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Emotional Blunting – Causes, Symptoms, Treatment and More

Mental Health Posted by Tegan Parry

Causes of Emotional Blunting

This condition may arise from some mental illness and medications. These causes include:

  • Substance use: When the central nervous system is shut down and is unable to function properly, it can reduce the ability of an individual to feel emotionally. The use of drugs or substances like heroin, cannabis and marijuana causes the inability of the CNS to function properly and thereby leading to this condition.
  • Borderlands Personality Disorder (BPD): This mental disorder is characterized by continuous change in mood of an individual. When someone with this disorder is put under stress, it leads to a feeling of unwillingness to connect with other people and further leading to emotional numbness.
  • Antidepressants: Scientists have observed that the use of antidepressants like SSRIs- selective serotonin uptake inhibitors sometimes increases the depression state of an individual, therefore causing the limitation of expressing a full range of emotions.
  • Alcohol: The excessive intake of alcohol can cause the central nervous system not to function as it should. This unstable functioning can lead to several mood swings and further leading to emotional dullness.
  • Alexithymia: This is considered to be genetic. It is the inability to identify emotions. This condition causes difficulty in understanding body changes due to emotional feelings. Some of its symptoms are confusion, anger, anxiety [1] and lots more.
  • PTSD post-traumatic stress disorder: Emotional blunting may occur when an individual suffering from PTSD comes in contact with situations that trigger the past trauma. The person tends to become numb emotionally.
  • Schizophrenia: This Condition has symptoms like hallucinations, insomnia, anxiety and lack of concentration. This condition reduces the rate at which an individual functions, which can affect the expression of emotions.
  • Psychosis: This is a mental disorder that makes an individual feel detached from what is going on in reality. This can be triggered by drug misuse, brain tumor or stress.