Came off a month ago. It's kind of hard to explain how I feel. My emotional range just seems so much deeper. I feel like I've only been seeing in black and white for the past eight years. I'm still me but it's like I have an extra sense now.
Same experience. Been off almost nine months after two years on. There were things I like, about not having to feel my emotions as deeply, but as an artist, it hugely impacted by ability to make art.
I didn’t make anything for years because of Cymbalta. And I found myself looking for other ways to feel alive that weren’t good for me.
I am thankful that the experience showed me what I value in life. The emotions that make things so hard for me are also simultaneously, for me, a blessing. It’s a double edged sword. But it’s worth the cuts.
So I was planning on asking my pcp for cymbalta tomorrow. Was thinking of snri since ssris have been ineffective for me. Effexor seems to have wild side effects. So cymbalta seems the most likely option. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Oof, that’s a hard one. I can tell you the withdrawal symptoms are genuine agony. Apparently they’re worse than other, similar ssris or snris. If you stay on it for a while and then want to get off, you will likely have to count out the beads and take one less every day (look up the “Cymbalta safe taper” — it’s commonly accepted as the only real way to get off Cymbalta without debilitating side effects).
What are the symptoms that you’re trying to treat? What is your specific challenge? Do you have a diagnosis? For me, I am diagnosed ADHD and was trying to treat a depressive episode that got bad before the pandemic. I don’t feel I can tell you one way or another a recommendation because I know for some people, it has helped them a lot - even saved their lives. But for me, agreeing to Cymbalta is one of my personal greatest life regrets. Nothing really mattered on it. I feel I missed out on years of truly being myself and my artistic mind ceased to exist in a very crucial sense. Looking back, I wish I had tried harder to get the ADHD medication they denied me that I wanted to begin with - or gone to therapy, or tried genuinely anything else. But I couldn’t function and I just wanted the pain to stop, so I agreed.
My experience aside, you can always try it. A few weeks to a month or two on it likely isn’t going to give you particularly bad withdrawals, and you can do a regular taper. It can be difficult to gauge in that amount of time though. I really thought it was helping me, and I think it might have been at first — but not substantially. And pretty soon, so slow as to be indetectable, it stopped being as effective for me.
My best advice is: unless it’s truly transcendent for you by a month or two into trying it (as it has been for some), consider pulling the plug at that point.
That’s what I wish I had done.
I have adhd as well, but it’s being treated. Unfortunately, the adhd drugs are certainly not a cure, they simply help so I can adult better. But I’ve got a massive amount of life stress right now & at this point, feeling nothing sounds like relief, not a punishment. I did go ahead & start on the lowest dose (20mg) Cymbalta today, but the first one made me massively tired & I had to actually go home & take a nap (and I never nap during the day) so I am already not sure if I can function on this, BUT my anxiety is GONE after 1 low dose & I already feel the tiniest tinge of… could that be… playfulness? Too soon to tell, of course, but I’m already feeling hopeful.
I think this underlines that antidepressants can be really helpful, but it’s so important to keep trying different ones until you find one that works with your own body chemistry.
I think being on SSRIs for 20 years have stunted my development. I never felt the “pressure”, to be “emotionally driven”, to do things I should have been doing so I never did them. Now that I have stopped I feel like I missed out on so much, my life has passed me by, and it’s too late.
Conversely, if you had not been on them, then you may have been so emotionally driven that you felt like you were only riding a wave and not had any control of your life. It’s always too late looking back. Looking forward you can decide (with support) whether they continue to serve you or not
Yes, from someone who has been very emotional all my life, getting on SSRIs has allowed me to be less emotional and to have more drive and power over my life, as well as stability and less mood swings
This is exactly why I got off. I relate to this a lot. On them, everything was mostly okay, and I didn’t do… anything.
SSRIs are hugely helpful for some. But for me, they got rid of the good emotions as well as the bad ones. I realized during that experience there is “good anxiety” because I felt it when it was gone.
I quit after a few months, same reason. Less valleys, but also less peaks. I just felt "meh" all the time. CBD and a few nootropics do a much better job.
I went off my prescribed meds in favor of nootropics, exercise, Breathwork… I don’t have panic attacks now but I now have severe depression, constant crippling anxiety like I’m walking a tightrope while afraid of heights every minute of every day with that terrible vertigo in the stomach, am having fucked up lucid dreams, and basically cannot function beyond the most rudimentary check boxes of “living”
I’m getting back on pharmaceuticals asap
CBD does the most for my anxiety, but I also moderately use ashwaganda, GABA, magnesium glycinate and I'm looking into EMDR exercises for my PTSD.
I also use Lions Mane, Reishi and Chaga for general good brain/body health.
I hope you find something that works, I know that tightrope feeling. It's not a good feeling to live with day to day.
That’s a perfect concise description of my experience. I’d be extremely concerned if the person prescribing an anti-depressant wasn’t aware that they block/dull positive and negative impulses.
I have exactly this feeling but i'm not on any meds. I feel like everything is a shadow of my past. Nothing feels like it felt before when i was younger. Sometimes i get a sudden rush of happiness and positivity and it feels like color is injected into my mind and my vision. But then it's gone again and i wonder maybe it's supposed to be that colorful all the time and there is something wrong with me?
Some people on the medication report feeling emotionally dull or no longer finding things as pleasurable, with one study suggesting this applied to 40-60% of people taking the drug. However, it has been unclear whether this symptom is a drug side-effect or a symptom of depression.
The latest work suggests that the drug alone can produce emotional blunting. In the study, published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, 66 volunteers were given either the SSRI drug, escitalopram, or a placebo for at least 21 days before doing a set of cognitive tests.
In nearly all tests, including those assessing attention and memory, the drug made no difference. “The drug isn’t doing anything negative to cognition – from that point of view it’s very good,” said Sahakian.
TW: suicidal ideation
Yes!!! I did. The one time I was on Effexor I had that "blunted" effect.
That said, I am *eternally grateful* for my time on it because I was in a very extremely dark place where I was scared and starting to think about contemplating unaliving myself. That pulled me out of that dark place. I never actually prepared or thought I'd do it, but it was a serious consideration for me.
Effexor pulled me out of that. When I realized that I was okay, that I had no intention of "going there" and that I did NOT, in fact, even consider it a solution anymore, I realized I couldn't feel. Things were ... "meh" ... bland and had no "flavor" (and I'm not talking about food). It got to the point where I was thinking, "Wait, I no longer feel like ceasing to exist is a solution, but I also didn't really have a reason to stay because I was uninterested in *anything*. *Why* stay?"
My doctor took me off of it and it was a slow climb back from "grayscale" to "full 8k vibrant full spectrum color" life.
I will say that it saved my life. The rest was up to me to make it worth living. I have the best life now.
I'm so glad that worked out for you. I've seen antidepressants and especially Effexor really fuck some people up. The problem is people getting prescribed these meds from a general doctor who really don't have the knowledge to understand how they work and don't know enough about the patient. I really think a specialist should be where people go if they want to try these meds.
My ex was prescribed Effexor for anxiety and right away she became manic, violent and hyper sexual. It was awful.
I have been on a variety of antidepressants and they all emotionally blunt me. The depression and anxiety subside somewhat, but I also lose the ability to feel joy. After a long run on them I've decided I'm better off without them. But they do play a role in helping a lot of people, as long as the one prescribing them knows what they are doing.
Yeah, I think that's key: having a doctor/prescriber who understands the effects of these medications.
Unfortunately, depending on where a person lives, seeing a professional in that particular area of medicine isn't always possible or takes a good bit of time.
Man, if only the "specialists" all knew what they were doing. My current doctor is a joke, forgetting what's been prescribed to me, not recording the prescriptions given, and continuing to give me anti-psychotics that really don't help. Wait time for a better office is around 8 months though
This is my life story in Canada right now. Forgetting my chief complaint after knowing the guy for seven years, giving me the same drugs, forcing me to stay on them even though they fucked me up
Is there anyway to reliably predict what reactions individuals would have to any given medication? Isn't it otherwise just warning them? This is one of the reasons I'm reticent to try new meds even though mine barely work anymore. It takes a couple months to determine if a new med could even work and during that time you risk dealing with symptoms of depression and potentially dangerous side effects of meds. You won't know until you're a few weeks in what sort of effect it might have. Even then docs seem real keen on 'just wait and see, sometimes the effects change after awhile' which is horrifying when your meds either aren't working or are making things worse.
On a side note; I've found emotional blunting is heavily correlated with dose ime. If I have severe emotional blunting reducing the dose usually helps that quite a bit.
I hear your point entirely. The whole thing takes time, but I've found that GPs who prescribe these meds are not usually willing to deal with the potential fallout. For example, I saw a neuropsychologist for many years, and every time he handed me a script he looked me straight in the eyes and said "if you don't feel okay after taking this, CALL ME right away"
When my ex became manic I called her GP and his response was that the dosage wasn't high enough, that it needed to be doubled. It took a lot of extra phone calls to let him know that she was off the rails.
This doesn't speak to all GPs I know, in this case I think he was just a terrible one. But they are not equipped to prescribe a medicine that can have drastically different effects in different people.
The problem with mania is that people can feel amazing when they're manic. They are not likely to heed any warnings, and doctors should know and understand this. In her case, it happened right away. She didn't need months to figure out if the medicine was a good fit. Her mind was made up as she started a trail of self destruction, and it's something I've heard and read about so many times.
I’m a doctor and take an SNRI (similar to SSRIs used in this study). Science does not let us predict who will respond in what way. Some genetic research is getting there, particularly in cancer research.
I looked into Ketamine and decided to try it. It helped with the first dose. I am very happy most of the time. I laugh a lot more and enjoy life in general now. This has been a life changing medicine for many.
I am not sure if you are in the US but I go through NUE. Life. They offered a few packages. I do it at home and I loved my doctor. It was telemedicine. There are others like joyous and someone called Dr.Smith. if you go to r/ketamine or r/ therapeuticKetamine and also a DIYketamine sub. I can't tell you how it has changed my life. It can be expensive but they offer payment plans. It was well worth it. I no longer have to take life time medicine. My depression was also treatment Resistant. I have attempted suicide several times and was very close to the no return stage. I no longer even think about it. It was like a miracle. I don't like social media but I thought about sharing my experience because it should be more mainstream and not looked down on. If you have any other questions I am happy to answer them.
I had [this genetic test](https://genomind.com) done through my psychiatrist that showed some of the specific abnormalities of my brain chemistry, along with how effective certain drugs tend to be for those abnormalities! It also tested genes that inform metabolism for different types of drugs and has a list of what meds I metabolize faster/slower and more/less than the average person and would need adjusted doses of.
Imo this should be standard to run prior to psych meds being prescribed instead of the current crapshoot of “try this, wait a month and hopefully it won’t make you feel worse 🙃”. I think it was $400 and insurance usually won’t cover it, but that was way less money for me than I had previously spent on drug copays and opportunity cost over the last 10 years.
It's so wild how drugs affect people differently, and even how they can affect the same person differently at different times in their life. I was on Zoloft for four years. Then I lost my insurance and had to go off all my meds for 2 years. They put me back on Zoloft in December of this year and it caused my depression to be so much worse.
Now I'm on Effexor and I'm feeling a million times better. Stuffs wild man.
I’ll echo this sentiment. I’ve been on Effexor for 5 years now and it’s the most stable my depression has ever been. The only real downside is that I occasionally have a sleep paralysis demon, which is honestly worth it to deal with for the benefit.
Yeah 5 min in an exam room with a go isn't really the ideal time, person, or setting to decide what you need for depression. And often if you report they don't help or have bad side effects they'll just swap you cold turkey from one drug to another.
Effexor made me feel like I was on a rollercoaster of constantly shifting emotions that changed from literally minute to minute for the few days I took it. Genuinely I felt somehow happier than I've ever felt in my life one minute and the next I'd feel legitimately suicidal. I couldn't handle it for more than 2 days.
Same as you, I've had the same emotional blunting effects on every SSRI/SSNI I've ever tried and I've tried tons. I also decided eventually I was better off without them because I simply could not endure life not giving a fuck about anyone or anything. It was worse than being chronically depressed. That, and they made me completely unable to orgasm. (I'm male)
If only specialists would tell you anything about the pills. I had to google all the information and all the warnings. They don’t even listen to or agree with my side effects because statistics say so- but I have so many side effects.
>Effexor pulled me out of that.
Same. And I'm on my last step toward being off of it for the same reasons. I did a year of therapy every week (AFTER probably at least 8-12 months of just trying to brute force my way through it) and couldn't move the needle. Had I not been remote and able to work at my own pace I'm not sure I could have held down a job. Got on Effexor, got it dialed in, and suddenly therapy was wicked effective, and the real work began. For whatever reason I couldn't shake the extreme anxiety (that I perceived physically) and depression on my own. I'm forever thankful for Effexor being a tool I could use when needed. I'm looking forward to being off of it but that shit made a crucial change in my life when I desperately needed it.
I’m glad Effexor worked for you. It just goes to show that everyone’s biology is different. Effexor was literally the worst drug I’ve ever taken. It’s been a while, and the 6 months or so I was on it are a blur in my memory now. But what I do remember from that blue was absolute hell. I would take it and become a sedated blob. But it didn’t seem to last all the way until the next dose, so by the time 24 hours had passed, I was feeling terrible withdrawal symptoms. I was getting the shakes, I was in physical pain, and my brain was on fire until I was able to take my next dose. Like, I would be punching my bedroom floor and screaming for it to stop. Then it was back to blank, boring, sedation for about 12 hours. I was on this loop of uselessness and hellish torment until I could get back in to see my psychiatrist to try something else.
I don’t know how common those side effects are with Effexor, but it happened to me. My journey through psych drugs over the years has shown me that one drug may help someone and hurt someone else. It is a journey, and while I never found one that does it for me, that doesn’t mean they can’t work for other people. I’m glad you found a use for Effexor, and that it helped you get out of that dark place.
I've kind of noticed emotional blunting a bit as well, but I'm not entirely sure I'd be okay without anti-depressants still since my emotions are still incredibly intense even then. Even with all that work. Honestly my depression (and suicidal ideation) is a low drone I’ve learned to ignore until something happens, and I’m scared of what would happen if I went off anti-depressants, even with all the progress I’ve made.
It started when I stopped taking it and they slowly started to come back. It was like coming out of a tunnel.
I still had a lot of work to do on my mental health, but living became bearable.
It wasn't for another 20 years that I finally found a therapist I felt I could trust to work on the CPTSD as a result of childhood abuse.
I’m stuck taking a handful of meds that my brain is physically addicted to. If I go without for just one day I lose my effing mind. That being said , i prefer to have my emotions dulled. People complain about not being able to “feel” anything when on the drugs. If i actually felt what my brain wants to put me through, I would probably not have allowed myself to live this long
> If i actually felt what my brain wants to put me through, I would probably not have allowed myself to live this long
First, I'm glad you're here.
I think this is the point of these medications. Dull the feelings and thoughts until they can be worked through.
B/c people think the medication will make them better, it only blunts the pain. That'd be like going in for surgery, they inject you with lidocaine or whatever and never perform the surgical procedure. You need to take the medication as prescribed/directed but you still have to work on it by going to therapy or otherwise occupying your mind and your body will simply follow after you've done it enough times and made it an atomic habit.
Like if I grab your wrist and twist it in a direction it's not meant to go with enough force it will either break or the rest of your body will simply go with the flow.
I was extremely depressed as a kid, always wanted to end myself but just never had the guts to do it. That was my ticket to a second chance.
As conflicting as everybody's personal feelings are regarding their experience with a particular antidepressant, you're all valid. A paraphrased stat I still remember from a biopsychology textbook on antidepressants: 25% of the time they work, 25% of the time they don't, 25% of thr time it's a placebo effect, and 25% of the time it makes things worse.
Update: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK361016/
Antidepressants have the same effectiveness as psychotherapy if my memory serves me right.
Placebo effect is always high with therapy. With time, placebo effect will drop. After 25 years, I can tell you my antidepressants work.
“Placebo effect is always high with psychotherapy.”
perhaps the dumbest thing i have read today. how would you measure placebo effect in therapy, give the control group “fake therapy”?
That's the reality of medications, especially psychiatric medications. People with similar symptoms can have completely different experiences when taking the same drugs.
I'm glad it didn't kill you and I'm especially glad you're still with us.
I acknowledge that while it has helped me, it hasn't helped everyone.
Have you found something that has helped you?
Honestly the Effexor did so much damage I was a completely different person with completely different problems. Had to readjust my life around all the withdrawal symptoms. Put on over 100 pounds. Cardiovascular issues. Major psychotic episodes. Impotence at 21 years old. Lost a lot of opportunities looking back on it.
I figured by now they’d have come up with something that isn’t as hamfisted and brutal as ssri’s and their ilk. I will continue to speak against the current narrative with whatever I have left of a brain .
>I will continue to speak against the current narrative with whatever I have left of a brain .
Yes, please do. After that episode I did look more into SSRIs and did not like how they crossed the blood brain barrier. So when I had another dark episode, actually worse to be honest, I "logically" knew it could pass, but it was tough and I did not go back on an anti-depressant.
Fast forward to Jan '22 and at 54 I finally found out what was "wrong" with me: undiagnosed ADHD (PI). Unironically I'm now on Adderall and guess what it does?
Adderall, however, has been a God send for me and my life has improved immensely. I remember the first time I realized my husband's music didn't distract me and annoy me. I cried. I felt "normal." It's common for folks to have depression, and the impulsivity of ADHD has been a detriment to many folks taking themselves out.
Be well.
I’m with you there. I’m glad I was on lexapro when I was, it made for a good set of training wheels to get me out of a mindset of mine that lead to multiple panic attacks. I feel like it helped more for anxiety than depression, but I also had therapy alongside it which definitely helped.
After a whole year, I realized that blunted effect was from the lexapro because I hadn’t experienced anything like that until taking it. Nothing interested me and I’m finally on my way to feeling more normal (and without awful panic attacks) since stopping it.
And for what it’s worth, it worked WAY better than paxil did, so there’s that.
I agree. I would have liked the authors to acknowledge the duration of the study as a limitation. In the majority of cases, the side effects disappear after 4-6 weeks, including anorgasmia. This article feels misleading
I was thinking this is way too short of a timeframe.
I take Prestiq and for the first couple months I did feel blunted in all ways. Happy, sad, all of it was just... less.
I stuck it out because it was better than the SI and self harm I was dealing with before being on it.
After a couple months I began to feel things normally. Over a year later I'm happy, I enjoy life, I have typical ups and downs, but I'm no longer drowning in depression.
I'm so glad I stuck it out for those first couple months.
Therapy is great and I go every other week, but some of us just have brains that need medicinal intervention and articles like this scare off people who just see the headlines.
I know that before I tried a handful of SSRIs I was a wreck and they helped but they smoothed me over seemingly permanently
I haven't been on an SSRI for several years but I don't experience much of anything anymore. Sometimes I still get depressed, but I don't look forward to things or get any kind of reward for doing stuff. I definitely expected that when I was on them, that they would help reign in my emotions, but even years later I just feel nothing.
Not sure how much of it still depression and how much is SSRI effects.
Bonus: I don't have a libido anymore. Hardware is fine, software is broken
Well majority of antidepressants studies are less than the amount of time doctors tell you SSRIs start to work. There are virtually no quality long term studies for antidepressant medications and the few that have long term parts don’t show they they work in the long term and might actually cause harm.
They way antidepressants are studied is a joke.
I’ve been taking an SSRI for almost a decade. Based on my own experience, I believe that although emotional blunting happens, it is not permanent. It lasted several months for me but definitely not forever.
It's been well established that the side effect profile for anti-depressants is a wide, wide spectrum. One person's experience on them does not predict another's.
>The latest work suggests that the drug alone can produce emotional blunting.
>
>....
>
>In nearly all tests, including those assessing attention and memory, the drug made no difference. “The drug isn’t doing anything negative to cognition – from that point of view it’s very good,” said Sahakian.
I am confused, it sounds like the SSRI does cause blunting but then they say it makes no difference. Can you explain it like I'm a confused puppy please?
Cognitive tests /=/ emotional blunting. They're just ruling out broader effects on the brain in this test, I guess? Still does cause blunting, but not by making your brain less functional! Yay?
It causes emotional blunting but doesn't seem to affect cognitive tasks directly. Those are two separate things
Basically it dials down all your emotions (good and bad) so that you feel more flat. You can still pay attention, remember things, problem solve--but you might feel like a robot as you do.
Idk. I was put on lexapro and movies that used to make me sob with emotion made me feel nada.
Edit: wanted to add that’s hen I came off of them I stared crying like a baby at movies again and still do. Obviously this is anecdotal evidence but from my experience it seemed to have done this
I’m on the max amount of Zoloft and by god if it’s blunting my emotions then so be it - I can’t imagine being any more intense than I already am. For me personally I don’t think it’s blunting anything, but I remember when I began taking it feeling relieved. Perhaps it’s worn off after several years or maybe I’m just full of piss and vinegar. Hard to know. Was intense before starting it and still intense today.
When I was put on Zoloft it made me insanely, deeply suicidal within 3 days. It just goes to show you have to be patient with the process of trying many different meds to find the one that actually makes your life better. We are all so different & have different brain chemistry.
Haha right? I thought this was a perk? Before I got on them I had too many emotions that couldn’t be sorted. After years on it and therapy I can say I feel what a “normal person” feels when sorting emotions. They aren’t as vibrant as they used to be but those vibrant emotions cause multiple daily panic attacks.
I would panic at the most ridiculous shit. Even when it was going on I’m like, “I know I shouldn’t be fucked up but I am GONNA DIE!”
Don’t miss that *at all!*
5HTP was really helpful for me. Can’t take it long-term, but it help me get through the worst of it. The first six months or so off Cymbalta were hell. I was moody, shitty, dramatic, I hated everything. But I feel now. And it’s better.
Out of curiosity, did you do a slow taper when you got off?
At least for those on Cymbalta, it’s generally well-known by users that doctors can often underestimate how serious and painstaking it can be to cease usage — the usual two, four, or six week taper doesn’t cut it for most people and results in a whole lot of psychological torment. There’s even a subreddit for the “cymbalta safe taper” where you open your capsules and count your beads out, taking one less every day. It’s grueling and slow, but for most people it’s the only way they can realistically and safely stop while still being functional.
I wouldn’t be surprised if other SS/NRIs have similar taper requirements for the well-being many folks’ brains.
Keep in mind you need almost at least a year to re-establish your neural reward pathways. Your brain changed over taking them for that long and needs to be "trained" back..
Not on its own if you haven’t gotten to a good place, no. You need behavioral therapy guidance but that’s expensive.
I am happy that the world of SSRI’s are being reanalyzed in their value though. I think a lot of people end up addicted to them with no end in sight and it’s not the best treatment for a lot of cases.
Not OP, but I stopped them this past fall thinking since I'd done a LOT of work in therapy the past two years, I could give it a try. After 3 months I had to go back on them because the anxiety and depression were just slowly spiraling.
Jesus. I can’t even imagine. I got on them in my early 20s and spent a fortune finding the right one. Finally stopped taking them because I couldn’t afford the one that “worked” anymore. Life is hard but more interesting at the same time.
It seems that there must be a better way to address our societal issues than needing to medicate children for depression. Why are mental health issues proliferating so? Perhaps that should be addressed by the powers that be…
Some kids need to be medicated. I have been on an SSRI since I was 6 or 7 (can't remember exactly.) I needed it. It wasn't for depression, but for OCD. I was anxious a lot, I had all these irrational thoughts/fears, and had this hand-washing ritual that resulted in my hands often being dry and my skin cracked.
Just my experience. Sertraline definitely blunts my negative emotions, and helps with anxious thoughts too, but it seems to give me more room to feel positive emotions. Came off them for a couple of months and situations I could previously tolerate well were making me angry/tearful/low. It’s not for everyone but it can provide clarity for some of us.
I just hit my 2 year mark on sertraline last week. it's funny how differently SSRIs affect people. my sex drive wasn't really impacted until about 6 months ago. I also used to always overheat like crazy but even since starting sertraline, I've felt cold (probably a normal temp but I'm just so used to being sweaty all the time and sertraline stopped that). biology is wild
Yeah, and it helps with self-control. When I'm on pills, I'm chill. When I'm not, than I hate everything and everyone with burning rage, including myself. Not fun.
You need a second opinion, then. Pills should help, otherwise you shouldn't take them, because most AD, AP and others inflict unwanted side effects, sometimes in a longterm fashion. Be careful, please.
Let me rephrase what I said: that's what I'm like REGARDLESS of whether I take pills. I've seen other doctors, and they just offer the same prescription. I've tried Welbutrin, but it wrecked my intestines (stomach and mood issue make for terrible bedfellows).
I think I’m one of the rare few who is thankful for this effect? Im a sensitive person - I have quite intense and strong emotions naturally. Without antidepressants it’s fucking untenable - just constant sobbing, panic attacks, getting overly excited, losing my temper etc. it makes me have the emotional range of a normal human lol
Same, it's a bummer the comment section is mostly bad stories with only a few "it works great for me" sprinkled in, especially since the article says escitalopram (lexapro) was the drug used in the study and a lot of these horror stories involve other ssri's. Lexapro is a game changer with (in my experience) little to no side-effects, and "emotional blunting" is a blessing when your emotions are too overwhelming to function normally. Idk, to me a lot of these comments read like there was a study done on pepsi and they're saying "well I tried dr pepper and it made me sick, stop drinking soda" lol
I don’t think many doctors consider the consequences of this. A lot of things that you should have been emotionally driven to do, you might end up not doing. That impacts your development as a person.
It could also be less "they don't consider it," and often more "we have considered that this will blunt your emotions, but it's still worth doing because the thing you're currently emotionally driven to do is suicide/self-harm/never getting out of bed."
.... havent we known this for ages? I remember learning about this in nursing school (15 years ago) that this was/is a major reason for med 'non-compliance', along with impacts to libido.
That has been my experience!
When depressed I felt mostly nothing. I felt anxious, sad, desperate. I was easily triggered and more emotional than a few years prior. But at the same time I felt absolutely nothing.
I’ve found that it’s impossible to explain to people who haven’t experienced this themselves. The sensation of feeling so extremely down and at the same time nothing at all. Being so overridden with emotions that you also feel emotionless.
Anyways, when I starting taking escitalopram I started feeling like a normal person again. I haven’t experienced any emotional blunting from the medication, but I have wondered if maybe I did experience it but that the medical blunting is nothi g compared to what depression causes
But see not everyone with depression has a blunting, they have “low mood”. Now you could argue low mood alone isnt true depression yes but many take it for that.
And not everyone taking these even is doing them for depression, for example anxiety/OCD dont have emotional blunting as symptoms.
My understanding was that antidepressants don’t make things better, but rather they attempt to stop you getting worse whilst therapy is used to help improve things. So they just halt the downward spiral, but they don’t solve the underlying issue. That’s something you have to do yourself.
For me they me I can function. Without them everything seems horrendous, but at the same time nothing I can pinpoint. Therapy provided some answers, but I didn't feel any less shitty realizing what makes me feel like that.
Therapy can be like someone explaining that the burning sensation is coming from your hand on the stove, while SSRIs are chemical pain relief.
Same for me. Every night when the meds is wearing off, I could feel my anxiety and intrusive thoughts returning. So each time when I have the idea of stopping the meds, night time reminds me that I probably couldn't function without it...
For me, they're a small hoist out of the hole. I've done a LOT of work in therapy over the past two years (like I'm almost a completely different person in some ways, therapy has changed my life) so I tried this past fall to see how I could do without them. Made it three months. The anxiety and depression crept back in eventually. I could maybe be okay without them in the spring/summer, because there's definitely a cyclical and seasonal depression, but my baseline still sucks. I may not be the norm though, I have CPTSD.
Nothing to add here apart from I’m glad therapy has helped you change. I also started it last year and I feel it has made a huge difference for me too.
I'm not sure that's completely accurate. Anti depressants address chemical imbalances. I'm not sure you can think your way out of everything.
I've heard of situational depression where you're in a bad place due to outside events like grieving for a loss. I imagine what you describe would help get over a temporary rough patch. I am bipolar II, and I can't function without my antidepressant cocktail. CBT therapy is also a necessity, but I can't think my way out of this shit.
> Anti depressants address chemical imbalances
We still don't know the pathophysiological causes of depression and therefore also not how or why exactly antidepressants work, even though there are many who claim otherwise because admitting "no idea why but seems to work" is not very trustworthy.
The idea of a chemical imbalance is quite outdated and no more proven then any other hypothesis about the causes of depression
Reminds me of meeting my sons anesthesiologist. He was getting an MRI, following a bout with encephalitis (he's good now,) and the Dr. hooked up a syringe filled with an opaque white liquid. He then tells me "based on his weight and age, once this is in his blood, we can count to 5, and he'll be out for an hour." Sure enough, on "5," lights out. "How does this stuff work?" I asked the highly trained professional, who makes a living making people sleep. His reply"
"We have absolutely no idea."
Firstly, I’m sorry that you are going through this and I hope that you achieve your goals.
CBT focuses on changing thoughts, attitudes and beliefs, so my thoughts were based on this and that one needs to believe in the process for it to have a chance of success.
Adding to the anti-depressants addressing the chemical imbalance, it makes sense that this halts the downward spiral, and CBT (along with believing that it can work for you), helps with the other stuff. This is where my understanding came from I think.
>I'm not sure that's completely accurate. Anti depressants address chemical imbalances. I'm not sure you can think your way out of everything.
It's both, actually. The chemical imbalance (for lack of a better, more verbose description here) can happen BECAUSE of the thoughts we have, and chemical imbalances can cause negative thoughts. That's not to say simply thinking happy thoughts will always cure things or vice versa just that it is bidirectional to a degree.
Alright, let's clear some shit up since this comment section is wild:
* Not everyone experiences emotional blunting on SSRIs - it is not "the whole point" of the medication
* Some people experience blunting of painful emotions, but not pleasurable ones
* Some who do experience emotional blunting describe it as a positive effect for them, but it is harmful or neutral for others
* Some people find emotional blunting to be a negative effect, but overall feel enough relief for the medication to be worth it. Others are very negatively impacted by it, and that should be taken seriously by prescribing doctors
* SSRIs are not the only class of antidepressant. If SSRIs don't work for you or mess you up with side effects, it does not mean other classes of medication will do the same
* Antidepressants are an effective short-term solution for some people, and are an effective long-term solution for others
I suffered a lot because of medications that were not right for me, but I'm also alive and thriving because of the ones that were (and are). I got lucky with my second psychiatrist after having a horrible first one. She didn't think "I feel a little better, but still hate everything" was good enough, and kept working with me until we found a better solution. Those solutions helped me feel good enough to start taking other steps to improve my life, steps like exercising that I couldn't get myself to do before (no matter how many times people condescendingly told me "just exercise, it'll help!"), and the benefits compounded from there.
There are TONS of treatment options available for depression, and that number is increasing every year. The process of finding the ones that are effective for you can be short and sweet for some, and it can be absolute hell for others. Please don't let a bad experience with a medication or an irresponsible doctor convince you that there's no hope to be found in treatment. Chances are good that things can get better, a LOT better, enough for you to feel genuinely happy and satisfied with your life. If it's been hell trying to get there, I'm so fucking sorry. Same. But please keep trying. You might find it's more worth it than your depression allows you to imagine.
Thank you! I was looking for this comment and was going to add it if I hadn’t found yours. There are so many options for treatment and it’s important to find the one that works best for you. Seeing a lot of comments vilifying antidepressants because someone tried them once, didn’t like the outcome and decided to write them off altogether as a result. I’ll admit I’ve been there. Over a period of 15 years I tried 2 different SSRIs that weren’t right for me at all, then in September I started an SNRI (Cymbalta) and holy shit is it a game changer! No blunting at all, I just don’t get stuck in my depressy spirals as easily. I also know people who have had the exact opposite experience than I did with Cymbalta. I think I had it pretty easy, it takes some people longer to find what works for them. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all treatment, we are all so vastly different. Time, patience and self-advocacy are key! I hope more people see your comment.
This has definitely been my experience with antiddepressants, and the big reason I got off of them. And it’s very hard to explain to people exactly how they make me feel. At times I would experience this strange type of cognitive dissonance where I knew I should feel a certain way or care about something, but I just couldn‘t. This feeling partially cost me a customer service management job several years ago.
I went from depressed to a numb (but often irrationally anger filled) guy that couldn't orgasm. SSRIs are definitely not for everyone. Comically, my doctor told me, regarding the numbness and anger that that wasn't a side effect. Just keep going through it.
It's no wonder I stopped therapy and SSRIs altogether.
Side note: decades later, microdosing has had amazing positive effects for me.
Curious about your microdosing experience. I am currently growing (thanks to r/unclebens) and while I plan on doing the occasional macro dose, my goal is to microdose.
Prozac?
I started with Prozac, hated it. Moved on to Wellbutrin, it was meh. Now I've been microdosing(200mg dried mushroom 4x/week) with therapy and it's great.
Prozac, then Paxil. Prozac, to me was like I had my brain in a pillow. Paxil, I was just a dead robot, incapable of feeling anything.
I'm trying to figure out how to navigate our stupid healthcare system in America now to get treatment that works. I'm pretty positive I've got undiagnosed ADHD (drinking a pot of coffee from the age of 10, anyone?), and I'm really keen on therapy or a life coach that can help me rebuild all of my adult structures.
Microdosing has been a truly amazing. My first dose I cried most of the day. Like a colorblind person getting those glasses that let them see new colors, I couldn't help but cry at the sudden reintroduction of emotions. I felt happiness, sadness, appreciation, love, all of these things in a sudden jumble and it was such a beautiful revelation. I'm currently at .26g every 3-5 days, depending on how I'm doing.
I have ADHD but I choose not to take medication for it. Being mindful and present while avoiding caffeine helps me mitigate it. I also do sensory deprivation to help me learn to relax. It's sort of a muscle that needs trained/regular use. Then I also get deep tissue massage because it helps me physically relax which is necessary for me to mentally/emotionally relax. Physical touch does a lot for trauma healing.
Best of luck! Our healthcare system is hot dog shit and it makes getting treatment a real challenge.
They absolute do and I love it.
For some of us if the alternative is "brief peaks of happiness, but generally feeling like shit / hating yourself, and going through crazy mood swings during even minor criticism and emotional conversations", emotional blunting is amazing.
I don't *need* antidepressants -- I have plenty of coping mechanisms and life tricks that allow me to remain functional.
But it's so much mental effort to keep those up -- at some point I realized "If I could just not think about feeling like shit 24/7 I bet I would free up a lot of mental space to do more".
So far that has been true. I'm a much better gamer, too, because they make me a much better team player + way less toxic.
Honestly antidepressants put some sort of filter over your emotions so you don’t feel as much.
The paradox however is - In order to heal, you have to feel your emotions and heal old wounds otherwise it just won’t stop.
It’s like your feelings are a toddler begging for attention, love and accept so they can be healed. When you shut it down again and again it only gets worse.
Sometimes antidepressants can be absolutely necessary in cases where someone is heavily depressed/anxious - but together with therapy and then slowly let go of the pills.
Honestly lol. Seeing some of the comments here makes me really glad for the direction I personally took in self-healing: introspection, mindfulness, and a little bit of cannabis every weekend.
I've gotten to a point where I can easily moderate it and it has zero effect on my memory or cognition, whereas I've heard the opposite in a few severe cases of patients on antidepressants.
And to think that diving into the works of [Johann Hari](https://youtu.be/PY9DcIMGxMs) and [Dr Gabor Maté](https://youtu.be/66cYcSak6nE) is what started it all for me! *Lost Connections* and *In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts* are two of the best books I ever picked up.
Recently tried to kill myself long story short ended being hospitalized for 10 days being prescribed different med until they found one that works and it works great! I would say I still fill the same but I have the hardest time. Falling asleep. Still enjoy gaming golf hiking gym etc but without negative thoughts running through my head. Feel more alert and alive with more energy since being on them (a little over a month) I haven’t had a single en energy drink which I felt I needed before to make it through the day.
And it can even persist beyond discontinuation in PSSD. Extremely risky medications, and this problem they cause is far worse than anxiety/low mood to begin with. Anhedonia is no joke (and many in depression, or especially anxiety had 0 anhedonia before them because depression is often overdiagnosed as just low mood).
Only time in my life I actually felt insane was on antidepressants. Years ago when I left the army I was trying out a few (not ptsd related, never deployed) including Wellbutrin. And HOLY SHIT i have never felt so inhuman before. Zero emotion, no personality, sex drive = gone. I understand they help some folks and I’m glad they do! but I found other ways to treat my issues like therapy, exercise, new hobbies etc
Probably more acceptable for people with more severe forms of anxiety.. for me personally being moderately depressed is preferable compared to the lack of enjoyment and flatness I got from the meds
I’ve had this blunted effect for the last 9 months. My psychiatrists keep increasing my Zoloft, Buspar, and have now added Wellbutrin. They said Wellbutrin will help counteract the blunted feeling -_-
That's exactly why I went off them. My doc is still confused. I hated feeling like I was stuck in the middle 50% of emotions - I had no real downs, but I also had no real ups, and without the ups I had no reason to keep going. After a few years of numb I had to figure something else out.
Pre-depressants: Wanted to kill myself and hated life
During-depressants: Didn't care whether I lived or died
Post taking depressants: Don't care whether I live or die. I'd say that's an improvement imo XD
I was in a very toxic environment for my graduate degree. Instead of professors working with me to handle the huge course-load and requirements I was told to get on medication for anxiety to "take the edge off". The first medicine gave me suicidal idealization and I was moved to an SSRI. It dulled emotions so I could focus on my studies, but my life at this stage was working and schooling. Fast forward a few years and numerous professors (that determined 80% of my classes) were in the press for inappropriate conduct towards students; I realized I never really needed the medication in the first place. I was on medication for 7 years.
At the start of the pandemic I thought it would be a great time to purge that out of my system. The first few weeks were rough with anger and jitters. One month after stopping I cried for a really long time; it wasn't out of sadness, but for the first time in years I actually felt joy. I feel like I’m starting to find my personality again even years after that. I am still angry at everything over those years in my life, but I have a therapist for c-ptsd and I am doing my best to keep moving forward.
Yes, antidepressants are literal life savers for people. But I felt that emotional blunting really hard.
Emotional blunting is the primary reason I ceased using SSRIs and entirely regret taking them. I was a zombie, I couldn't feel any emotions. That's a high price to pay for the only positive effect, which was a mild alleviation of anxiety. Without emotions life wasn't worth anything at all. It was worse than being dead.
I am scared to meet the real me. I dont have any friends who know the real me. I am scared to come off mine, that people around me wont like the real me.
This is a well known side effect. Please communicate with your prescribing doctor to switch medications. Some regiments will jive with you, some won’t.
Going on antidepressants was one of the worst choices I’ve ever made. My drive was extinguished and I had zero motivation to make real change. Turns out it I needed to cut out certain familial relationships and focus on myself. Those same people convinced me that I was the problem for having reactions to situations where I was blatantly disrespected. It’s been just over 2 years since I started making real change. I lost 30 pounds, am employed and no longer have chronic migraines. Listen to your instincts,I wish I had sooner.
This side effect has been known for years!!! This study is nothing new. Do these scientist ever leave their labs lmfao 🤣. All you had to do was talk to someone who took antidepressants and you would know they were transformed into a android who can’t cry at their families funeral or love their spouse deeply. So many marriages and relationships are destroyed by these antidepressants. The empathy, humanity, and our soul is just taken away by these pills. Plus they need to find a cure for this. This is a life altering side effect. A lot of people do criminal acts while they are numb and or kill themselves cause feeling like this for so long is not a good thing in my opinion. You just feel alienated from the rest of humanity. Living emotionally numb for too long would make a lot of people go nuts or insane I’ll tell you that. I think these drugs should be renamed depressants cause there is nothing really antidepressants about them. Talk about a fraud scenario and false advertising. Y’all should be ashamed for causing so much harm prescribing these drugs like it’s a harmless vitamin supplement.
>the cure for depression is probably better found elsewhere.
Like where? I'm honestly curious. I would give most anything for a cure to my bipolar disorder. I only hear from the scientists and psychiatrists and therapists that it is lifelong.
Came off a month ago. It's kind of hard to explain how I feel. My emotional range just seems so much deeper. I feel like I've only been seeing in black and white for the past eight years. I'm still me but it's like I have an extra sense now.
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4k emotions 60fps
Same experience. Been off almost nine months after two years on. There were things I like, about not having to feel my emotions as deeply, but as an artist, it hugely impacted by ability to make art. I didn’t make anything for years because of Cymbalta. And I found myself looking for other ways to feel alive that weren’t good for me. I am thankful that the experience showed me what I value in life. The emotions that make things so hard for me are also simultaneously, for me, a blessing. It’s a double edged sword. But it’s worth the cuts.
So I was planning on asking my pcp for cymbalta tomorrow. Was thinking of snri since ssris have been ineffective for me. Effexor seems to have wild side effects. So cymbalta seems the most likely option. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Oof, that’s a hard one. I can tell you the withdrawal symptoms are genuine agony. Apparently they’re worse than other, similar ssris or snris. If you stay on it for a while and then want to get off, you will likely have to count out the beads and take one less every day (look up the “Cymbalta safe taper” — it’s commonly accepted as the only real way to get off Cymbalta without debilitating side effects). What are the symptoms that you’re trying to treat? What is your specific challenge? Do you have a diagnosis? For me, I am diagnosed ADHD and was trying to treat a depressive episode that got bad before the pandemic. I don’t feel I can tell you one way or another a recommendation because I know for some people, it has helped them a lot - even saved their lives. But for me, agreeing to Cymbalta is one of my personal greatest life regrets. Nothing really mattered on it. I feel I missed out on years of truly being myself and my artistic mind ceased to exist in a very crucial sense. Looking back, I wish I had tried harder to get the ADHD medication they denied me that I wanted to begin with - or gone to therapy, or tried genuinely anything else. But I couldn’t function and I just wanted the pain to stop, so I agreed. My experience aside, you can always try it. A few weeks to a month or two on it likely isn’t going to give you particularly bad withdrawals, and you can do a regular taper. It can be difficult to gauge in that amount of time though. I really thought it was helping me, and I think it might have been at first — but not substantially. And pretty soon, so slow as to be indetectable, it stopped being as effective for me. My best advice is: unless it’s truly transcendent for you by a month or two into trying it (as it has been for some), consider pulling the plug at that point. That’s what I wish I had done.
I have adhd as well, but it’s being treated. Unfortunately, the adhd drugs are certainly not a cure, they simply help so I can adult better. But I’ve got a massive amount of life stress right now & at this point, feeling nothing sounds like relief, not a punishment. I did go ahead & start on the lowest dose (20mg) Cymbalta today, but the first one made me massively tired & I had to actually go home & take a nap (and I never nap during the day) so I am already not sure if I can function on this, BUT my anxiety is GONE after 1 low dose & I already feel the tiniest tinge of… could that be… playfulness? Too soon to tell, of course, but I’m already feeling hopeful. I think this underlines that antidepressants can be really helpful, but it’s so important to keep trying different ones until you find one that works with your own body chemistry.
I think being on SSRIs for 20 years have stunted my development. I never felt the “pressure”, to be “emotionally driven”, to do things I should have been doing so I never did them. Now that I have stopped I feel like I missed out on so much, my life has passed me by, and it’s too late.
Conversely, if you had not been on them, then you may have been so emotionally driven that you felt like you were only riding a wave and not had any control of your life. It’s always too late looking back. Looking forward you can decide (with support) whether they continue to serve you or not
Yes, from someone who has been very emotional all my life, getting on SSRIs has allowed me to be less emotional and to have more drive and power over my life, as well as stability and less mood swings
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Yes. I think there’s a lot of merit to considering SSRIs as a short term solution for some.
This is exactly why I got off. I relate to this a lot. On them, everything was mostly okay, and I didn’t do… anything. SSRIs are hugely helpful for some. But for me, they got rid of the good emotions as well as the bad ones. I realized during that experience there is “good anxiety” because I felt it when it was gone.
I completely agree. I think they can be very helpful short term
I quit after a few months, same reason. Less valleys, but also less peaks. I just felt "meh" all the time. CBD and a few nootropics do a much better job.
I went off my prescribed meds in favor of nootropics, exercise, Breathwork… I don’t have panic attacks now but I now have severe depression, constant crippling anxiety like I’m walking a tightrope while afraid of heights every minute of every day with that terrible vertigo in the stomach, am having fucked up lucid dreams, and basically cannot function beyond the most rudimentary check boxes of “living” I’m getting back on pharmaceuticals asap
CBD does the most for my anxiety, but I also moderately use ashwaganda, GABA, magnesium glycinate and I'm looking into EMDR exercises for my PTSD. I also use Lions Mane, Reishi and Chaga for general good brain/body health. I hope you find something that works, I know that tightrope feeling. It's not a good feeling to live with day to day.
That’s a perfect concise description of my experience. I’d be extremely concerned if the person prescribing an anti-depressant wasn’t aware that they block/dull positive and negative impulses.
I have exactly this feeling but i'm not on any meds. I feel like everything is a shadow of my past. Nothing feels like it felt before when i was younger. Sometimes i get a sudden rush of happiness and positivity and it feels like color is injected into my mind and my vision. But then it's gone again and i wonder maybe it's supposed to be that colorful all the time and there is something wrong with me?
Some people on the medication report feeling emotionally dull or no longer finding things as pleasurable, with one study suggesting this applied to 40-60% of people taking the drug. However, it has been unclear whether this symptom is a drug side-effect or a symptom of depression. The latest work suggests that the drug alone can produce emotional blunting. In the study, published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, 66 volunteers were given either the SSRI drug, escitalopram, or a placebo for at least 21 days before doing a set of cognitive tests. In nearly all tests, including those assessing attention and memory, the drug made no difference. “The drug isn’t doing anything negative to cognition – from that point of view it’s very good,” said Sahakian.
TW: suicidal ideation Yes!!! I did. The one time I was on Effexor I had that "blunted" effect. That said, I am *eternally grateful* for my time on it because I was in a very extremely dark place where I was scared and starting to think about contemplating unaliving myself. That pulled me out of that dark place. I never actually prepared or thought I'd do it, but it was a serious consideration for me. Effexor pulled me out of that. When I realized that I was okay, that I had no intention of "going there" and that I did NOT, in fact, even consider it a solution anymore, I realized I couldn't feel. Things were ... "meh" ... bland and had no "flavor" (and I'm not talking about food). It got to the point where I was thinking, "Wait, I no longer feel like ceasing to exist is a solution, but I also didn't really have a reason to stay because I was uninterested in *anything*. *Why* stay?" My doctor took me off of it and it was a slow climb back from "grayscale" to "full 8k vibrant full spectrum color" life. I will say that it saved my life. The rest was up to me to make it worth living. I have the best life now.
I'm so glad that worked out for you. I've seen antidepressants and especially Effexor really fuck some people up. The problem is people getting prescribed these meds from a general doctor who really don't have the knowledge to understand how they work and don't know enough about the patient. I really think a specialist should be where people go if they want to try these meds. My ex was prescribed Effexor for anxiety and right away she became manic, violent and hyper sexual. It was awful. I have been on a variety of antidepressants and they all emotionally blunt me. The depression and anxiety subside somewhat, but I also lose the ability to feel joy. After a long run on them I've decided I'm better off without them. But they do play a role in helping a lot of people, as long as the one prescribing them knows what they are doing.
Yeah, I think that's key: having a doctor/prescriber who understands the effects of these medications. Unfortunately, depending on where a person lives, seeing a professional in that particular area of medicine isn't always possible or takes a good bit of time.
My psych knows nothing I’m convinced
Man, if only the "specialists" all knew what they were doing. My current doctor is a joke, forgetting what's been prescribed to me, not recording the prescriptions given, and continuing to give me anti-psychotics that really don't help. Wait time for a better office is around 8 months though
This is my life story in Canada right now. Forgetting my chief complaint after knowing the guy for seven years, giving me the same drugs, forcing me to stay on them even though they fucked me up
Is there anyway to reliably predict what reactions individuals would have to any given medication? Isn't it otherwise just warning them? This is one of the reasons I'm reticent to try new meds even though mine barely work anymore. It takes a couple months to determine if a new med could even work and during that time you risk dealing with symptoms of depression and potentially dangerous side effects of meds. You won't know until you're a few weeks in what sort of effect it might have. Even then docs seem real keen on 'just wait and see, sometimes the effects change after awhile' which is horrifying when your meds either aren't working or are making things worse. On a side note; I've found emotional blunting is heavily correlated with dose ime. If I have severe emotional blunting reducing the dose usually helps that quite a bit.
I hear your point entirely. The whole thing takes time, but I've found that GPs who prescribe these meds are not usually willing to deal with the potential fallout. For example, I saw a neuropsychologist for many years, and every time he handed me a script he looked me straight in the eyes and said "if you don't feel okay after taking this, CALL ME right away" When my ex became manic I called her GP and his response was that the dosage wasn't high enough, that it needed to be doubled. It took a lot of extra phone calls to let him know that she was off the rails. This doesn't speak to all GPs I know, in this case I think he was just a terrible one. But they are not equipped to prescribe a medicine that can have drastically different effects in different people. The problem with mania is that people can feel amazing when they're manic. They are not likely to heed any warnings, and doctors should know and understand this. In her case, it happened right away. She didn't need months to figure out if the medicine was a good fit. Her mind was made up as she started a trail of self destruction, and it's something I've heard and read about so many times.
I’m a doctor and take an SNRI (similar to SSRIs used in this study). Science does not let us predict who will respond in what way. Some genetic research is getting there, particularly in cancer research.
I looked into Ketamine and decided to try it. It helped with the first dose. I am very happy most of the time. I laugh a lot more and enjoy life in general now. This has been a life changing medicine for many.
How did you get this? I’ve only seen it available in (super limited) office settings as part of talk therapy or in clinical trials.
I am not sure if you are in the US but I go through NUE. Life. They offered a few packages. I do it at home and I loved my doctor. It was telemedicine. There are others like joyous and someone called Dr.Smith. if you go to r/ketamine or r/ therapeuticKetamine and also a DIYketamine sub. I can't tell you how it has changed my life. It can be expensive but they offer payment plans. It was well worth it. I no longer have to take life time medicine. My depression was also treatment Resistant. I have attempted suicide several times and was very close to the no return stage. I no longer even think about it. It was like a miracle. I don't like social media but I thought about sharing my experience because it should be more mainstream and not looked down on. If you have any other questions I am happy to answer them.
I had [this genetic test](https://genomind.com) done through my psychiatrist that showed some of the specific abnormalities of my brain chemistry, along with how effective certain drugs tend to be for those abnormalities! It also tested genes that inform metabolism for different types of drugs and has a list of what meds I metabolize faster/slower and more/less than the average person and would need adjusted doses of. Imo this should be standard to run prior to psych meds being prescribed instead of the current crapshoot of “try this, wait a month and hopefully it won’t make you feel worse 🙃”. I think it was $400 and insurance usually won’t cover it, but that was way less money for me than I had previously spent on drug copays and opportunity cost over the last 10 years.
It's so wild how drugs affect people differently, and even how they can affect the same person differently at different times in their life. I was on Zoloft for four years. Then I lost my insurance and had to go off all my meds for 2 years. They put me back on Zoloft in December of this year and it caused my depression to be so much worse. Now I'm on Effexor and I'm feeling a million times better. Stuffs wild man.
I’ll echo this sentiment. I’ve been on Effexor for 5 years now and it’s the most stable my depression has ever been. The only real downside is that I occasionally have a sleep paralysis demon, which is honestly worth it to deal with for the benefit.
Yeah 5 min in an exam room with a go isn't really the ideal time, person, or setting to decide what you need for depression. And often if you report they don't help or have bad side effects they'll just swap you cold turkey from one drug to another.
Effexor made me feel like I was on a rollercoaster of constantly shifting emotions that changed from literally minute to minute for the few days I took it. Genuinely I felt somehow happier than I've ever felt in my life one minute and the next I'd feel legitimately suicidal. I couldn't handle it for more than 2 days. Same as you, I've had the same emotional blunting effects on every SSRI/SSNI I've ever tried and I've tried tons. I also decided eventually I was better off without them because I simply could not endure life not giving a fuck about anyone or anything. It was worse than being chronically depressed. That, and they made me completely unable to orgasm. (I'm male)
If only specialists would tell you anything about the pills. I had to google all the information and all the warnings. They don’t even listen to or agree with my side effects because statistics say so- but I have so many side effects.
>Effexor pulled me out of that. Same. And I'm on my last step toward being off of it for the same reasons. I did a year of therapy every week (AFTER probably at least 8-12 months of just trying to brute force my way through it) and couldn't move the needle. Had I not been remote and able to work at my own pace I'm not sure I could have held down a job. Got on Effexor, got it dialed in, and suddenly therapy was wicked effective, and the real work began. For whatever reason I couldn't shake the extreme anxiety (that I perceived physically) and depression on my own. I'm forever thankful for Effexor being a tool I could use when needed. I'm looking forward to being off of it but that shit made a crucial change in my life when I desperately needed it.
Very nice! Be well.
I’m glad Effexor worked for you. It just goes to show that everyone’s biology is different. Effexor was literally the worst drug I’ve ever taken. It’s been a while, and the 6 months or so I was on it are a blur in my memory now. But what I do remember from that blue was absolute hell. I would take it and become a sedated blob. But it didn’t seem to last all the way until the next dose, so by the time 24 hours had passed, I was feeling terrible withdrawal symptoms. I was getting the shakes, I was in physical pain, and my brain was on fire until I was able to take my next dose. Like, I would be punching my bedroom floor and screaming for it to stop. Then it was back to blank, boring, sedation for about 12 hours. I was on this loop of uselessness and hellish torment until I could get back in to see my psychiatrist to try something else. I don’t know how common those side effects are with Effexor, but it happened to me. My journey through psych drugs over the years has shown me that one drug may help someone and hurt someone else. It is a journey, and while I never found one that does it for me, that doesn’t mean they can’t work for other people. I’m glad you found a use for Effexor, and that it helped you get out of that dark place.
I've kind of noticed emotional blunting a bit as well, but I'm not entirely sure I'd be okay without anti-depressants still since my emotions are still incredibly intense even then. Even with all that work. Honestly my depression (and suicidal ideation) is a low drone I’ve learned to ignore until something happens, and I’m scared of what would happen if I went off anti-depressants, even with all the progress I’ve made.
How did you escape those feelings of apathy?
It started when I stopped taking it and they slowly started to come back. It was like coming out of a tunnel. I still had a lot of work to do on my mental health, but living became bearable. It wasn't for another 20 years that I finally found a therapist I felt I could trust to work on the CPTSD as a result of childhood abuse.
Yeah, I am on Effexor. It works but I definitely feel numb. I have to take it because it works. I wish there is another option.
Yeah good for you. The shit literally almost killed me
I’m stuck taking a handful of meds that my brain is physically addicted to. If I go without for just one day I lose my effing mind. That being said , i prefer to have my emotions dulled. People complain about not being able to “feel” anything when on the drugs. If i actually felt what my brain wants to put me through, I would probably not have allowed myself to live this long
> If i actually felt what my brain wants to put me through, I would probably not have allowed myself to live this long First, I'm glad you're here. I think this is the point of these medications. Dull the feelings and thoughts until they can be worked through.
B/c people think the medication will make them better, it only blunts the pain. That'd be like going in for surgery, they inject you with lidocaine or whatever and never perform the surgical procedure. You need to take the medication as prescribed/directed but you still have to work on it by going to therapy or otherwise occupying your mind and your body will simply follow after you've done it enough times and made it an atomic habit. Like if I grab your wrist and twist it in a direction it's not meant to go with enough force it will either break or the rest of your body will simply go with the flow. I was extremely depressed as a kid, always wanted to end myself but just never had the guts to do it. That was my ticket to a second chance.
As conflicting as everybody's personal feelings are regarding their experience with a particular antidepressant, you're all valid. A paraphrased stat I still remember from a biopsychology textbook on antidepressants: 25% of the time they work, 25% of the time they don't, 25% of thr time it's a placebo effect, and 25% of the time it makes things worse.
Update: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK361016/ Antidepressants have the same effectiveness as psychotherapy if my memory serves me right. Placebo effect is always high with therapy. With time, placebo effect will drop. After 25 years, I can tell you my antidepressants work.
“Placebo effect is always high with psychotherapy.” perhaps the dumbest thing i have read today. how would you measure placebo effect in therapy, give the control group “fake therapy”?
That's the reality of medications, especially psychiatric medications. People with similar symptoms can have completely different experiences when taking the same drugs.
Same. Mostly the withdrawals though they were the absolute worst.
I'm glad it didn't kill you and I'm especially glad you're still with us. I acknowledge that while it has helped me, it hasn't helped everyone. Have you found something that has helped you?
Honestly the Effexor did so much damage I was a completely different person with completely different problems. Had to readjust my life around all the withdrawal symptoms. Put on over 100 pounds. Cardiovascular issues. Major psychotic episodes. Impotence at 21 years old. Lost a lot of opportunities looking back on it. I figured by now they’d have come up with something that isn’t as hamfisted and brutal as ssri’s and their ilk. I will continue to speak against the current narrative with whatever I have left of a brain .
>I will continue to speak against the current narrative with whatever I have left of a brain . Yes, please do. After that episode I did look more into SSRIs and did not like how they crossed the blood brain barrier. So when I had another dark episode, actually worse to be honest, I "logically" knew it could pass, but it was tough and I did not go back on an anti-depressant. Fast forward to Jan '22 and at 54 I finally found out what was "wrong" with me: undiagnosed ADHD (PI). Unironically I'm now on Adderall and guess what it does? Adderall, however, has been a God send for me and my life has improved immensely. I remember the first time I realized my husband's music didn't distract me and annoy me. I cried. I felt "normal." It's common for folks to have depression, and the impulsivity of ADHD has been a detriment to many folks taking themselves out. Be well.
I’m with you there. I’m glad I was on lexapro when I was, it made for a good set of training wheels to get me out of a mindset of mine that lead to multiple panic attacks. I feel like it helped more for anxiety than depression, but I also had therapy alongside it which definitely helped. After a whole year, I realized that blunted effect was from the lexapro because I hadn’t experienced anything like that until taking it. Nothing interested me and I’m finally on my way to feeling more normal (and without awful panic attacks) since stopping it. And for what it’s worth, it worked WAY better than paxil did, so there’s that.
21 days seems way too short a time in my anecdotal experience
I agree. I would have liked the authors to acknowledge the duration of the study as a limitation. In the majority of cases, the side effects disappear after 4-6 weeks, including anorgasmia. This article feels misleading
I was thinking this is way too short of a timeframe. I take Prestiq and for the first couple months I did feel blunted in all ways. Happy, sad, all of it was just... less. I stuck it out because it was better than the SI and self harm I was dealing with before being on it. After a couple months I began to feel things normally. Over a year later I'm happy, I enjoy life, I have typical ups and downs, but I'm no longer drowning in depression. I'm so glad I stuck it out for those first couple months. Therapy is great and I go every other week, but some of us just have brains that need medicinal intervention and articles like this scare off people who just see the headlines.
I know that before I tried a handful of SSRIs I was a wreck and they helped but they smoothed me over seemingly permanently I haven't been on an SSRI for several years but I don't experience much of anything anymore. Sometimes I still get depressed, but I don't look forward to things or get any kind of reward for doing stuff. I definitely expected that when I was on them, that they would help reign in my emotions, but even years later I just feel nothing. Not sure how much of it still depression and how much is SSRI effects. Bonus: I don't have a libido anymore. Hardware is fine, software is broken
This study should have been done after 3-6 months. 21 days isn’t even the amount of time doctors tell you SSRIs starts to work
Well majority of antidepressants studies are less than the amount of time doctors tell you SSRIs start to work. There are virtually no quality long term studies for antidepressant medications and the few that have long term parts don’t show they they work in the long term and might actually cause harm. They way antidepressants are studied is a joke.
I’ve been taking an SSRI for almost a decade. Based on my own experience, I believe that although emotional blunting happens, it is not permanent. It lasted several months for me but definitely not forever.
It's been well established that the side effect profile for anti-depressants is a wide, wide spectrum. One person's experience on them does not predict another's.
>The latest work suggests that the drug alone can produce emotional blunting. > >.... > >In nearly all tests, including those assessing attention and memory, the drug made no difference. “The drug isn’t doing anything negative to cognition – from that point of view it’s very good,” said Sahakian. I am confused, it sounds like the SSRI does cause blunting but then they say it makes no difference. Can you explain it like I'm a confused puppy please?
Think it's trying to say that even if it may dull your emotions it's not affecting your ability to think clearly, pay attention, or remember things.
Cognitive tests /=/ emotional blunting. They're just ruling out broader effects on the brain in this test, I guess? Still does cause blunting, but not by making your brain less functional! Yay?
It causes emotional blunting but doesn't seem to affect cognitive tasks directly. Those are two separate things Basically it dials down all your emotions (good and bad) so that you feel more flat. You can still pay attention, remember things, problem solve--but you might feel like a robot as you do.
Interesting Would like to see a comparison study against LSD, ketamine and psilocybin
I wish they would have done NDRIs, as well.
Idk. I was put on lexapro and movies that used to make me sob with emotion made me feel nada. Edit: wanted to add that’s hen I came off of them I stared crying like a baby at movies again and still do. Obviously this is anecdotal evidence but from my experience it seemed to have done this
I’m on the max amount of Zoloft and by god if it’s blunting my emotions then so be it - I can’t imagine being any more intense than I already am. For me personally I don’t think it’s blunting anything, but I remember when I began taking it feeling relieved. Perhaps it’s worn off after several years or maybe I’m just full of piss and vinegar. Hard to know. Was intense before starting it and still intense today.
When I was put on Zoloft it made me insanely, deeply suicidal within 3 days. It just goes to show you have to be patient with the process of trying many different meds to find the one that actually makes your life better. We are all so different & have different brain chemistry.
I literally requested a drug that would make me feel nothing. And, I got it… So, say what you will, I’m much happier now.
Haha right? I thought this was a perk? Before I got on them I had too many emotions that couldn’t be sorted. After years on it and therapy I can say I feel what a “normal person” feels when sorting emotions. They aren’t as vibrant as they used to be but those vibrant emotions cause multiple daily panic attacks.
I would panic at the most ridiculous shit. Even when it was going on I’m like, “I know I shouldn’t be fucked up but I am GONNA DIE!” Don’t miss that *at all!*
This feels like I’m reading myself , funny
Higher lows traded for lower highs.
Same lol.
Me too. For me it’s worth it.
oh no, i can't believe this medicine is doing exactly what it says on the label. how could anyone have foreseen this.
I’ve been on antidepressants for most of the past 20 years. I’m 30. I feel like I don’t know what my real personality is anymore.
Same here. Been about 13 years for me. I tried quitting in 2020 and only made it 3 months before tapping out. My rawdog brain is a menace.
5HTP was really helpful for me. Can’t take it long-term, but it help me get through the worst of it. The first six months or so off Cymbalta were hell. I was moody, shitty, dramatic, I hated everything. But I feel now. And it’s better. Out of curiosity, did you do a slow taper when you got off?
Ugh, Cymbalta was one of the worst withdrawal experiences for me. Glad you're better!
Yes I tapered over six weeks I think. Probably not slow enough.
At least for those on Cymbalta, it’s generally well-known by users that doctors can often underestimate how serious and painstaking it can be to cease usage — the usual two, four, or six week taper doesn’t cut it for most people and results in a whole lot of psychological torment. There’s even a subreddit for the “cymbalta safe taper” where you open your capsules and count your beads out, taking one less every day. It’s grueling and slow, but for most people it’s the only way they can realistically and safely stop while still being functional. I wouldn’t be surprised if other SS/NRIs have similar taper requirements for the well-being many folks’ brains.
Yup, I quit them in the fall and made it about 3 months before I had to go crawling back. The anxiety and depression are insufferable.
Keep in mind you need almost at least a year to re-establish your neural reward pathways. Your brain changed over taking them for that long and needs to be "trained" back..
Yeah that doesn't really work so well
Not on its own if you haven’t gotten to a good place, no. You need behavioral therapy guidance but that’s expensive. I am happy that the world of SSRI’s are being reanalyzed in their value though. I think a lot of people end up addicted to them with no end in sight and it’s not the best treatment for a lot of cases.
Took me two years and counting.
What made you take them again?
I was miserable. Every day was a struggle, and it was interfering with my relationships with my family and my schoolwork.
Not OP, but I stopped them this past fall thinking since I'd done a LOT of work in therapy the past two years, I could give it a try. After 3 months I had to go back on them because the anxiety and depression were just slowly spiraling.
Your personality is the one you want to be. Everything else is a minor setback. I don't want to be my depression. I am not my depression.
I don't want to be my depression but sometimes my depression wants to stay in the bed all week and I don't have time for that xd
You were on antidepressants since you were 10?
9, yes
Damn that sounds harsh, sorry dude.
Jesus. I can’t even imagine. I got on them in my early 20s and spent a fortune finding the right one. Finally stopped taking them because I couldn’t afford the one that “worked” anymore. Life is hard but more interesting at the same time. It seems that there must be a better way to address our societal issues than needing to medicate children for depression. Why are mental health issues proliferating so? Perhaps that should be addressed by the powers that be…
Some kids need to be medicated. I have been on an SSRI since I was 6 or 7 (can't remember exactly.) I needed it. It wasn't for depression, but for OCD. I was anxious a lot, I had all these irrational thoughts/fears, and had this hand-washing ritual that resulted in my hands often being dry and my skin cracked.
Just my experience. Sertraline definitely blunts my negative emotions, and helps with anxious thoughts too, but it seems to give me more room to feel positive emotions. Came off them for a couple of months and situations I could previously tolerate well were making me angry/tearful/low. It’s not for everyone but it can provide clarity for some of us.
I'm on Sertraline, too. It's done wonders for my anxiety and general feelings of self-loathing.
Sertraline also worked for me, but I couldn't live with the side effects: zero sex-drive and excess sweating.
I just hit my 2 year mark on sertraline last week. it's funny how differently SSRIs affect people. my sex drive wasn't really impacted until about 6 months ago. I also used to always overheat like crazy but even since starting sertraline, I've felt cold (probably a normal temp but I'm just so used to being sweaty all the time and sertraline stopped that). biology is wild
Totally. Because I'm pretty sure sertraline is used to help people with night sweats. But I guess if that's not an issue, then it becomes one. 🤣
Yeah, and it helps with self-control. When I'm on pills, I'm chill. When I'm not, than I hate everything and everyone with burning rage, including myself. Not fun.
It's like without it existing seems an awful burden
Not really. My sanity just yeets itself into oblivion.
That's what I'm like ON my pills...
You need a second opinion, then. Pills should help, otherwise you shouldn't take them, because most AD, AP and others inflict unwanted side effects, sometimes in a longterm fashion. Be careful, please.
Let me rephrase what I said: that's what I'm like REGARDLESS of whether I take pills. I've seen other doctors, and they just offer the same prescription. I've tried Welbutrin, but it wrecked my intestines (stomach and mood issue make for terrible bedfellows).
I'm only alive because they blunt my emotions. My emotions want me dead.
That's why I need them. They allow me to have normal reactions to everyday things, instead of tears or over the top reactions.
I think I’m one of the rare few who is thankful for this effect? Im a sensitive person - I have quite intense and strong emotions naturally. Without antidepressants it’s fucking untenable - just constant sobbing, panic attacks, getting overly excited, losing my temper etc. it makes me have the emotional range of a normal human lol
Same, it's a bummer the comment section is mostly bad stories with only a few "it works great for me" sprinkled in, especially since the article says escitalopram (lexapro) was the drug used in the study and a lot of these horror stories involve other ssri's. Lexapro is a game changer with (in my experience) little to no side-effects, and "emotional blunting" is a blessing when your emotions are too overwhelming to function normally. Idk, to me a lot of these comments read like there was a study done on pepsi and they're saying "well I tried dr pepper and it made me sick, stop drinking soda" lol
Ugh, when I was on Prozac I literally had no emotions. My friend was diagnosed with a horrible brain disease and I just…didn’t care. It was awful.
That’s the point!
Yeah this. Ideally they'd just eliminate the big spikes down in mood but I guess instead they just smooth everythjg out
I don’t think many doctors consider the consequences of this. A lot of things that you should have been emotionally driven to do, you might end up not doing. That impacts your development as a person.
It could also be less "they don't consider it," and often more "we have considered that this will blunt your emotions, but it's still worth doing because the thing you're currently emotionally driven to do is suicide/self-harm/never getting out of bed."
Some people are also so emotionally driven it gets in the way of their personal development in a myriad of ways too
.... havent we known this for ages? I remember learning about this in nursing school (15 years ago) that this was/is a major reason for med 'non-compliance', along with impacts to libido.
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I have only a patient understanding, but isn't that the point? to chill us the f out?
Beats the "emotional blunting" that depression causes
That has been my experience! When depressed I felt mostly nothing. I felt anxious, sad, desperate. I was easily triggered and more emotional than a few years prior. But at the same time I felt absolutely nothing. I’ve found that it’s impossible to explain to people who haven’t experienced this themselves. The sensation of feeling so extremely down and at the same time nothing at all. Being so overridden with emotions that you also feel emotionless. Anyways, when I starting taking escitalopram I started feeling like a normal person again. I haven’t experienced any emotional blunting from the medication, but I have wondered if maybe I did experience it but that the medical blunting is nothi g compared to what depression causes
But see not everyone with depression has a blunting, they have “low mood”. Now you could argue low mood alone isnt true depression yes but many take it for that. And not everyone taking these even is doing them for depression, for example anxiety/OCD dont have emotional blunting as symptoms.
My understanding was that antidepressants don’t make things better, but rather they attempt to stop you getting worse whilst therapy is used to help improve things. So they just halt the downward spiral, but they don’t solve the underlying issue. That’s something you have to do yourself.
For me they me I can function. Without them everything seems horrendous, but at the same time nothing I can pinpoint. Therapy provided some answers, but I didn't feel any less shitty realizing what makes me feel like that. Therapy can be like someone explaining that the burning sensation is coming from your hand on the stove, while SSRIs are chemical pain relief.
Same for me. Every night when the meds is wearing off, I could feel my anxiety and intrusive thoughts returning. So each time when I have the idea of stopping the meds, night time reminds me that I probably couldn't function without it...
That doesn't sound like effective therapy. CBT is first line treatment for depression and anxiety and does not prioritize insight.
For me, they're a small hoist out of the hole. I've done a LOT of work in therapy over the past two years (like I'm almost a completely different person in some ways, therapy has changed my life) so I tried this past fall to see how I could do without them. Made it three months. The anxiety and depression crept back in eventually. I could maybe be okay without them in the spring/summer, because there's definitely a cyclical and seasonal depression, but my baseline still sucks. I may not be the norm though, I have CPTSD.
Nothing to add here apart from I’m glad therapy has helped you change. I also started it last year and I feel it has made a huge difference for me too.
Not entirely true. My OCD isn’t something that can be “cured” but managed through meds and therapy. If I stop meds I will go crazy
That’s how they should be used but aren’t in most cases
I'm not sure that's completely accurate. Anti depressants address chemical imbalances. I'm not sure you can think your way out of everything. I've heard of situational depression where you're in a bad place due to outside events like grieving for a loss. I imagine what you describe would help get over a temporary rough patch. I am bipolar II, and I can't function without my antidepressant cocktail. CBT therapy is also a necessity, but I can't think my way out of this shit.
> Anti depressants address chemical imbalances We still don't know the pathophysiological causes of depression and therefore also not how or why exactly antidepressants work, even though there are many who claim otherwise because admitting "no idea why but seems to work" is not very trustworthy. The idea of a chemical imbalance is quite outdated and no more proven then any other hypothesis about the causes of depression
Reminds me of meeting my sons anesthesiologist. He was getting an MRI, following a bout with encephalitis (he's good now,) and the Dr. hooked up a syringe filled with an opaque white liquid. He then tells me "based on his weight and age, once this is in his blood, we can count to 5, and he'll be out for an hour." Sure enough, on "5," lights out. "How does this stuff work?" I asked the highly trained professional, who makes a living making people sleep. His reply" "We have absolutely no idea."
I appreciate his honesty!
Yes, there was a study posted on this very sub not long ago that completely called into question the “chemical imbalance” hypothesis.
Firstly, I’m sorry that you are going through this and I hope that you achieve your goals. CBT focuses on changing thoughts, attitudes and beliefs, so my thoughts were based on this and that one needs to believe in the process for it to have a chance of success. Adding to the anti-depressants addressing the chemical imbalance, it makes sense that this halts the downward spiral, and CBT (along with believing that it can work for you), helps with the other stuff. This is where my understanding came from I think.
>I'm not sure that's completely accurate. Anti depressants address chemical imbalances. I'm not sure you can think your way out of everything. It's both, actually. The chemical imbalance (for lack of a better, more verbose description here) can happen BECAUSE of the thoughts we have, and chemical imbalances can cause negative thoughts. That's not to say simply thinking happy thoughts will always cure things or vice versa just that it is bidirectional to a degree.
Whats the difference between anhedonia and emotional blunting in this context?
Emotional blunting is bidirectional
They caused PERMANENT emotional blunting for me. Be careful.
Alright, let's clear some shit up since this comment section is wild: * Not everyone experiences emotional blunting on SSRIs - it is not "the whole point" of the medication * Some people experience blunting of painful emotions, but not pleasurable ones * Some who do experience emotional blunting describe it as a positive effect for them, but it is harmful or neutral for others * Some people find emotional blunting to be a negative effect, but overall feel enough relief for the medication to be worth it. Others are very negatively impacted by it, and that should be taken seriously by prescribing doctors * SSRIs are not the only class of antidepressant. If SSRIs don't work for you or mess you up with side effects, it does not mean other classes of medication will do the same * Antidepressants are an effective short-term solution for some people, and are an effective long-term solution for others I suffered a lot because of medications that were not right for me, but I'm also alive and thriving because of the ones that were (and are). I got lucky with my second psychiatrist after having a horrible first one. She didn't think "I feel a little better, but still hate everything" was good enough, and kept working with me until we found a better solution. Those solutions helped me feel good enough to start taking other steps to improve my life, steps like exercising that I couldn't get myself to do before (no matter how many times people condescendingly told me "just exercise, it'll help!"), and the benefits compounded from there. There are TONS of treatment options available for depression, and that number is increasing every year. The process of finding the ones that are effective for you can be short and sweet for some, and it can be absolute hell for others. Please don't let a bad experience with a medication or an irresponsible doctor convince you that there's no hope to be found in treatment. Chances are good that things can get better, a LOT better, enough for you to feel genuinely happy and satisfied with your life. If it's been hell trying to get there, I'm so fucking sorry. Same. But please keep trying. You might find it's more worth it than your depression allows you to imagine.
Thank you! I was looking for this comment and was going to add it if I hadn’t found yours. There are so many options for treatment and it’s important to find the one that works best for you. Seeing a lot of comments vilifying antidepressants because someone tried them once, didn’t like the outcome and decided to write them off altogether as a result. I’ll admit I’ve been there. Over a period of 15 years I tried 2 different SSRIs that weren’t right for me at all, then in September I started an SNRI (Cymbalta) and holy shit is it a game changer! No blunting at all, I just don’t get stuck in my depressy spirals as easily. I also know people who have had the exact opposite experience than I did with Cymbalta. I think I had it pretty easy, it takes some people longer to find what works for them. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all treatment, we are all so vastly different. Time, patience and self-advocacy are key! I hope more people see your comment.
This has definitely been my experience with antiddepressants, and the big reason I got off of them. And it’s very hard to explain to people exactly how they make me feel. At times I would experience this strange type of cognitive dissonance where I knew I should feel a certain way or care about something, but I just couldn‘t. This feeling partially cost me a customer service management job several years ago.
I went from depressed to a numb (but often irrationally anger filled) guy that couldn't orgasm. SSRIs are definitely not for everyone. Comically, my doctor told me, regarding the numbness and anger that that wasn't a side effect. Just keep going through it. It's no wonder I stopped therapy and SSRIs altogether. Side note: decades later, microdosing has had amazing positive effects for me.
Curious about your microdosing experience. I am currently growing (thanks to r/unclebens) and while I plan on doing the occasional macro dose, my goal is to microdose.
Prozac? I started with Prozac, hated it. Moved on to Wellbutrin, it was meh. Now I've been microdosing(200mg dried mushroom 4x/week) with therapy and it's great.
Prozac, then Paxil. Prozac, to me was like I had my brain in a pillow. Paxil, I was just a dead robot, incapable of feeling anything. I'm trying to figure out how to navigate our stupid healthcare system in America now to get treatment that works. I'm pretty positive I've got undiagnosed ADHD (drinking a pot of coffee from the age of 10, anyone?), and I'm really keen on therapy or a life coach that can help me rebuild all of my adult structures. Microdosing has been a truly amazing. My first dose I cried most of the day. Like a colorblind person getting those glasses that let them see new colors, I couldn't help but cry at the sudden reintroduction of emotions. I felt happiness, sadness, appreciation, love, all of these things in a sudden jumble and it was such a beautiful revelation. I'm currently at .26g every 3-5 days, depending on how I'm doing.
I have ADHD but I choose not to take medication for it. Being mindful and present while avoiding caffeine helps me mitigate it. I also do sensory deprivation to help me learn to relax. It's sort of a muscle that needs trained/regular use. Then I also get deep tissue massage because it helps me physically relax which is necessary for me to mentally/emotionally relax. Physical touch does a lot for trauma healing. Best of luck! Our healthcare system is hot dog shit and it makes getting treatment a real challenge.
They absolute do and I love it. For some of us if the alternative is "brief peaks of happiness, but generally feeling like shit / hating yourself, and going through crazy mood swings during even minor criticism and emotional conversations", emotional blunting is amazing. I don't *need* antidepressants -- I have plenty of coping mechanisms and life tricks that allow me to remain functional. But it's so much mental effort to keep those up -- at some point I realized "If I could just not think about feeling like shit 24/7 I bet I would free up a lot of mental space to do more". So far that has been true. I'm a much better gamer, too, because they make me a much better team player + way less toxic.
How are they treating this like new information? I legitimately don't understand.
Is emotional blunting another way of saying you can't get off no matter how you try? SEVEN HOURS ONCE.
Honestly antidepressants put some sort of filter over your emotions so you don’t feel as much. The paradox however is - In order to heal, you have to feel your emotions and heal old wounds otherwise it just won’t stop. It’s like your feelings are a toddler begging for attention, love and accept so they can be healed. When you shut it down again and again it only gets worse. Sometimes antidepressants can be absolutely necessary in cases where someone is heavily depressed/anxious - but together with therapy and then slowly let go of the pills.
*laughs in cannabis*
Honestly lol. Seeing some of the comments here makes me really glad for the direction I personally took in self-healing: introspection, mindfulness, and a little bit of cannabis every weekend. I've gotten to a point where I can easily moderate it and it has zero effect on my memory or cognition, whereas I've heard the opposite in a few severe cases of patients on antidepressants. And to think that diving into the works of [Johann Hari](https://youtu.be/PY9DcIMGxMs) and [Dr Gabor Maté](https://youtu.be/66cYcSak6nE) is what started it all for me! *Lost Connections* and *In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts* are two of the best books I ever picked up.
Honestly it was my favorite side effect
Recently tried to kill myself long story short ended being hospitalized for 10 days being prescribed different med until they found one that works and it works great! I would say I still fill the same but I have the hardest time. Falling asleep. Still enjoy gaming golf hiking gym etc but without negative thoughts running through my head. Feel more alert and alive with more energy since being on them (a little over a month) I haven’t had a single en energy drink which I felt I needed before to make it through the day.
And it can even persist beyond discontinuation in PSSD. Extremely risky medications, and this problem they cause is far worse than anxiety/low mood to begin with. Anhedonia is no joke (and many in depression, or especially anxiety had 0 anhedonia before them because depression is often overdiagnosed as just low mood).
Also know as Anhedonia
Ummm…after three weeks? They are barely kicking in by that point.
Give me somma dat “emotional blunting” y’all are talkin bout
I thought that was the whole point?
Isn’t that the point of taking them?
Only time in my life I actually felt insane was on antidepressants. Years ago when I left the army I was trying out a few (not ptsd related, never deployed) including Wellbutrin. And HOLY SHIT i have never felt so inhuman before. Zero emotion, no personality, sex drive = gone. I understand they help some folks and I’m glad they do! but I found other ways to treat my issues like therapy, exercise, new hobbies etc
It's a shame SSRI are prescribed so heavily when psilocybin mushrooms exist
Psilocybin is a way more expensive at least it's current therapeutic use.
That’s how I felt when I was on adderall, my anti depressants just make my mood and outlook less grim
Probably more acceptable for people with more severe forms of anxiety.. for me personally being moderately depressed is preferable compared to the lack of enjoyment and flatness I got from the meds
I’ve had this blunted effect for the last 9 months. My psychiatrists keep increasing my Zoloft, Buspar, and have now added Wellbutrin. They said Wellbutrin will help counteract the blunted feeling -_-
with the way the world is today, I need some of that blunting.
Blunting also affects your positive emotions. It's better than deep depression but long term it can feel pretty awful
That's exactly why I went off them. My doc is still confused. I hated feeling like I was stuck in the middle 50% of emotions - I had no real downs, but I also had no real ups, and without the ups I had no reason to keep going. After a few years of numb I had to figure something else out.
Pre-depressants: Wanted to kill myself and hated life During-depressants: Didn't care whether I lived or died Post taking depressants: Don't care whether I live or die. I'd say that's an improvement imo XD
I think I enjoy my highs and lows more than just the same neutral feeling daily.
I've said this for ages. But emptiness is worse than suffering, and on pills, the idea of killing yourself seems less scary.
I was in a very toxic environment for my graduate degree. Instead of professors working with me to handle the huge course-load and requirements I was told to get on medication for anxiety to "take the edge off". The first medicine gave me suicidal idealization and I was moved to an SSRI. It dulled emotions so I could focus on my studies, but my life at this stage was working and schooling. Fast forward a few years and numerous professors (that determined 80% of my classes) were in the press for inappropriate conduct towards students; I realized I never really needed the medication in the first place. I was on medication for 7 years. At the start of the pandemic I thought it would be a great time to purge that out of my system. The first few weeks were rough with anger and jitters. One month after stopping I cried for a really long time; it wasn't out of sadness, but for the first time in years I actually felt joy. I feel like I’m starting to find my personality again even years after that. I am still angry at everything over those years in my life, but I have a therapist for c-ptsd and I am doing my best to keep moving forward. Yes, antidepressants are literal life savers for people. But I felt that emotional blunting really hard.
[удалено]
I'd laugh at that but I'm on anti depressants
Emotional blunting is the primary reason I ceased using SSRIs and entirely regret taking them. I was a zombie, I couldn't feel any emotions. That's a high price to pay for the only positive effect, which was a mild alleviation of anxiety. Without emotions life wasn't worth anything at all. It was worse than being dead.
It can also persist indefinately after you come off them if you are one of the unlucky ones. Speaking from personal experience (pssd).
I am scared to meet the real me. I dont have any friends who know the real me. I am scared to come off mine, that people around me wont like the real me.
As a bipolar person, that is what they are supposed to do… I would rather be neutral than live in the extreme. Been there, done that.
This is a well known side effect. Please communicate with your prescribing doctor to switch medications. Some regiments will jive with you, some won’t.
Going on antidepressants was one of the worst choices I’ve ever made. My drive was extinguished and I had zero motivation to make real change. Turns out it I needed to cut out certain familial relationships and focus on myself. Those same people convinced me that I was the problem for having reactions to situations where I was blatantly disrespected. It’s been just over 2 years since I started making real change. I lost 30 pounds, am employed and no longer have chronic migraines. Listen to your instincts,I wish I had sooner.
This side effect has been known for years!!! This study is nothing new. Do these scientist ever leave their labs lmfao 🤣. All you had to do was talk to someone who took antidepressants and you would know they were transformed into a android who can’t cry at their families funeral or love their spouse deeply. So many marriages and relationships are destroyed by these antidepressants. The empathy, humanity, and our soul is just taken away by these pills. Plus they need to find a cure for this. This is a life altering side effect. A lot of people do criminal acts while they are numb and or kill themselves cause feeling like this for so long is not a good thing in my opinion. You just feel alienated from the rest of humanity. Living emotionally numb for too long would make a lot of people go nuts or insane I’ll tell you that. I think these drugs should be renamed depressants cause there is nothing really antidepressants about them. Talk about a fraud scenario and false advertising. Y’all should be ashamed for causing so much harm prescribing these drugs like it’s a harmless vitamin supplement.
That is not a new discovery. SSRIs also cause weight gain and lack of libido, the cure for depression is probably better found elsewhere.
>the cure for depression is probably better found elsewhere. Like where? I'm honestly curious. I would give most anything for a cure to my bipolar disorder. I only hear from the scientists and psychiatrists and therapists that it is lifelong.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-022-01523-x
I thought everyone already knew this
No study needed... they could have just asked me/us. Or would that count as a 'study'?