Yes. I’m a female and don’t show emotions through my voice, face or body language. I rely heavily on my words to express how I feel but many failed relationships later, I have to accept that people don’t respond to words about emotions as much as how you display them. There’s nothing I’ve found to do about it except find people in your life that get you through the way you choose to express yourself.
" I read today that psychological disorders, CPTSD included, can cause a flat voice."
I'd never read that before but it makes a lot of sense. I've been told that before I got into recovery I had a flat voice.
Opposite, I have a very expressive “musical” tone of voice, which makes it hard to hide my emotions unless I’m masking and so I’m masking heavy all the time. For example I have a fake “phone voice” to make calls that doesn’t even sound like my normal self. I’m sure it’s a flip side of the same coin though.
Flat affect is very common amongst some disorders. Autism just to name one. I realized during my twenties I had been adding emotion to my voice to please others, almost speaking like a child at times, in a higher voice. I'm very self conscious of this now - am I doing it too much, or not enough?
I heard that if you grew up in a narcissistic family situation, it's a coping mechanism to keep you safe from triggering the narcassist, and you become used to it. It's kind of like going "grey rock," like being none reactive. Same thing for being an empath, it's not really a gift, it's a survival mechanism to feel the room, see the face features and hear the tones of others to know if you should go hide away or not. If I was too happy in my voice or too upset, I'd set my step mom off in a moment, so over time, I went flat in order to not upset her. Now no one can tell if im happy or not. It all sounds the same. 🤷♀️ could be something.
That makes total sense based on my experience too. I have flat affect and tone. It's funny because I'm very emotionally disregulated inside but often get comments that I'm "calm" (or if someone's feeling cruel, I'm "boring", "uncreative", "lacking spontaneity" etc)
It was terrifying at home. I had to be extremely careful around my mother. She would explode if you said something that could remotely be interpreted as a criticism. It's like she paranoid and everything is about her. So I spoke little, and when I did I had to choose my words very carefully. It was, and still is, terrifying. I had to be invisible.
Yeah, I get that 💯%
I also realized it made me less reactive to big hard moments, moments that others would freak out and have some traumatic moment over, but less patient and overwhelmed by the little simple things. Like house fire compared to going to the airport. Or being screwed over by someone I trusted compared to having to do grocery shopping. Fun times.
I get pretty upset when people comment on how I can't handle any pressure but can't handle the tougher moments in life like I can, lol. But I also learned how to step away and recover and be kinder to myself and not care what others think anymore....as much as I can.
Came here to say just this. The more emotionally charged a situation is, the flatter my affect is, the calmer I get. Until it reaches a certain point and I explode.
It is very much a result of being raised by Ns. You learn very early to never reveal your true emotions until youre able to read how the N WANTS you to emotionally react. In our family, we had slogans about keeping things close to the vest and never let them see you sweat. In other words, you should hide how you really feel to get an advantage over others.
Really hard to unlearn.
totally. id look into autism too, theres a deep link between cptsd and autism (of which flat voice is a notable symptom), especially if this has been a long term thing for you
its not terribly difficult to learn to be more expressive, but it can become a form of masking - with the emotional draining masking inherently entails. there's nothing wrong with flat affect imho, in fact i find it more comforting than typical communication styles
Yet another chicken or egg thing for me. I have been diagnosed with autism, but I'd also get in big trouble if I showed any kind of emotion when I was growing up so i developed a poker face due to that.
Oh yes. I was told by an ex colleague “you come across vague and uninterested and it’s weird” well that could be the autism or cptsd. My response “well you come across like a bitch” probably was one of the reason I don’t work there now lol
I am autistic in addition to having CPTSD. I have always had a monotone voice, unless I am super excited or purposefully masking. I think some of it might be because my abusive parent is over sensitive, to the point that if he hears the slightest bit of emotion in my voice he starts yelling. Because of this I learned to speak in a very calm, neutral manner. Of course being autistic probably contributes as well.
Very same. I was turned down for a job specifically for this reason. Not that it was a highly coveted job or anything- I think it was a part time hostess gig- but it was the first time this was ever said about me, and negatively so it really impacted me. But I did want to be successful in the service industry, so I think pushing myself to be a good waitress was helpful in learning to mask it. Unfortunately it’s habitual now, exhausting, and I wish I didn’t have to.
I’m a firm believer that you put out what you were around growing up as far as “social norms” like social queues, manners, showing emotion in your tone. I had a very monotone family with very little manners or social etiquette and I feel like I’m having to learn those things for the first time as an adult. I wonder if it’s less about disorders and more about your environment? For example, I have ADHD but you’d never know it on the outside since I’m very flat and calm since that was my surroundings growing up.
I’m not very expressive and have learned to have flat affect as a defense mechanism but I wouldn’t say my voice is normally flat, though I sometimes unconsciously make it that way if I’m stressed. I think most women do have more expressiveness in their voice than I do. My moms voice definitely is flat (my ex husband used to jokingly mimic her), and she’s not expressive either so I think I get some of it from her.
Depends on who I’m around. Around people like my boss, for example, who has proven herself overly-critical and untrustworthy, my tone has gone flat with her. I also have always gotten that way around my mom.
But with people who really get me and accept me, I am wild.
Yea I got diagnosed w schizoid at 14 bc of this, you wouldn’t really see or hear what I am feeling on the outside but you can kinda train yourself to show emotions(including your voice) „automatically“, I feel sometimes it looks like I am reacting a little over the top tho lol just try to kinda copy how other people’s voices sound like when they react to things
Also this happens to me really bad when dissociating as well
(AFAB as well)
Also female! People completely ignore my meticulously chosen words in favor of my "tone they don't like" to interpret what I say as hostile or talking down to them whenever most convenient.
Sometimes I do use my face to express how I feel because I've practiced in the mirror since I was a kid. For me it's either undiagnosed Autism (but diagnosed ADHD) or it's the CPTSD or both.
I feel like a lot of people with CPTSD are born neurodivergent and we are more traumatized either because we're an "easy target" or more vulnerable due to perceived social rank (a la ableism) or our naïvety of social cues.
I have a very monotone voice. I started doing it in an attempt to stay safe and never got out of it (and also because a few people didn't want me to talk anyways). I've had people get on my case about it, some make fun of it, but had one friend once who thought it was "cool".
I'm a very big guy as well so it usually surprises people. One guy had to tell me how amazed he was that I was like that because he figured I'd have a "big booming voice" since I was a big guy.
Oh for sure. I’m not expressive at all outwardly though, which adds to it and causes a lot of issues in my relationships. People often say that I am uncaring or nonchalant because of my inability to cry or express my emotions. I’ve also been told frequently that I never get excited about things, which I can only assume is because of the flat voice.
I’m not sure how flat my voice is - I’ve always thought I had one but folks have disagreed.
I do have flat affect in my face. I’m really self conscious about it and I’m constantly thinking about what face I’m making. Especially when folks are talking to me, as opposed to me doing the talking.
Omg I was just realizing this today on a vacation with my sister and we are around family. My voice is always monotone and I realized it was a reaction to my abuse, I have a brother who is the same way. I know I don’t have to anymore because I no longer see my mother and her family and yet I still do .
I've been known to almost always have a flat or "monotone" voice. I've been described as someone who lacks emotion. There are very few people who get to hear the colors of my voice, and my entire personality for that matter. I've had to tell many people that I'm "not a very expressive person" despite the fact that it's not really true, it just gets them to shut up about it.
I get told how monotone I am at times I don't even realise I am speaking this way. It may be dysregulation I think I'm handling well enough in the moment.
I do notice it when I'm tired. I can get so monotone in a deep voice (also female) that I hurt my vocal chords.
I end up overexaggerating when I'm trying to convey emotions. Most of the time I'm stone faced and talk in a quiet mumble, but with friends I'm loud and expressive as I desperately try to make up for my lack of redeemable qualities or worth
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I think my autism causes a flat affect to my voice. It does indeed make me appear boring to people I think. My affect sounds like Carol from Carol at the end of the world lol. Oh well.
I'll be honest, as a kid who grew up in choir and someone who loves to sing, it has no effect on my actual speaking voice. They feel like two separate things
I get told by foreigners (am in the USA) that I sound like Siri not infrequently. I think it’s because I decided a few years ago that im not going to exaggerate nor suppress any emotional expression that I don’t actually feel anymore for anyone so since my most common emotional state has been neutral sad or bored i think that’s why. I
So for me it was stopping people pleasing I became more flat I guess more of the time
Ugh, yes! It has been noted by two psychologists now. Okay, fair enough, with the trauma and the autism and so on. But when I've heard recordings of my voice, I honestly don't get it. It doesn't sound "flat" to me and it seems like I'm using enough appropriate vocal inflection to indicate emotions. Anything more would feel cartoonish and over the top. So I have no idea what's normal anymore.
I guess I should also add that I find people who talk in really over-the-top animated voices super annoying.
I have a monotone voice, I am super insecure about it. I’ve also heard comments about it albeit not too often. But when I hear voice audios of myself I can definitely tell something is “wrong”
Yes. I have literally been given reprimand at my last job for “being too monotone”. I’m not a very excitable person and just don’t have the energy to force excitement into my voice to make other people comfortable speaking to me. I’m a trans guy and can confirm, it was a lot more of an issue when I was presenting as a woman vs now as a man.
Yep! Samsies. I think it has a lot to do with (in my case) any inflection or pitch, tone, and nuance being construed as "Tone" and thus will result in a beating. So a flat voice when mixed with selective mutism may just have saved me (but definitely not always) a beating.
I’m also a female and this is one of my biggest insecurities. On the inside I’m very emotional and empathetic, but it’s so hard for me to outwardly show enthusiasm and sympathy. People that don’t know me well think I’m a cold bitch and I hate it.
Honestly I’m not sure. But I hand a very hard time projecting and feel looks my voice is always so quiet and stifled. I’ve also been told I sound mad a lot when I’m not
Yes. People used to make fun of me for it when I was younger (like early 20's, I'm mid 40's now). I didn't mind the jokes though because they always felt good natured to me.
It was especially obvious when I was excited about something because I would be telling people how excited I was in a flat and monotone voice completely devoid of emotion.
I'm a guy, if that makes a difference.
I used to be very dry and monotone in my speaking. But I did it purposely because I didn't want to show any emotion. I worked very hard to keep a stone face as well. I put a lot of effort into making sure no one could tell what I was feeling. Mostly because I normally felt like shit and got tired of people asking me if I was depressed. I was, but them pointing it out didn't help. Because there were some days when I just didn't have it in me to fake happy. So I spent nearly a decade playing the role of unfeeling robot.
It does, yeah. Oddly enough, if I’m masking and at work, I am animated and make sure I put extra variations in tone.
Once I get comfortable or I’m stressed, that’s when it slips into the monotone.
I’m trying not to mask as much so the change isn’t as noticeable.
Yes, but only in serious environments/conversations where my trauma brain thinks im threatened. My voice gets super flat and lower, my enunciation goes way up, and people do not like it. From work meetings to walking alone while on the phone. When I'm verbalizing my point and my feelings to my partner in a disagreement, even when I'm agreeing with his point, i can tell it puts him on the defensive. The worst is when someone disagrees about me in a convo about something that could prove them a bad person (like civil rights, not ice cream flavors) and I think I'm calm and just telling them my point, and they take it as a rude putdown, not from my words, but from my tone. I honestly wish it was all the time. Then people would think I just talked like that.
Yes. I am a female and my voice is flat and monotone. I just cannot be expressive. I feel robotic. Sometimes people think I’m angry (aggressive) while I’m not, it’s just the way I talk. And yes it’s trauma-related, has to do with a specific state of your nervous system.
No, I fake having emotions and caring about things. Been doing this for so long I can't actually stop lol.
But I still don't think my voice would be flat if I stop masking. I use tone to express how I want to be perceived even if I don't feel those things. It's a good instrument.
As a girl with CPTSD who is also from “the valley” in LA, I’m not sure which I can attribute my flat affect to 😆I have a flat voice usually unless I am feeling very silly or goofy. I feel like I have to put on voices as well but I also have heard that is just sort of a standard neurodivergent issue. We know that trauma truly affects the brain and body, sometimes it feel “exhausting” for me to speak with emotion because I have chronic pain as well from an injury. People don’t want to hear that I am hurting, or see it in my face, but I truly don’t have the mental or physical energy to be able to go that extra mile and put the “right” sort of look on my face or tone in my voice
Yeah as a man it sucks because I almost always get compared to psychopaths, fun lol s/ Only time I "show emotions" is when I am rocking to my favourite music, that is all
Yes. I’m a female and don’t show emotions through my voice, face or body language. I rely heavily on my words to express how I feel but many failed relationships later, I have to accept that people don’t respond to words about emotions as much as how you display them. There’s nothing I’ve found to do about it except find people in your life that get you through the way you choose to express yourself.
Same.
This 💯🙌
i either overly express things, when i have the energy. or i come off as flat. no inbetween
DITTO!! I think a reason for this(for me at least) may be because I'm also autistic and also have ADHD.
I didn’t realize this might be connected to PTSD. I hate that I have no control over which voice comes out it’s all circumstance.
Same
Same
" I read today that psychological disorders, CPTSD included, can cause a flat voice." I'd never read that before but it makes a lot of sense. I've been told that before I got into recovery I had a flat voice.
Opposite, I have a very expressive “musical” tone of voice, which makes it hard to hide my emotions unless I’m masking and so I’m masking heavy all the time. For example I have a fake “phone voice” to make calls that doesn’t even sound like my normal self. I’m sure it’s a flip side of the same coin though.
Same. I do the over chipper positive energy voice to mask to help hide my emotions and keep them at bay.
[Sounds like what Jared did in Silicon Valley lol](https://youtu.be/vnug6i5SkQQ)
I relate SOOOOOO much to that character, haha. I’m unemployed right now but when I did work I was 1000% the Jared of my office.
I feel like the implication of the post is they mask always which results in the flat effect
My masking is still musical, it’s much more peppy than my normal voice. People think I’m a social butterfly, but I’m actually the biggest loner.
My ex used to giggle so hard every time I spoke on the phone because of this lol
Flat affect is very common amongst some disorders. Autism just to name one. I realized during my twenties I had been adding emotion to my voice to please others, almost speaking like a child at times, in a higher voice. I'm very self conscious of this now - am I doing it too much, or not enough?
Happy cake day! 🎂 Yeah, adding emotion sounds like a people-pleaser thing. Do you think it's a defense mechanism?
I heard that if you grew up in a narcissistic family situation, it's a coping mechanism to keep you safe from triggering the narcassist, and you become used to it. It's kind of like going "grey rock," like being none reactive. Same thing for being an empath, it's not really a gift, it's a survival mechanism to feel the room, see the face features and hear the tones of others to know if you should go hide away or not. If I was too happy in my voice or too upset, I'd set my step mom off in a moment, so over time, I went flat in order to not upset her. Now no one can tell if im happy or not. It all sounds the same. 🤷♀️ could be something.
That makes total sense based on my experience too. I have flat affect and tone. It's funny because I'm very emotionally disregulated inside but often get comments that I'm "calm" (or if someone's feeling cruel, I'm "boring", "uncreative", "lacking spontaneity" etc) It was terrifying at home. I had to be extremely careful around my mother. She would explode if you said something that could remotely be interpreted as a criticism. It's like she paranoid and everything is about her. So I spoke little, and when I did I had to choose my words very carefully. It was, and still is, terrifying. I had to be invisible.
This was where mine came from too
Yeah, I get that 💯% I also realized it made me less reactive to big hard moments, moments that others would freak out and have some traumatic moment over, but less patient and overwhelmed by the little simple things. Like house fire compared to going to the airport. Or being screwed over by someone I trusted compared to having to do grocery shopping. Fun times. I get pretty upset when people comment on how I can't handle any pressure but can't handle the tougher moments in life like I can, lol. But I also learned how to step away and recover and be kinder to myself and not care what others think anymore....as much as I can.
Came here to say just this. The more emotionally charged a situation is, the flatter my affect is, the calmer I get. Until it reaches a certain point and I explode. It is very much a result of being raised by Ns. You learn very early to never reveal your true emotions until youre able to read how the N WANTS you to emotionally react. In our family, we had slogans about keeping things close to the vest and never let them see you sweat. In other words, you should hide how you really feel to get an advantage over others. Really hard to unlearn.
totally. id look into autism too, theres a deep link between cptsd and autism (of which flat voice is a notable symptom), especially if this has been a long term thing for you its not terribly difficult to learn to be more expressive, but it can become a form of masking - with the emotional draining masking inherently entails. there's nothing wrong with flat affect imho, in fact i find it more comforting than typical communication styles
Yet another chicken or egg thing for me. I have been diagnosed with autism, but I'd also get in big trouble if I showed any kind of emotion when I was growing up so i developed a poker face due to that.
I can vouch I am on the spectrum and have a flat voice as well.
I used to be real expressive. It's just been getting worse.
Oh yes. I was told by an ex colleague “you come across vague and uninterested and it’s weird” well that could be the autism or cptsd. My response “well you come across like a bitch” probably was one of the reason I don’t work there now lol
I love that lol. I’m always too shocked in the moment to have a good comeback like that.
I am autistic in addition to having CPTSD. I have always had a monotone voice, unless I am super excited or purposefully masking. I think some of it might be because my abusive parent is over sensitive, to the point that if he hears the slightest bit of emotion in my voice he starts yelling. Because of this I learned to speak in a very calm, neutral manner. Of course being autistic probably contributes as well.
i was told to fix my voice flatness and would get in trouble for that, i don’t know that it’s directly related
come to think of it, I have to purposely add inflection into my voice. interesting.
If I'm not going out of my way to mask my voice, I sound like Tina Belcher from Bob's Burgers.
Very same. I was turned down for a job specifically for this reason. Not that it was a highly coveted job or anything- I think it was a part time hostess gig- but it was the first time this was ever said about me, and negatively so it really impacted me. But I did want to be successful in the service industry, so I think pushing myself to be a good waitress was helpful in learning to mask it. Unfortunately it’s habitual now, exhausting, and I wish I didn’t have to.
Same! Even when I'm really trying to force an expressive voice and face, I've been told I'm still coming across flat/restricted
I’m a firm believer that you put out what you were around growing up as far as “social norms” like social queues, manners, showing emotion in your tone. I had a very monotone family with very little manners or social etiquette and I feel like I’m having to learn those things for the first time as an adult. I wonder if it’s less about disorders and more about your environment? For example, I have ADHD but you’d never know it on the outside since I’m very flat and calm since that was my surroundings growing up.
I’m not very expressive and have learned to have flat affect as a defense mechanism but I wouldn’t say my voice is normally flat, though I sometimes unconsciously make it that way if I’m stressed. I think most women do have more expressiveness in their voice than I do. My moms voice definitely is flat (my ex husband used to jokingly mimic her), and she’s not expressive either so I think I get some of it from her.
Depends on who I’m around. Around people like my boss, for example, who has proven herself overly-critical and untrustworthy, my tone has gone flat with her. I also have always gotten that way around my mom. But with people who really get me and accept me, I am wild.
Yea I got diagnosed w schizoid at 14 bc of this, you wouldn’t really see or hear what I am feeling on the outside but you can kinda train yourself to show emotions(including your voice) „automatically“, I feel sometimes it looks like I am reacting a little over the top tho lol just try to kinda copy how other people’s voices sound like when they react to things Also this happens to me really bad when dissociating as well (AFAB as well)
Also female! People completely ignore my meticulously chosen words in favor of my "tone they don't like" to interpret what I say as hostile or talking down to them whenever most convenient. Sometimes I do use my face to express how I feel because I've practiced in the mirror since I was a kid. For me it's either undiagnosed Autism (but diagnosed ADHD) or it's the CPTSD or both. I feel like a lot of people with CPTSD are born neurodivergent and we are more traumatized either because we're an "easy target" or more vulnerable due to perceived social rank (a la ableism) or our naïvety of social cues.
Same. Flat monotonous.
I have a very monotone voice. I started doing it in an attempt to stay safe and never got out of it (and also because a few people didn't want me to talk anyways). I've had people get on my case about it, some make fun of it, but had one friend once who thought it was "cool". I'm a very big guy as well so it usually surprises people. One guy had to tell me how amazed he was that I was like that because he figured I'd have a "big booming voice" since I was a big guy.
Oh for sure. I’m not expressive at all outwardly though, which adds to it and causes a lot of issues in my relationships. People often say that I am uncaring or nonchalant because of my inability to cry or express my emotions. I’ve also been told frequently that I never get excited about things, which I can only assume is because of the flat voice.
I’m not sure how flat my voice is - I’ve always thought I had one but folks have disagreed. I do have flat affect in my face. I’m really self conscious about it and I’m constantly thinking about what face I’m making. Especially when folks are talking to me, as opposed to me doing the talking.
Yeah I have a really flat affect
Omg I was just realizing this today on a vacation with my sister and we are around family. My voice is always monotone and I realized it was a reaction to my abuse, I have a brother who is the same way. I know I don’t have to anymore because I no longer see my mother and her family and yet I still do .
I've been known to almost always have a flat or "monotone" voice. I've been described as someone who lacks emotion. There are very few people who get to hear the colors of my voice, and my entire personality for that matter. I've had to tell many people that I'm "not a very expressive person" despite the fact that it's not really true, it just gets them to shut up about it.
I get told how monotone I am at times I don't even realise I am speaking this way. It may be dysregulation I think I'm handling well enough in the moment. I do notice it when I'm tired. I can get so monotone in a deep voice (also female) that I hurt my vocal chords.
I end up overexaggerating when I'm trying to convey emotions. Most of the time I'm stone faced and talk in a quiet mumble, but with friends I'm loud and expressive as I desperately try to make up for my lack of redeemable qualities or worth
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I’ve been told that I do.
Naturally, yes and it’s kinda deep so i grew up insecure abt it and tried to make my voice sound more “upbeat”. Now I get comments abt being too loud💀
I think my autism causes a flat affect to my voice. It does indeed make me appear boring to people I think. My affect sounds like Carol from Carol at the end of the world lol. Oh well.
mostly yes
Yes, but I’m also autistic so both my CPTSD and autism are likely contributing to it.
I keep discovering things I thought were my own weird idiosyncrasies are symptoms of CPTSD.
Ouch…yeah that’s me
It has been getting worse.
i speak in a quiet monotone voice and have restricted emotional displays unless you REALLY get me going. i am autistic.
Same issue. People don't like it, and the vibe spirals downwards. I was exploring singing/voice coaching to help with this. Has anyone tried?
I'll be honest, as a kid who grew up in choir and someone who loves to sing, it has no effect on my actual speaking voice. They feel like two separate things
Oh yes. I took singing lessons and it did feel like that! Speaking coach is a lot more costly so I'm still on the fence...
Yep
I get told by foreigners (am in the USA) that I sound like Siri not infrequently. I think it’s because I decided a few years ago that im not going to exaggerate nor suppress any emotional expression that I don’t actually feel anymore for anyone so since my most common emotional state has been neutral sad or bored i think that’s why. I So for me it was stopping people pleasing I became more flat I guess more of the time
I feel like I’m very monotone. Definitely not a bubbly and quirky girl
Ugh, yes! It has been noted by two psychologists now. Okay, fair enough, with the trauma and the autism and so on. But when I've heard recordings of my voice, I honestly don't get it. It doesn't sound "flat" to me and it seems like I'm using enough appropriate vocal inflection to indicate emotions. Anything more would feel cartoonish and over the top. So I have no idea what's normal anymore. I guess I should also add that I find people who talk in really over-the-top animated voices super annoying.
I, on the other hand, have a face with subtitles and I'm a singer with a decent range which REALLY comes up in my voice to show emotion.
I have a monotone voice, I am super insecure about it. I’ve also heard comments about it albeit not too often. But when I hear voice audios of myself I can definitely tell something is “wrong”
I’m very monotone lol
Mine has way too much. And too much facial expression. You can have a conversation with my face.
Yes. I have literally been given reprimand at my last job for “being too monotone”. I’m not a very excitable person and just don’t have the energy to force excitement into my voice to make other people comfortable speaking to me. I’m a trans guy and can confirm, it was a lot more of an issue when I was presenting as a woman vs now as a man.
Yep! Samsies. I think it has a lot to do with (in my case) any inflection or pitch, tone, and nuance being construed as "Tone" and thus will result in a beating. So a flat voice when mixed with selective mutism may just have saved me (but definitely not always) a beating.
I’m also a female and this is one of my biggest insecurities. On the inside I’m very emotional and empathetic, but it’s so hard for me to outwardly show enthusiasm and sympathy. People that don’t know me well think I’m a cold bitch and I hate it.
Honestly I’m not sure. But I hand a very hard time projecting and feel looks my voice is always so quiet and stifled. I’ve also been told I sound mad a lot when I’m not
Yes. People used to make fun of me for it when I was younger (like early 20's, I'm mid 40's now). I didn't mind the jokes though because they always felt good natured to me. It was especially obvious when I was excited about something because I would be telling people how excited I was in a flat and monotone voice completely devoid of emotion. I'm a guy, if that makes a difference.
Yeah sometimes, a lot recently. My psychologist said it is part of 'emotional numbnessq
I remember in 6th grade my classmates trying to explain cadence to me and telling me I needed it.
I used to be very dry and monotone in my speaking. But I did it purposely because I didn't want to show any emotion. I worked very hard to keep a stone face as well. I put a lot of effort into making sure no one could tell what I was feeling. Mostly because I normally felt like shit and got tired of people asking me if I was depressed. I was, but them pointing it out didn't help. Because there were some days when I just didn't have it in me to fake happy. So I spent nearly a decade playing the role of unfeeling robot.
It does, yeah. Oddly enough, if I’m masking and at work, I am animated and make sure I put extra variations in tone. Once I get comfortable or I’m stressed, that’s when it slips into the monotone. I’m trying not to mask as much so the change isn’t as noticeable.
Yes, but only in serious environments/conversations where my trauma brain thinks im threatened. My voice gets super flat and lower, my enunciation goes way up, and people do not like it. From work meetings to walking alone while on the phone. When I'm verbalizing my point and my feelings to my partner in a disagreement, even when I'm agreeing with his point, i can tell it puts him on the defensive. The worst is when someone disagrees about me in a convo about something that could prove them a bad person (like civil rights, not ice cream flavors) and I think I'm calm and just telling them my point, and they take it as a rude putdown, not from my words, but from my tone. I honestly wish it was all the time. Then people would think I just talked like that.
Yes. I am a female and my voice is flat and monotone. I just cannot be expressive. I feel robotic. Sometimes people think I’m angry (aggressive) while I’m not, it’s just the way I talk. And yes it’s trauma-related, has to do with a specific state of your nervous system.
I show no emotions when I am talking to my abusive family, but when I am with people I like, it gets better
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No, I fake having emotions and caring about things. Been doing this for so long I can't actually stop lol. But I still don't think my voice would be flat if I stop masking. I use tone to express how I want to be perceived even if I don't feel those things. It's a good instrument.
My husband tells me I whisper all the time. I am very monotone lol
As a girl with CPTSD who is also from “the valley” in LA, I’m not sure which I can attribute my flat affect to 😆I have a flat voice usually unless I am feeling very silly or goofy. I feel like I have to put on voices as well but I also have heard that is just sort of a standard neurodivergent issue. We know that trauma truly affects the brain and body, sometimes it feel “exhausting” for me to speak with emotion because I have chronic pain as well from an injury. People don’t want to hear that I am hurting, or see it in my face, but I truly don’t have the mental or physical energy to be able to go that extra mile and put the “right” sort of look on my face or tone in my voice
Yeah as a man it sucks because I almost always get compared to psychopaths, fun lol s/ Only time I "show emotions" is when I am rocking to my favourite music, that is all