🧵 What do SSRIs really do to your emotions?
A major Oxford study (by researchers supportive of antidepressants) explored the lived experiences of SSRI users (experiences not captured by RCTs). What participants revealed about emotional blunting is disturbing… So here we go👇
A major Oxford study (by researchers supportive of antidepressants) explored the lived experiences of SSRI users (experiences not captured by RCTs). What participants revealed about emotional blunting is disturbing… So here we go👇
1. General flattening of all emotions: Most participants said their emotions felt ‘dulled’ ‘numbed’ or ‘blocked’ by SSRIs. Some couldn’t feel at all, and just thought about how they should feel. Even joy, grief or love often felt distant or ‘fake’....
2. Loss of positive emotions: Nearly all participants described a marked drop in joy, excitement, love, affection and passion. They no longer felt uplifted by music, hobbies or even felt close connection with loved ones....
3. Relief from distress, but at a cost: many felt that negative emotions like fear, sadness and anger were reduced; which initially brought relief. But many also found this also muted their ability to grieve, cry or care when it mattered...
4. Emotional detachment: participants often felt like they were watching life through glass; ‘in limbo,’ like a ‘robot’. Even toward partners or children, empathy and connection was dimmed. Some welcomed this calm; others found it deeply isolating...
5. Apathy and ‘not caring’: Many described losing motivation, concern or urgency. They cared less about themselves, about others and about their responsibilities. One said: ‘I just didn’t care anymore, about anything.....’
6. ‘It changed who I am:’ Some participants felt their personality had changed or been stripped away. They no longer recognised themselves. One called it becoming ‘a shell.’ Another said it made them behave out of character....
7. Real-world impact: Emotional blunting affected, parenting, work performance, creativity and relationships. While a few welcomed emotional control, many found these effects worsened quality of life; even led to self-harm in rare...
8. ‘It’s the meds, not the illness.’ Most participants were confident the flattening was not their depression returning. Clues included: effects starting after their treatment; emotional blunting improving after stopping SSRIs. A ‘chemical’ feeling to emotions…
9. So what should we take from this? This was the first in-depth study giving patients themselves a voice on emotional effects. Given that 9 million adults were prescribed these drugs in England last year, politicians should wake up to the societial effects of numbing on mass.
10. Therapists take note. These blunting effects aren't rare, in fact many now consider them the ‘primary effect’ of SSRIs. Please understand this is highly relevant to your therapeutic work, despite what the status quot may have taught you...End
Source: cambridge.org/core/journals/…
Source: cambridge.org/core/journals/…
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