Asensoria is not about
repression, emotional numbness, trauma response, or dissociation. It is about
structural non-formation — a neurodevelopmental lack caused by the total
absence of crucial emotional input during the most formative phases of life:
fetal development, infancy, and early childhood.
What Is Asensoria?
Asensoria is a neurodevelopmental condition in which the
nervous system never develops the capacity to internally simulate certain
affective states — particularly those related to felt safety, emotional
belonging, ontological worth, and interpersonal joy — because those states
were never lived, mirrored, or transmitted during critical developmental
windows.
The word derives from
Latin roots: a- (“without”) and sensorium (“seat of sensation or
awareness”). In this context, asensoria means without internal sensation for
specific emotional states — not due to suppression, but because those
states never formed internally in the first place.
Note:
Asensoria’refers solely to affective
simulation, not sensory perception.
Unlike aphantasia (lack of imagery) or anauralia (lack of inner speech), it
describes certains emotions that were never internally encoded.
Mechanism: How and
Why It Forms
Human emotional
development depends not only on genetic and neurochemical factors, but on external
emotional resonance. Infants do not generate core affective states in
isolation. Rather, they develop the ability to feel safe, loved, seen, and
valued through interpersonal mirroring, physical attunement, and
somatic-emotional feedback.
These foundational
emotional circuits begin forming as early as the third trimester of gestation
and continue through the first three years of life — a period of extreme neural
plasticity when experience literally sculpts perception, affect, and relational
capacity.
When this is absent —
when caregivers are emotionally absent, neglectful, pathologically self-involved,
or otherwise non-attuned — the infant or fetus may never receive the
sensory-emotional inputs needed to encode those experiences.
In simple terms:
- You cannot feel or re-feel what you never first felt.
- There is no basis, no foundation, no architecture that was ever built.
And if no one ever
reflected joy, celebration, belonging, or safety back to the developing nervous
system, the individual may grow into adulthood cognitively understanding
these states — but feeling nothing when they are offered or evoked.
🔬 Neurobiological Considerations in Asensoria
Although asensoria is
defined primarily by developmental absence — not damage — research on affective
neurodevelopment provides some relevant context. Emotional states like felt
safety, joy, validation, and belonging are not abstract: they correspond to
specific neural circuits, neurotransmitters, and hormonal feedback loops.
These include:
- Dopaminergic pathways (ventral tegmental area to nucleus accumbens): critical for reward, pleasure, and motivation.
- Oxytocinergic systems: involved in bonding, attachment, and the experience of interpersonal safety.
- The right anterior insula: associated with embodied emotional awareness and subjective feeling states.
- The medial prefrontal cortex and limbic integration: necessary for emotional resonance, self-reflection, and relational meaning.
In individuals with
asensoria, these systems may remain underdeveloped or hypoactive not because of
injury or degeneration, but due to developmental non-activation.
If affective inputs —
such as attuned mirroring, loving gaze, or safe physical touch — are absent in
early life, then the expected co-activation between environment and brain never
occurs. The brain, in essence, does not wire what was never required to fire.
Emerging research
on mirror neurons — neural systems that allow individuals to internally
simulate observed emotional states — suggests that these circuits rely on
consistent early-life mirroring to mature. In the absence of such inputs, the
internal resonance mechanisms they support may remain dormant or
underdeveloped.
This does not imply
structural brain damage. It suggests underutilization, non-engagement,
or wiring omission — a kind of cortical and subcortical neglect,
not by the individual, but by the early environment.
Asensoria Is Not
Trauma or Numbness
It is crucial to
distinguish asensoria from superficially similar phenomena:
- Not trauma – There is no evidence of defense mechanisms or shutdown in response to pain. Asensoria is about developmental non-exposure, not reaction.
- Not repression – These emotions were never encoded, not hidden away.
- Not emotional numbness – Numbness implies a loss of prior sensation. Asensoria is a non-event.
- Not aphantasia – Aphantasia is the absence of mental imagery. Asensoria refers to emotional simulation.
- Not anhedonia – Anhedonia is the inability to feel pleasure, often due to depression or neurological disruption. Asensoria affects specific emotional states that were never formed, not generalized capacity for enjoyment.
- Not alexithymia – The person may be highly articulate about emotions, just not able to feel specific ones internally.
- Not dissociation – Dissociation involves detachment from an experience that was once present. Asensoria refers to emotional experiences that were never installed to begin with.
- Not Reactive Attachment Disorder – RAD results from inconsistent or disrupted caregiving and leads to attachment dysfunction. Asensoria describes the total absence of certain internal emotional simulation due to never having been mirrored, not inconsistent attachment formation.
Asensoria is the
structural absence of certain emotional channels, not their blockage,
suppression, or loss.
What Emotional
States Are Missing?
Asensoria does not
involve a blanket absence of emotion. Individuals with asensoria may feel:
- Sadness
- Grief
- Compassion
- Love or others
- Loyalty
- Existential despair
- Anger (in some cases)
What they cannot feel
— because these states never formed — are specific affective responses
typically built through early mirroring and bonding. These may include:
- Feeling loved
- Felt safety
- Emotional belonging
- Joy in being seen
- Felt pride
- Validation
- Ontological affirmation
- Being protected
- Celebratory recognition
These states are not
simply "hard to feel." For the asensoric individual, they are non-existent.
The concept is cognitively clear — but internally, it’s like staring at a blank
screen.
Concrete Lived
Examples of Asensoria
These illustrate the internal experience of asensoria
— not as dysfunction or emotional detachment, but as a developmental
non-installation of specific affective states. The individual is not
emotionally shut down; rather, the emotional channel in question was never
formed.
1. Love Without Resonance
“I know I’m loved.
They tell me all the time. But I feel nothing.”
This is not avoidance,
fear, or guardedness. The individual cognitively registers expressions of love
— even believes them — yet feels no corresponding inner warmth, safety, or connection.
The internal simulation of being loved was never installed because the original
experience never occurred.
2. Praise Without
Pride
“When someone
compliments me, I believe them. But inside, it’s just... silence.”
The words are heard
and understood. The intellect agrees. But the nervous system remains inert.
There is no surge of being seen, no inner glow of validation. Not due to low
self-worth, but because the neurological framework for feeling celebrated was
never established.
3. Achievements
Without Satisfaction
“I’ve done great
things in life. I know it. What I’ve accomplished, alone and against all odds,
is extraordinary. And yet, I have never, ever felt any satisfaction.”
This is not modesty,
not depression, not imposter syndrome. It is the structural absence of the
emotional template for felt fulfillment. The reality of the achievement is
clear, but the mechanism for registering that reality as joy, pride, or
internal recognition simply does not exist.
4. No Hatred, No
Boundaries
“I don’t think I’m
a saint. I just don’t feel hate. Even when people hurt me very badly.”
This is not moral
superiority, repression, or trauma response. It is the absence of an internal
template for hatred. In some individuals with asensoria, certain emotional
states — including hate, vengeance, or outrage — were never installed. This
does not negate their capacity for compassion or justice.
If a child is never
mirrored — never granted the right to anger, never permitted to protest — then
the emotional infrastructure for justified rage may never develop. What remains
is not forgiveness or transcendence, but a structural absence. The affective
architecture required to generate hatred as a felt experience was never formed.
Why “Lack” Is Not
Pathologizing
Asensoria is not a
disorder. It is not damage. It is not mental illness.
It is a neurodevelopmental
absence — a structural void that formed because certain external
experiences never occurred. Just as a language not heard in infancy may
never be wired into the brain, emotional states not mirrored during development
may never form. This is not dysfunction. It is simply missing formation due
to missing input.
The term “lack”
in this context is clinical, not judgmental. It names the non-installation
of an internal emotional architecture, not its removal or decay.
How Asensoria
Differs from Other Conditions
|
Condition |
Core Feature |
Key Difference
from Asensoria |
|
Aphantasia |
Inability to form mental imagery |
Involves a specific affective inability |
|
Alexithymia |
Difficulty naming or identifying emotions |
The person with asensoria recognizes emotions but does not experience them in certain registers |
|
Emotional Numbness |
Loss of emotion due to trauma |
Does not imply loss, but rather a deficit in forming certain affective states |
|
Anhedonia |
Loss of pleasure |
Asensoria affects specific emotional states, not generalized
pleasure |
|
Dissociation |
Detachment from emotion or experience |
Some emotional states have never existed |
Prerequisite for
Asensoria
The defining condition
for the development of asensoria is Arelationality — a total absence of
relational mirroring or emotional attunement during critical developmental
windows.
Asensoria originates
in arelationality from genesis — the total absence of mirroring in the
developmental crucible. But its consequences are ontological: a lifelong
absence of internal emotional architecture, a self that was never ushered into
being through relation.
Coexistence with
Other Conditions
Although distinct, asensoria can coexist with:
- Aphantasia – the absence of visual imagination
- Anauralia – the absence of an inner voice
- Asexuality – the absence of sexual attraction
- Anhedonia – the inability to experience pleasure
These phenomena are
not identical but collectively indicate a severe form of neuropsychological
underdevelopment—a profound neurodevelopmental minimalism of cerebral and
emotional functions. This suggests a life structured around internal absences,
not as a result of resilience or trauma, but due to a complete lack of
exposure.
Is it reversible or
treatable?
At present, the answer
lies more in hypothesis than scientific certainty. Further neurological and behavioral
research is required to determine whether, and under what conditions, the
cultivation of these emotions is possible. Theoretically, change can occur,
though it is likely as challenging as reshaping a deeply entrenched personality
pattern.
In my view, consistent self-observation combined with genuinely connective human relationships might stimulate the formation of these affective states, although the probability remains low. Even structured interventions such as Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) could be attempted, but the process would be lengthy and yield uncertain results.
Why Naming
Asensoria Matters
Without a term like asensoria,
people who live with these internal absences are misdiagnosed, blamed, shamed,
or pathologized in ways that erase the truth of their experience. They are
told:
- “Just let yourself feel.”
- “You’re blocking it.”
- “You need to learn to receive love.”
But you cannot receive
what your system doesn’t recognize. You cannot resonate with a frequency your
nervous system was never tuned to detect.
Individuals who experience an affective
scaffolding deficit are frequently told to “open up” or “learn to receive,”
without recognizing that these states were never internally wired. Understanding the neurodevelopmental origins
— including dopamine-oxytocin under engagement — validates their lived reality,
moving beyond blame or pathologization.
Naming asensoria is
not about medicalizing a person. It’s about giving language to an invisible
developmental reality that affects millions — especially those born into
emotional neglect, psychopathic parenting, institutional care, or total
mirroring failure.
Final Summary:
Asensoria at a Glance
It describes what happens when the human self is built in an arelational void, without emotional reflection or affirmation.
Those with asensoria are not broken.
They are unmirrored.
The condition is lifelong unless deeply and consistently mirrored later in life — a rarity, but not an impossibility.
In the absence of such mirroring, the person may go through life seeing everything, knowing everything, but feeling only within the narrow band of what was formed early on. Pride, joy, celebration— these are not repressed. They are blank fields. Unknown territory.
Emotional terra incognita.
And now, finally, we have a name. Asensoria.
Methodological Note
The data and
observations presented in this section originate from a qualitative study
conducted on adult subjects who were born and raised in a familial environment
marked by an extreme overlap of destructive dynamics: a sociopathic maternal
figure, entirely indifferent to the child's existence, and a
sadistic-psychopathic paternal figure who systematically persecuted any form of
emotional expression. In this context, the child was never emotionally
mirrored. Isolated and alone, the child was ignored by both the mother and
siblings, while attempts at emotional expression were reversed by the father —
a process of constant anti-mirroring.
This study is part of the ongoing research project “Panthropic Abuse and Existential Trauma,” which is scheduled for publication in the near future.
Further Reading
For in-depth explorations of abuse, trauma, personality disorders, C-PTSD,
mental health, women’s health, neurodivergence, and emotional development, read
my books on Amazon:
https://amzn.to/3GXZcKg,
https://neurodivergentasitrauma.blogspot.com/.
I am Cristina
Gherghel, author of numerous
blogs and books dedicated to human behavior, trauma, abuse, psychology, and
mental health. I share my perspective not only from the standpoint of rigorous
research but also through personal experience, living with multiple forms of
neurodivergence (and related conditions):
- Global aphantasia
- Asensoria
- Anauralia
- Anhedonia
- Asexuality
- C-PTSD (Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder)
- And others
I have detailed this
personal experience on the "About the Author" page, where I explore
the long-term impact of systemic and relational abuse on psychic architecture.
The conditions
described here — aphantasia, asensoria, anauralia, anhedonia, and asexuality —
are insufficiently understood in the specialized literature. Current
explanations for their causes are often inconsistent with how they manifest in
lived reality.
This is why I am
developing my own model, based on observation and comparative research, which
analyzes the differences and overlaps among these neurodivergent conditions and
their connection to early trauma, ontological abuse, and subtle forms of
self-instrumentalization.
This article is part
of a broader ongoing effort to clearly differentiate between these conditions —
not only as clinical definitions but as lived experiences with a profound
impact on thought processes, relationships, perception, and identity
construction.
Thank you for your
interest in and support for my work.
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