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[memyselfi10]

I've read posts on here of people complaining that this or that drug caused them emotional blunting and they disliked it. I was just wondering if there's anyone here like me, who welcomes the lack of emotions? In my case it's an abusive situation at work that would likely put my job in jeapordy if I was to actually care about what was happening. Maybe it's because I'm the type of person who's always cared too much, about myself and others like my co-workers. It's such a sweet relief to me for the stress to melt away and allow me to just check out for awhile, let the drama go on without it making me a nervious wreck. Maybe if my life was going good I would feel differently, but right now I'm just trying to get through a bad situation that makes me crazy. I love love love emotional blunting. Anyone else?

[Spiritual_Wanderer]

I am at such a low place in my life right now that I wish I had the blunting. I used to think of it as not a good thing. I only really had it once with Zoloft years ago. I have since been on Lexapro, Celexa, and Prozac, and have not felt blunted. Maybe I need to request a higher dose!!! :P I really would like to have it, right now at least.

[Epictetus]

Hi Memyselfi10,

I've experienced the same blunting you describe. I have mixed feelings about it. At times it is comforting. At times it seems a bit sad to me. I was so blunted once that I lost my appreciation of music. I was not happy about that. No body really knows you but you, so whatever your coworkers are attacking, it's not you. They are attacking their image of you which is based on over-simplifications and over-generations and prejudices. They can, in truth, not know the real you, the you made of trillions of things and events. Of course, this is small comfort when you are suffering. I am so sorry about that. As you read my words today, please note how even I myself do not really know you. I think it is important to appreciate yourself when other don't. You are a masterpiece on this earth. Don't forget that! Best!!!

Edited by Ep1ctetus, 09 July 2012 - 09:55 AM.

[Eustace Flynn]

I like the idea of emotional blunting but I've never really experienced it.
When the predominant emotion felt is despair I think no emotion would be better.

[calicosky]

I would love to have the emotional blunting, have not had that experience with meds. I would love to have a medication that would allow me to go through my days like a robot, no emotions whatsoever, just get up and do what I have to do.

[DarkHellBlaze]

I think Emotional blunting will make one look like an Hound dog when they get old but its totally fine to have emotional blunting from my view.

[memyselfi10]

I am at such a low place in my life right now that I wish I had the blunting. I used to think of it as not a good thing. I only really had it once with Zoloft years ago. I have since been on Lexapro, Celexa, and Prozac, and have not felt blunted. Maybe I need to request a higher dose!!! :P I really would like to have it, right now at least.

I think you brought up an important point: "I am at such a low place in my life right now that I wish I had the blunting." The first time I experienced it from a med I was young and it made me want to spend the day in bed staring at the wall. I hated it and obviously it was not a good thing for me at that time. Now I love it because with all the anxiety/depression/stressful things in my life right now I'm always jumping out of my skin, and not caring about all that helps me function.

Sorry to hear your at a that low place, I hope things get better again soon.

Edited by memyselfi10, 09 July 2012 - 05:08 PM.

[bluegarden]

Honestly i get that emotion blunting WITHOUT medications. Some days I'm just off for no reason at all and it's almost good in some extentt. Life feels like a videogame , my social anxiety seems non existant, I have that "I don't care attitude" that makes me indifferent to any life challenges or stuff other people do lol
it feels great in some extent, but you don't care just about anything...good or bad and that starts to make me nostalgic of emotional things like music or nature

Edited by bluegarden, 09 July 2012 - 06:14 PM.

[spadeofqueens]

It's comforting being able to feel things. As much as it may hurt, I'd rather it than not feel anything. :/

[sonata]

Ah, emotional blunting...that's what we call it? Have experienced this on a medication (zoloft). Used the medication for several years -- maybe closer to 5... The first few years using it, my emotions were kept at a very steady line ... no ups, no downs of great severity, but no tears, no joy, no feelings about anything. Helpful? Yes...I could manage to get through some pretty tough times, losses, changes, et cetera without losing control. Tears were hard to come by no matter what. It was a relief during that time to have things steady.

After a period of time, I began to realize how totally numb I was. How I wasn't "feeling" anything -- good or bad. Long story short here...went off the anti-depressant medications two years ago...feelings came back full force and then some. Very difficult to get through to be sure. I knew what was happening though it didn't make it easier to manage. It took about six months for the overwhelming rush of emotions to settle down to something more acceptable to me.

Now, it's a constant cycle of emotion, though happiness and joy are still elusive. The cycling of mood (depressive state) is frustrating, but do not want to go back to "blunting" at this stage. sigh....

[memyselfi10]

Now, it's a constant cycle of emotion, though happiness and joy are still elusive. The cycling of mood (depressive state) is frustrating, but do not want to go back to "blunting" at this stage. sigh....

Ah, joy and happiness. I can definitely see that for people who experience those things, a cutting off of emotions wouldn't be as desirable. I don't know if I've ever felt true joy, and it's been many years since I've been happy. So someone like me isn't losing as much -- just the bad emotions.

[nucleosynthesis]

I think I have always been super sensitive to what goes on around me, and to the extent that my medication is 'blunting' me, I suspect I'm more within the range of normal human emotional interaction now, which I am happy with.

[CosmoGrey]

I hate the blunting. I don't want to go through life as a zombie. That's not living, it's just existing.

[alpheus]

Drug induced lack of feelings made it easier to get through the day to day garbage of life, work, go home, work, go home, it really was a lot less stressful. On the other hand it made it a lot harder to maintain social ties, especially close ones, and as a result my relationships suffered because I couldn't really be present in any of them. But since I hardly have any social ties anyway and doing things with them is even rarer I think it's a lot better than feeling despair most of the time.

[Bipolar n Depressed]

I feel emotionally blunted too, although I get depressed & have plenty of crying spells. But basically, I feel numb. I'd love to know what real joy & happiness feels like. I guess I may sometimes feel some contentment, although I wouldn't call it joy or happy. I just feel like a zombie most of the time. And it is very hard socially because I never feel like present in any conversation, it's like I don't hear them or understand...just numbness. That's one reason I'm usally just standing or sitting there like a knot on a log and that's on top of feeling socially awkard.

[unbranded]

there was a time in my life that was so bad day by day, and even one moment to the next, that taking my "don't care pill" was probably the only thing that got me through it. but after that storm blew over, i started to notice i wasn't feeling anything good either. i told my doctor and tried a diferent med.
For me, it was quite useful not to feel so much for awhile (i was still alive), but i sure don't want to live the rest of my life without even the chance to feel happiness now and then.

[D_Artagnan]

I'm not on meds I'm ok. But the emotional blunting / calmess / whatever you wish to call it that I learned to create for myself during those times is very, very useful. Hell, isn't the search for inner peace about getting there? It's good for me.

Edited by D_Artagnan, 12 December 2012 - 05:48 PM.

[Aerfspv]

I have experienced some days with almost total blunting of emotions (without medicine), and now as I'm again back in my usual rollercoaster I kind of miss it. Sure it felt a bit sad, but at least I could force myself to concentrate on things if I needed to, now although I do have short moments of good feelings and joy most of the time I feel bad, and sometimes I fall really down which feels horrible both physically and emotionally.

So yeah for now I would rather have no emotions at all, not until in a month or two my life situation will allow me to go and seek help.

[sydneyy]

I'm rather conflicted sometimes.

I feel like it's nice to not have any emotions, but I will become really cold and harsh to people and not even realise it. I might also lose friends and I just won't even remember what happened to make me lose them in the first place.

It's rough, but sometimes it's better than depression.

[Tacit Blue]

I'm fairly blunted and I do enjoy it.

 

I'm blunted enough that I can avoid a lot of drama. Specifically, my ability to have empathy is worn down so as to be almost nonexistent. Sometimes it's a slight problem, like when a friend is feeling badly and I find it difficult to show them I care, but other times it's a blessing. I am completely unaffected by any tragedy that doesn't concern me (or people closest to me), and it's nice not to have extra emotional baggage placed on me.

 

I've been told by many people that I can be emotionless and cold, and honestly I always smile when people say that. I consider it a compliment!

[handsup]

How can anyone even want this? When you don't have the ability to love, to feel happy/sad/mad, etc... just nothing. Some people do not understand what they are wishing for.

[Tacit Blue]

How can anyone even want this? When you don't have the ability to love, to feel happy/sad/mad, etc... just nothing. Some people do not understand what they are wishing for.

That all depends. Speaking only for myself here, but what is the point in being able to love, or feel these other emotions? Why should I want to feel any of that?

If someone is the type that has a lot to live for, then the ability to feel is a great thing. But if you're like me, and you have nothing to really live for at all, and life is just a "thing" you're forced to do, I'd rather strip out all the stuff that makes it complicated, and streamline it so it just passes by as quickly and painlessly as possible.

Emotions are a hassle, they make things harder than they need to be, they have no use to me. Sure if I truly had no emotions then I'd lose the ability to feel happy too, but eh, it's not like I spend a lot of time being happy anyway.

[darkdaxter]

I dislike emotional blunting.  It's always nice at first.  Say for the first couple days.  But it always takes it's toll.  I don't care about anything anymore, so I start pi**ing off my friends and coworkers.  I don't care about anything anymore, so my work suffers as a result.  I don't care about anything anymore, so school is in fact easier, until the time comes where I have to actually do something.  Right now, I live my life day to day, and try not to let too much crap bog me down.  It's the brief moments of joy that keep me going.  It's the time when I'm hanging out with my friends, or when I'm listening to a great song I haven't heard in a while, or I can actually enjoy playing a game without getting completely annnoyed with it.  The thing about emotional blunting is it can be nice at first.  But Life still goes on in the meantime, and it wreaks havoc upon it.  When it's over, you have to fix everything, which is a huge hassle.  The problem is that it has to end at some point.   I wouldn't call it me going through life as a robot, I'd call it me going through life as an a$$hole, cold, emotionless, and alone.  I'm glad I'm not blunted right now.  I don't like it at all.

[levittfan]

I've started to develop a two-pronged approach to keep from getting too sad: avoiding and blunting. Tragedy and suffering are two of my biggest depression triggers. My mind gets stuck in a loop of obsessing and worrying over the ills of humanity. The news is mostly full of negativity in some way, so I've begun to avoid watching the news, reading newspapers and even going to certain websites . Tv shows that I was once able to watch I now have to skip because they deal with some type of suffering. I wanna know and care about what goes on in the world, but once I began to feel I wind up feeling TOO much, so I've started to blunt. If I'm not able to avoid, I blunt my emotional reaction. It's not 100% effective, but instead of looping for days I now only loop for brief periods throughout the day.

 

I'm not happy about this at all, mind you, and I would never wanna be completly blunted. I blunt to keep from getting closer to the bottom of the barrel, but my depression is chronic instead of episodic, so being down is my normal and I've gotten used to it. Even though I've been robbed of my ability to enjoy most things I do still enjoy some things, and being able to enjoy them feels good. In fact, I think I enjoy and appreciate certain things in a way I wouldn't be able to if I was happier.

[blueskys_lemondrops]

I can understand why you would embrace emotional blunting, especially if most of what you felt was negative. I really dislike not feeling anything but it does beat feeling overwhelmingly depressed and sick. If anything I would desire a balance of positive and negative emotions. Both feeling sad or happy or whatever can be useful in different ways, but when feelings overpower us and there is no way of letting them out it becomes quite dangerous.

[meaggy]

Drrrrrrrives me.  I hate feeling like this.  I want to feel joy so badly.  You start to miss smiling on purpose after a while, eh?

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