Study Examines Emotional Blunting Of SSRIs
A new study in the British Journal of Psychiatry aims to understand the emotional side effects–ie, the infamous blunting effect–of taking SSRIs. Many in psychiatry and the mental health industry have long downplayed the stoned effect SSRIs (and other types of anti-depressants) can cause, so it’s refreshing to see the phenomenon examined in a leading psych journal.
The study was actually a survey underwritten by the French pharma company Servier. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to the full study, which concludes:
“Emotional side-effects of SSRIs are a robust phenomenon, prominent in some people’s thoughts about their medication, having a demonstrable impact on their functioning and playing a role in their decision-making about antidepressant adherence.”
No kidding. Study findings are further described by the blog psychiatryupdate.com.au:
“Patients should be warned about emotional side effects of antidepressants when they start treatment, British psychiatrists suggest. The qualitative study of patients taking SSRIs found that the majority of patients experienced a reduction in positive and negative emotions, emotional detachment, changed personality and a feeling of indifference. Most described a general reduction in the intensity of emotions, so that all their emotions felt flattened or evened out. Others felt they experienced their emotions as thoughts rather than feelings. Most participants described feeling emotionally detached or disconnected and attributed this to their SSRI. This emotional detachment sometimes extended to a detachment from other people. Specifically, they felt reduced sympathy and empathy and a sense of detachment during social interactions. Almost all participants described not caring about things that used to matter to them, and some felt that their personality had changed in some way.”
Ah, how well I remember the detachment I experienced on Prozac. When I began taking the drug in March 1990, my then-psychiatrist had me check in with him by phone a week later. I cannot remember what I told him, but he said to me, “If you feel as if your personality is changing, don’t think about it too much. It’s still really you.”
The next summer I went to an opening night party for a musical that the big theatre I worked at in San Diego had just revived (and would later continue to Broadway). It was a wild party and several of the women in the cast were openly hitting on me. I was too zonked on Procaz–too removed–to care and went home alone (what I wouldn’t give to have that night back, sans Prozac). It was a problem I fought with other anti-depressants as well, especially Zoloft and Wellbutrin, and I know it’s a very tricky problem for many patients.
While I don’t think the BJP study breaks any new ground, it’s nice to see some psych researchers being publicly honest.
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