the emotional side-effects of the ssris

[Ghost]

I get this too. It's sometimes hard to differentiate from depression, but I have less intense emotions now.

One thing that helps is music. Music is one thing that still can elicit a high amount of pleasure for me. As weird as it sounds, just dancing to some music (even if alone), can really cheer me up, and get some dopamine flowing.

[Maldoror]

I Have no doubts PSSD can also cause a decrease in "emotional intensity", if you compare it to your pre-SSRI state.

In my case I think it was positive, to be honest. I became a much calmer person due to that. I'm not prone to depression anymore.

I still can fall in love, although I don't see myself getting absolutely crazy over a woman and doing stupid shit (lol), so in that sense it's probably positive too.

In short: PSSD made me more zen, not anhedonic.

[Ghost]

I Have no doubts PSSD can also cause a decrease in "emotional intensity", if you compare it to your pre-SSRI state.

In my case I think it was positive, to be honest. I became a much calmer person due to that. I'm not prone to depression anymore.

I still can fall in love, although I don't see myself getting absolutely crazy over a woman and doing stupid shit (lol), so in that sense it's probably positive too.

In short: PSSD made me more zen, not anhedonic.

That's the one up side I guess. I no longer get severe anxiety, which I guess that's what the drug was meant to treat. Therefore, if I could get sexual functioning and all emotions back...and lower the heightened depression...I'd actually consider the drug more or less successful in its treatment of anxiety.

[escitalopramsucks]

I Have no doubts PSSD can also cause a decrease in "emotional intensity", if you compare it to your pre-SSRI state.

In my case I think it was positive, to be honest. I became a much calmer person due to that. I'm not prone to depression anymore.

Same. As drugs transform your chemical balance, you became more calm and relax. Anxiety means emotional intensity, be moody. My psychiatrist told me when I came to him with my PSSD problem, that the anxious people are generally at the same time, very sexual and very emotional, noy by chance but by their chemical situation.

[Ghost]

I Have no doubts PSSD can also cause a decrease in "emotional intensity", if you compare it to your pre-SSRI state.

In my case I think it was positive, to be honest. I became a much calmer person due to that. I'm not prone to depression anymore.

Same. As drugs transform your chemical balance, you became more calm and relax. Anxiety means emotional intensity, be moody. My psychiatrist told me when I came to him with my PSSD problem, that the anxious people are generally at the same time, very sexual and very emotional, noy by chance but by their chemical situation.

I was always really sexual and pretty emotional. I guess I'm still sexual and emotional...It's just more muted.

I will say however, that during the height of my anxiety I felt pretty dead as well. It's tiring really, constantly being in panic. But it's a bit different now. I still will occasionally get moderate anxiety, but it's controllable, and I can fight it myself.

I wish it would have helped with depression, which was never severe until the drug. I don't know how much of that is the emotional blunting or PSSD dis-belief...or the fact that it's winter.

I'm really sorry to hear that, catalunya. Have you ever tried something like buspar? Maybe that could help with anxiety and PSSD?

[Octopus]

Yes, I get this too. I know what you mean about it being hard to differentiate from depression—at first I thought maybe I was just imagining it because I’m still pretty depressed and not taking any meds at the moment.

One way that it’s really noticeable for me is that I can’t really get angry in the same way anymore. I’m used to not feeling happy due to my pretty much lifelong issues with depression, but not being able to feel angry is pretty weird to me. “Less intense emotions” is exactly how I would describe it.

I still enjoy music as well but I do feel like I can’t enjoy it as deeply or intensely which is kind of hard on me both as a musician and a music lover. Sometimes I feel like I only enjoy it because I know that I’m supposed to. I feel that way about a lot of things, actually.
Ah, just read the study. They say the same thing: “Some participants were able rationally to recognise situations in which they should feel a certain way, and yet the actual emotional response was not there or was altered in some way.” Yep.

When I got PSSD I was taking Prozac, Focalin, and Lamictal. I think the Focalin sort helped to mask some of the PSSD symptoms—especially the emotional ones. I knew something was wrong but I kept taking all the meds for several years because I didn’t know what else to do. Last year I quit taking Prozac and Lamictal and discovered that I had PSSD. A couple months later I quit taking Focalin and that’s when things really started to get a lot worse for me.

I haven’t taken Focalin since, but sometimes I think maybe I should go back to taking it. It would probably help me to feel better and more emotionally normal for a few hours a day at least. The main problem is that when I come down from the Focalin I get super tired and super sad and irritable. I’m sort of on the fence about whether or not to take Focalin again…I don’t know whether there’s a better/more complete solution or not. Also I'm not sure if Focalin is something that would do bad things to my brain with long term use?

so, in contrast to everyone else, i still have severe anxiety although my emotional spectrum is truncated for sure.

I’m the same way.
Catalunya, sorry if you’ve already talked about this before, but do you mind me asking what meds you take for anxiety? I’m just curious because it seems like we have similar symptoms(? maybe) and I’m still searching for some sort of medication that I won’t find too scary to take.

[future-recovery]

Yes, that's exactly how I feel:
"Some participants were able rationally to recognise situations in which they should feel a certain way, and yet the actual emotional response was not there or was altered in some way. Alternatively, some participants could still respond to emotional situations in an appropriate way, but without what they felt was real feeling."

[hairsuitharry]

SSRIs damage the emotional part of the brain, by affecting the individual nerves that project from the raphe nucleus - I suspect this is what people refer to as anhedonia. Anhedonia and PSSD often go hand in hand.

[lost_soul]

I can't even say. I have comorbid psychiatric conditions that affect emotions and my lifestyle changed a lot shortly after taking SSRIs for the first time. What I will say is that prior to SSRI use I was incredibly shy and inhibited, and almost entirely mute. I'm none of those things anymore, but whether that's been a natural part of growing older for me I can't say. I'm not sure whether my emotions have become more or less intense. I don't feel much most of the time, but then again I never have. Fear and stress are nearly nonexistent for me now. I can still feel love, hate, and emotional trauma pretty well. One thing that seems to be lacking is imagination. I've heard other PSSD victims talk about this, a state of constantly living in the present. It's definitely happened to me. All my fantasies went away along with my sexual ones.

[lost_soul]

SSRIs damage the emotional part of the brain, by affecting the individual nerves that project from the raphe nucleus - I suspect this is what people refer to as anhedonia. Anhedonia and PSSD often go hand in hand.

Some evidence suggests it may decrease amygdala volume in adolescents too.