[rightnow321]

You're completely right at it's heart is an innate doubt over whether this is actually a problem or just a manifestation of some weird thought process.

The only way to really get outside this kind of introverted bubble is to ask people or confide in them. This leads to conversations like whether an emotion like happiness is an actual thing or not that they can identify and actually feel. In the sense that they are actually sitting there and willing to state "I feel happy", it's different from yesterday. Most people are hence why I diagnose myself in line with this article.

Or, another way is people generally have an answer to the "Tell me about a time you were very happy"... a lot of people can reel something off really easily here. Sometimes it's like a wedding and you think "you could be saying that because it's accepted as a good answer" but other people say a certain day at the beach where something really specific happens and that lends credence to the idea they feel this emotion and I don't.

[xixi77]

I personally believe it is a problem, having (mostly) been in that state and (sometimes) out of it, it is indeed quite a difference. When it happened for the first time (at age 33), it was like "oh my, so this is what all those people were talking about all along, isn't that something".

I do wish I could change states at will, but historically it has always been a result of some sort of external influence.