Emotional reciprocity is very important in most relationships.  It occurs when your partner is able to share his/her emotions, thoughts and feelings with you and have back and forth conversations about issues that are important to each of you as both individuals and romantic partners.  Without emotional reciprocity, your partner may fail to initiate or respond to any social interactions with you, especially those that involve emotions (yours or theirs).  Nothing can prepare you for a partner who doesn't understand your emotions. thoughts or feelings.  To many, this may look like a lack of empathy, however because your partner is on the spectrum they may literally "not" have the bandwith or the knowledge regarding how to respond to you during a conversation or an argument .  In addition, it may seem like your autistic partner lacks "theory of mind" as it may be difficult for them to predict and interpret your behavior and they may just shutdown.  This can lead to a lot of emotional pain, loneliness and feelings of neglect for the neurotypical/allistic partner.    During this episode, Mona and Olga talk about the challenges they experienced when they just didn't understand why some conversations with their ex's could be so challenging, and how that lead to anger, sadness and disappointment for everyone involved. Follow us on Instagram @neurodiverse_love Thanks everyone!