Is it normal if i wouldn't know how i feel if someone died in front of me?

Could it be Alexithymia (inability to process, express, or feel emotions)? When something is sad, I cry, when something is funny, I laugh, but if I was walking down the street and someone was shot in the head, I don't know if that would be an emotional shock for me. I don't know how I would feel. Cruel as it sounds, I don't know if I would feel anything if someone close to me died. I don't dislike them or anything, but I feel like I'm emotionally numb in that area.

I also have trouble expressing my thoughts and emotions in words. I have to do it writing.

Is It Normal?
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  • I'm actually dealing with this very dilemma. A man was stabbed to death next to me at a club this weekend, while most everyone stepped back in panic, I stepped in and tried to save the guy but to no avail. He basically died in my hands. After the medics took him away I realized I had his blood on my hands and clothes, so I simply went and washed it out. No real emotion overcame me and as I looked around at the strangers crying, screaming, and others just utterly broken, I was left with a sense of confusion. I had not reacted, I was blank, no sadness, or fear, maybe a bit of frustration over not being able to save him, but alas I was numb in all sense of the word. The next day I just wrote an elegy in respect for the man that'd passed away. I saw intense emotion in my words, but nowhere else. When I'd finishedwritting, I merely set the pencil down, and left to work. I don't think one can judge this normal or not, but regardless, death will never feel normal, whether friend, family, or in my case a stranger.

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    • It may very well hit you later like a ton of bricks. I was threatened in the street with my best friend and calmly took hold of the situation while my friend was crying. I freaked out about 6 hours later when I got home. Big events are much more intense, obviously, and take longer to process.

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  • Yery normal! I felt the same. Then somethings as little as my cat died and I ended up crying over it. See, you're using the word "if." People generally are bad at guessing how they'll react to certain situations. And also, people react to tradgedy in different ways. Sometimes, the feelings even come later, due to shock.

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  • We all go through shit differently

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  • Cross that bridge when you come to it, then you'll know how you reacted.

    You're only worrying coz you have no life experience.

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    • Probably true. I know I'm not destined to be a psychopathic serial killer, lol.

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  • my wheiner gets really big.

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  • I didn't cry for about 3-5 years and probably wont any soon...

    I feel no pity for people/humans anymore and rather laugh about people suffering^^

    To your question I guess it is normal not to be sure how to feel in certain situations!

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    • Well, it's not like I don't care about suffering- I just don't know how I would react to the situation, lol.

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