Not everyone who says they're fine is lying. Some people genuinely cannot locate the word for what they're feeling because nobody ever sat with them long enough to help them name it, and fine became the only vocabulary they trust - Silicon Canals

"Most people assume that when someone repeatedly answers fine to questions about their emotional state, they are deflecting, protecting themselves, or lying outright. But a lot of the time, there is no real answer waiting underneath. There is a genuine blank."

"Alexithymia is not a mental illness. It is a trait. It describes a relationship with your own inner life in which the signals arrive but the labels never do. You feel the racing heart, the tight chest, the flatness after a difficult conversation. You just cannot translate any of it into language."

"Emotional language is not innate. It is transmitted, the way accents are transmitted, through thousands of small exchanges in early childhood."

Alexithymia is a trait where individuals struggle to identify and describe their feelings, often leading to responses like 'fine.' This condition affects about one in ten people, particularly men. It is not a mental illness but reflects a disconnect between emotional signals and language. Emotional vocabulary is developed through early interactions, and those with alexithymia find it challenging to express their inner experiences, making it difficult to engage with self-help strategies that rely on emotional insight.

Read at Silicon Canals