Emotional blunting on SSRIs: can it last?

Emotional blunting is when an antidepressant makes your feelings go flat: less sadness, but also less joy and less love. For some people it continues after they stop, and emotional numbing is listed as a symptom of post-SSRI sexual dysfunction (PSSD), alongside the sexual changes.

Flat feelings are easy to put down to depression, and many people don’t link them to the tablets. For some, that means years of thinking the problem is them.

Play video: Katie's story

Katie took Prozac for about three years, during a hard time in her life. Her feelings went flat, she says, and so did her attraction to other people.

It took her a long time to link this to the tablets. She has lived with it for about 14 years.

What does emotional blunting feel like?

When Oxford researchers interviewed people who had taken SSRIs, most said all their feelings were toned down, the good and the bad. They used words like “flat”, “blank” and “robot”.

Some couldn’t cry when they felt they should. Many felt cut off from the people closest to them, even a partner or their children. Almost all said they’d stopped caring about things that used to matter.

Not everyone minds it. In one large survey, people with blunting were about as likely to call it a good thing as a bad thing.

Is it the depression or the antidepressant?

It can be both, but the medicine seems to play its own part. Depression can flatten feelings too, so the two are easy to mix up. In the Oxford interviews, most people felt they could tell them apart.

In the large survey, about half of people taking an antidepressant for depression said they felt emotionally blunted. It was stronger when the depression was worse, so the authors think it’s partly a symptom of depression. But people still being treated, whose depression had largely lifted, felt more blunted than people who had recovered and stopped their tablets.

A study in Cambridge and Copenhagen gave healthy volunteers escitalopram (Lexapro) or a placebo for at least three weeks. On the drug, winning and losing in computer tasks swayed their choices less. The researchers think this may reflect the blunting patients describe.

Can emotional blunting last after stopping?

For some people it has lasted years after stopping. Nobody knows yet who will be affected, or whether it will ease.

PSSD is defined by a change in genital feeling, such as numbness, that continues after the last tablet. The 2022 diagnostic criteria for PSSD, written by an international group of doctors and researchers, also list emotional numbing. They say the two often go together, and list depersonalisation too: a sense of being cut off from yourself.

Play video: PSSD, living with sexual and emotional blunting

The criteria add that numbing can be the main complaint a person brings to their GP. The NHS page lists emotional numbness as a side effect and a withdrawal symptom, but doesn’t name PSSD. Nobody has measured how often numbing lasts.

What can I do about emotional blunting?

These medicines help many people. If you have side effects, that’s a decision for you and your prescriber. Don’t stop suddenly.

Blunting is worth raising at your next appointment. Say what changed in your own words, such as “I can’t cry any more” or “I don’t feel close to my partner”. Add dates, for example “Prozac 20 mg from May 2022, last tablet March 2024”, and say when each change started.

Frequently asked questions

Is emotional blunting the same as PSSD?

Not on its own. Feeling flat while you take an antidepressant is a known side effect. PSSD is about what continues after the last tablet, with changes in genital feeling at its centre. Emotional numbing that lasts can be part of it.

Does it happen with every antidepressant?

In the large survey, people reported it on every type of antidepressant they were taking. The NHS lists emotional numbness among the common side effects of antidepressants in general. Which medicine suits you is a question for you and your prescriber.

Can I report emotional blunting on its own?

Yes. You can report any side effect you suspect, and you don’t need proof. Describe the flatness in your own words, and say when it started. If sexual changes also continued after stopping, add the term Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction.

For years, Katie believed something was wrong with her. Read her full story, and what is known about PSSD.

Sources

• Goodwin GM, Price J, De Bodinat C, Laredo J. Emotional blunting with antidepressant treatments: a survey among depressed patients. Journal of Affective Disorders, 2017; 221: 31–35. An online survey of 669 people on treatment for depression and 150 recovered controls who had stopped antidepressants at least two months before. 46% reported blunting. Two of the four authors were from the research institute of Servier, a drug company.
• Price J, Cole V, Goodwin GM. Emotional side-effects of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors: qualitative study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 2009; 195(3): 211–217. Interviews with 38 people who had taken an SSRI, plus posts on patient websites. Funded by Servier.
• Langley C, Armand S, Luo Q, et al. Chronic escitalopram in healthy volunteers has specific effects on reinforcement sensitivity. Neuropsychopharmacology, 2023; 48(4): 664–670. 66 healthy volunteers, escitalopram 20 mg or placebo for at least 21 days.
• Healy D, Bahrick A, Bak M, et al. Diagnostic criteria for enduring sexual dysfunction after treatment with antidepressants, finasteride and isotretinoin. International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine, 2022; 33(1): 65–76. Emotional numbing and depersonalisation are listed as ancillary non-sexual symptoms.
• NHS. Antidepressants. Page last reviewed 12 June 2025. Lists emotional numbness among the common side effects and the withdrawal symptoms.
• MedDRA term Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction, code 10086208.
• Moral Medicine interviews on YouTube: Katie (26 May 2026) and Nick (30 May 2023).