Experiencing Emotional Detachment: Understanding the Roots and Moving Forward | Psych Central Redux
Emotional numbness, a common yet underdiscussed symptom of depression, can affect individuals during the early stages of treatment. According to J. Raymond DePaulo, Jr., M.D., co-director of the Johns Hopkins Mood Disorders Center, this feeling of detachment is temporary and will pass.
DePaulo, a University Distinguished Service Professor and Co-Director of the Mood Disorders Center at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, specializes in the study and treatment of mood disorders such as bipolar disorder and depression. He founded the Hopkins Affective Disorders Clinic in 1977 and has been a prominent researcher, clinician, and teacher at Johns Hopkins for over 39 years.
In an informational video titled "Will This Numbness Go Away?", DePaulo assures anyone experiencing emotional numbness that it WILL go away. He asserts that it is their job to ensure that all feelings return.
A 2015 study published in the journal Sociology found that emotional numbness was among the dominating experiences of antidepressant use among young adults. Another study published in the journal Elsevier in 2014 cited that 60 percent of the participants who had taken antidepressants within the past five years experienced some emotional numbness.
However, people may still feel awful on the inside during the early stages of treatment, but these feelings usually go away later. If the numbness is caused by a medication, it may be necessary to reduce the dose or try a different medication.
Writer Phil Eli, in his piece "Sometimes Depression Means Not Feeling Anything at All", describes his own experience of emotional numbness. He writes about feeling "precisely nothing" during a period of depression, including a loss of sex drive, attention span, and emotional responses.
Eli is not alone in his experience. Some people may experience a complete lack of feelings during depression. Political news, music, jokes, books, and food may have little effect on a person experiencing emotional numbness.
The progression of recovery usually starts with a person looking better to other people and talking more and being more responsive. If the treatment is sufficiently helpful, emotional numbness will go away.
Poet Phillip Lopate wrote a poem titled "Numbness" that accurately describes the feeling of emotional numbness. The poem serves as a reminder that even in the midst of numbness, recovery is possible.
It can be tempting for people to assign blame on the medication when the numbness is due to the depression, itself, especially in the initial weeks and months of treatment. However, it is important to remember that emotional numbness is a common symptom of depression and will usually pass with the right treatment and support.
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