Emotional blunting: Heightening numbness lined with mental anguish

Emotional blunting, a mental agony is experienced by persons as an emotional numbness in which they do not exhibit a range of emotions and show detachment. Emotional blunting may be powerlessness to react to positive or negative emotions widespread in people who grip in depression, schizophrenia, or post-traumatic stress disorder. It is not categorized as a serious psychological syndrome which needs proper therapy but reflects destabilization of the mind due to exposure to unpleasant situations or getting ill treatment in family or society.

Underlying causes of emotional blunting may include trauma and long-lasting stress, substance abuse, or hormonal imbalances. Certain medications such as antidepressants and antipsychotics may also trigger emotional blunting in people. Other physical ailments like an underactive thyroid or chronic fatigue syndrome, can lead to blunted emotions. An example of emotional numbness in children whose parents are separated can be found widespread. In such cases, a child during parental separation subconsciously embraces emotional blunting as a psychological defense mechanism to stay away from feeling strong, terrifying emotions. For domestic violence survivors, emotional blunting is a defending tactic to restrict their emotional trauma to protect itself from irresistible emotional feelings.

Emotional blunting can affect all aspects of life, including relationships, decision-making, and overall well-being. Emotional blunting may be a repercussion of chronic workplace stress. Emotional blunting which is insensitivity to emotions may ruin the life of individuals in work or family life. It may negatively impact the performance of professional projects. Developers or managers of companies may not adjust with colleagues, or have poor decision-making power in the workplace. In corporations, wise decisions are taken by balanced professionals using a blend of logic and emotional vision to assess probable results and stakeholder impacts. Emotionally blunted employees with lack of emotional engagement are not ready to accept challenging business situations or embrace technical modification which may decline productivity.

Working professionals are also wrapped with emotional distress which has negative upshots like Job dissatisfaction, waning of motivation towards work or unable to celebrate project success. Such a negative attitude during work life weakens personal contentment.

Emotional blunting immensely disturbs the life of seniors leaving them isolated and incapable to experience gamut of emotions. Such emotional rudeness may decline cognitive functions and create emptiness in their life.  Emotional blunting experienced by individuals may disrupt connection and empathy in family life.

People with emotional blunting may show following symptoms:

They do not exhibit facial expressions or any vocal style for negative or positive emotions, lack of motivation or interest in daily affairs. People suffering from emotional blunting may find difficulty in maintaining social relations or do not show empathy. They have reduced sex drive or emotional closeness, or expressing emotions and a sense of disinterest for close relatives also.  

Curative model for emotional blunting:

Emotional blunting is considered as a challenging mental health still it can be reversed. Some effective supportive techniques are available to combat emotional blunting. Mental health therapies and lifestyle changes may help people to lessen the symptoms of emotional blunting. Psychological support and strictly following the treatment procedure may fuel energy in mind to scuffle with emotional numbness and regain emotional strength to manage people in surroundings. Talk therapy is one of the effective treatment methods for patients to understand complexity in expressing positive or negative emotions and equip them to learn coping strategies to suppress emotional blunting. In talk therapy, people are encouraged to share their sour or toxic experiences that can trigger emotional blunting. Such conversations with mental health experts may be helpful in releasing negative thoughts and taking steps towards exploring the solution of emotional issues in life. 

Another mind enhancing approach is cognitive behavior therapy which is effectively executed by trained therapists to patients grip on emotional blunting. In this procedure, individuals are motivated to recognize and alter negative thought processes that are responsible for emotional disengagement.

Psychodynamic therapy is also supportive for people exposed to emotional blunting. Therapists instruct patients to evaluate their past experiences that result in emotional blunting. After processing the minute details of past events, people may comprehend the causes of emotional blunting and regain power to express emotions in different situations.

Somatic therapy is intended to offer safety to a person through releasing trapped emotional strength. It is a holistic approach that strengthens mind-body connection. This therapy adopts various techniques to diminish the symptoms of emotional blunting that include deep breathing, relaxation exercises, and movement, alleviating tension and disturbance in the body. Somatic therapy is a healing procedure for regulating and balancing a wide array of emotions. Intense experience of trauma from past events may destabilize Emotional responses to different situations, putting them in a struggling zone to manage penetrating feelings of anxiety or grief. In such a devastating state, Somatic therapy works as a supportive pillar to generate awareness of their body’s responses to emotional touchpoints and enable individuals to control and skillfully cope up with emerging emotional uproar. This sharp awareness of body actions and excellent way to regulate emotions can revitalize a person's mental and emotional health.

Psychotherapies can do wonders in the condition of emotional numbness through creative soothing environments where people can get a supportive platform to work out on extreme emotions and get acquainted with positive approaches to narrow down emotional detachment in society and become emotionally stable.  Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is meant for integrating cognizance practices and aid sufferers to deeply identify and experience their emotional feelings in order to live a decent life. Patients suffering from PTSD and emotional numbness can be treated well with this therapy.

Emotional freedom technique is helpful in reducing emotional blunting through acupressure points along with cognitive statements to modify thought process on certain memories.

A word of caution: Emotional blunting is a typical mental state of individuals with muted emotions and leaves people to feel numb and apart from surroundings. Emotional numbing ascends when a person is severely impacted with several emotional disturbances such as trauma, anxiety, stress. They use emotional blunting as a defense mode to counter intense emotional discomfort or tension. The brain subsides emotions to avoid anguish. Such emotional inhibition may have distressing and unfavorable repercussions in the form of emotional detachment and show anxiety. In such conditions, the mind freezes to evade from irresistible shock or extreme stress. To conquer the state of emotional numbing, people need to change their lifestyle, adopt yoga and other physical exercise to recognize the roots of degenerative emotions and discover emotional vivacity to gain mental health. Effective psychotherapies may be beneficial to avoid numbing emotions and foster emotional stability in life.

Important note: Above article is based on environmental inputs and reflects the views and academic knowledge of the writer (Major in psychology). Scenarios and natural facts are based on true events. Above guidance should not be taken as a reference of a therapist. It is advised to contact experts for serious issues. Any resemblance is just a coincidence. Writer is not responsible for any differences.