Can Antidepressants Alleviate Emotional Numbness?

Video Transcript

Can Antidepressants Alleviate Emotional Numbness?

Emotional numbness can be defined as: a lack of emotional responsiveness or a reduced ability to feel emotions, often described as feeling emotionally “devoid” or “empty.”

Emotional blunting is another term often used to describe this symptom.

To answer your question, yes, taking antidepressants can alleviate emotional numbness for some people by improving mood and emotional responsiveness.

However, others might not gain any benefit, while others may see an increase or worsening of emotional numbness.

Because each person’s body chemistry is unique, responses to antidepressants can vary.

If you experience emotional numbness as an anxiety symptom, there are natural ways to treat it.

Visit our “Emotional Numbness” anxiety symptom in the Anxiety Symptoms section on our website for more information. The link is in the comments.

Can antidepressants cause emotional numbness symptoms?

Yes! Research shows that approximately 40 to 60 percent of antidepressant users experience emotional numbness symptoms as a side effect. You can read more about that in the article "Can Antidepressants Cause Emotional Numbness?"