is a clinical concept that refers to the difficulty in the awareness and expression of somatic, or bodily, sensations. The concept was first proposed in 1979 by Dr. Yujiro Ikemi when he observed characteristics of both<unk>  and alexisomia in patients with psychosomatic diseases.
Alexithymia
Automatism 
Phobia
Body integrity dysphoria
Automatic behavior
Morbid love
Hyperreligiosity
Musical anhedonia