# Article: SSRI's may suppress basic human emotions of love and romance



## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/02/antidepressants/

Excerpt;



> Antidepressant drugs, already known to cause sexual side effects, may also suppress the basic human emotions of love and romance.
> 
> That SSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors - the most common type of antidepressant - cause sexual dysfunction is common knowledge. Of the 31 million adults in the United States who take the SSRIs, about 30 percent are believed to experience sexual dysfunction.
> 
> ...


----------



## Arisa1536 (Dec 8, 2009)

Thats pretty distressing actually. 
so not do they weaken sexual desire and cause dysfunction, they also numb you to feelings of attraction, love and desire? (i mean desire for the persons heart not just sexual desire

what about SNRI's?
they would be the same or round about :um:um


----------



## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

Yeah pretty much any SSRI, SNRI or serotonergic tricyclic antidepressant has the potential to cause mood/emotional blunting. 

Not always inherently a bad thing, especially for those with SA/Depression who find these emotions too overwhelming, but yeah it can also can also cause a problem alot of the time too.


----------



## Arisa1536 (Dec 8, 2009)

Well true, and at first it can seem pretty good like with effexor putting a band aid over any desire to be in a relationship or with anyone sexually but long term its not good and it probably has caused HSDD in me, and many other people.

Not all antidepressants are known for this though, i mean it would seem SSRI/SNRI's are some of the worst for that


----------



## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

Yeah they can definitely enhance feelings of emotional self sufficiency (and therefore decrease feelings of lonliness, etc) which can sometimes be a good thing as you said. 

But not always productive in the long term.


----------



## introvert33 (Jun 23, 2010)

hmm, stuff to think about, but not really conclusive...as usual. Thanks for sharing.


----------



## wxolue (Nov 26, 2008)

And the guy who's so depressed he can't walk out his front door or is dead because he couldn't stand living anymore is better off because he's so much more loving towards his ex girl friend who dumped him because he has no ambition? This article is quality.


----------



## bmwfan07 (Jun 3, 2007)

Sounds like manifestations of "apathy syndrome" that commonly results from serotonergic-acting antidepressants.

wxolute, that sensationalistic argument holds no weight. The article doesn't condemn antidepressants; it merely presents a controversial possibility.

It's interesting to me from an existential perspective that we're altering people's emotional valences in subtle, yet significant, ways. In the future, once we learn more about neuroscience, will it be possible to artificially make unhappy--whether clinically depressed or not--people truly happy with pills? It's hard to say, and it presents some ethical questions.


----------



## spaceygirl (Dec 4, 2009)

I agree they can cause emotional blunting but I have not experienced suppression of love/romance while on SSRIs. I love my boyfriend the same if not more since I have been on an SSRI. Before I started taking my current antidepressent we almost broke up because I was too severely depressed to experience any sort of emotion, other than extreme depression. Thankfully he stuck with me through that ordeal. 

So if anything I'd say the SSRIs helped us in bonding and falling in love. But thats just my experience..


----------



## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

To clarify; I'm not in any way condemning the use of SSRI's, which help millions of people each year. I was merely presenting an article which discusses an interesting possible secondary reaction.


----------



## Under17 (May 4, 2010)

I've felt such a thing on SSRIs and SNRIs. Klonopin as well but in a different and more obvious way.


----------



## LostPancake (Apr 8, 2009)

Yeah, I got off paxil after 10 years and am feeling all kinds of emotions. It's like the world has more color now.


----------



## bmwfan07 (Jun 3, 2007)

LostPancake said:


> Yeah, I got off paxil after 10 years and am feeling all kinds of emotions. It's like the world has more color now.


Let's just hope it's good color and stays that way.


----------



## crayzyMed (Nov 2, 2006)

jim_morrison said:


> To clarify; I'm not in any way condemning the use of SSRI's, which help millions of people each year. I was merely presenting an article which discusses an interesting possible secondary reaction.


+1
Thx for posting this article, its a real issue and ppl should be aware of that.


----------



## Rbk (Aug 5, 2010)

I don't need any article to know that SSRI's are lowering emotions but in my case it's amazing thing. When you are truly neurotic you will find this one of the greatest thing which SSRI's are able to do.


----------



## mikoy (Aug 12, 2010)

Yes, ssri are good in this. I can't cope with some of my negative emotions.


----------



## mikoy (Aug 12, 2010)

Emotional blunting of good emotions exist in my depression. On ssri I'm less sensitive to some bad things, but I'm also feels more positive emotions.


----------



## Dane (Jul 27, 2009)

This certainly hasn't happened for me. I've fallen in love or gone through the initial stages of falling in love twice since I've been on Paxil, and the emotions were pretty intense. 

I have seen quite a few posts by people who complain about a reduced ability to feel emotions while on SSRIs so I'm sure this is true for some people.


----------



## bmwfan07 (Jun 3, 2007)

Dane said:


> This certainly hasn't happened for me. I've fallen in love or gone through the initial stages of falling in love twice since I've been on Paxil, and the emotions were pretty intense.
> 
> I have seen quite a few posts by people who complain about a reduced ability to feel emotions while on SSRIs so I'm sure this is true for some people.


Right. Apathy syndrome does not occur in everyone who takes SSRIs, or there would be a lot more backlash. It happens in a minority, albeit a significant one, particularly after a while (maybe 6-18 months).

Most people I know who've taken SSRIs have done fine and did not experience this phenomenon, but these people were never on them for years. One person I know, my life coach, experienced this blunting after a year or two and quit because of it. She said she didn't care if she lived or died and while she couldn't feel negative emotion, she also couldn't really feel positive emotions, either. It's amazing and inexplicable what these, and other, medications can do.


----------



## LostPancake (Apr 8, 2009)

bmwfan07 said:


> Let's just hope it's good color and stays that way.


Thanks - actually there are lots of blacks and browns in there at the moment. But they're kind of goading me into getting my life together.

I must have gotten that apathy syndrome after being on it so long. I just didn't have enough motivation to do anything constructive. I suppose because positive emotions get blunted, and that's where a lot of motivation comes from. And I didn't care enough about the possible bad consequences of doing nothing, because the negative emotions got blunted also. Or it's some other effect on the dopamine system.


----------



## peaceandlove09 (Aug 10, 2010)

I don't have enough experience with SSRis to comment. 

Although I think these man made meds must have some consequences. In "nature" perhaps it is normal to feel depressed. Perhaps it is a sign to eat better, or excercise more, or have sex or whatever. 

Or maybe the depressed people died in the old days. Who knows lol 

I don't know about everyone else but SSRIs seem like way too high a price to pay.


----------



## bmwfan07 (Jun 3, 2007)

LostPancake said:


> Thanks - actually there are lots of blacks and browns in there at the moment. But they're kind of goading me into getting my life together.
> 
> I must have gotten that apathy syndrome after being on it so long. I just didn't have enough motivation to do anything constructive. I suppose because positive emotions get blunted, and that's where a lot of motivation comes from. And I didn't care enough about the possible bad consequences of doing nothing, because the negative emotions got blunted also. Or it's some other effect on the dopamine system.


That's a good way of explaining the effects of apathy syndrome.

And WRT to the first paragraph, I can definitely relate.


----------



## bben (Oct 24, 2009)

The original statement applies to almost ANY drug. Stimulants effect emotions and love even more than SSRIS long term IMO. Benzos do the same. Of course drugs will alter emotions, the article is dumb for making ssris sound like they are the only ones doing it.


----------



## bmwfan07 (Jun 3, 2007)

bben said:


> The original statement applies to almost ANY drug. Stimulants effect emotions and love even more than SSRIS long term IMO. Benzos do the same. Of course drugs will alter emotions, the article is dumb for making ssris sound like they are the only ones doing it.


I think the article singles SSRIs out because they're, far and away, the most commonly prescribed psychotropic drugs and affect millions of people, either directly or indirectly.


----------



## mikoy (Aug 12, 2010)

Yeah, so in this milions of prescriptions emotional blunting must exist.


----------



## bmwfan07 (Jun 3, 2007)

mikoy said:


> Yeah, so in this milions of prescriptions emotional blunting must exist.


Yeah...?


----------



## Duke of Prunes (Jul 20, 2009)

SSRIs are indeed rubbish.


----------



## mikoy (Aug 12, 2010)

I means bleah


----------



## losttheforce (Aug 3, 2010)

My experience on lexapro for a few years seem to validate this study. Nothing and I mean nothing could have ever made me cry after years on lexapro. Then when I went off it, all these emotions came back that I didn't even realise I was missing.

I am on a SNRI now, only a low dosage though. Doesn't seem to be affecting me the same way, however it probably does with time. I don't see myself staying on it.


----------



## alex999 (Oct 21, 2008)

It is definitely real. I was on Lexapro for 6 months and I experienced this to an extent. I never "fell in love" or anything but I did experience the emotional disconnect. As crazy as it sounds, it took away my creativity and appreciation for music. This was a huge blow for me because music is my life passion. I couldn't "feel" anything when listening to music or anything like that. Hard to explain. 

I guess this is due to the fact that the raised serotonin lowers the firing rate of dopamine. Dopamine is the chemical responsible for feelings of love, pleasure, and motivation (hence the apathy) and these drugs can just turn you in to a serotonin filled zombie. They also mess with your hormone levels, like testosterone, which probably stands to reason with the sexual side effects. 

I like being drug free now and not have to rely on a crutch. I do have bad days and periods of bad anxiety. But the highs are just as high as ever, which is great.


----------



## bmwfan07 (Jun 3, 2007)

alex999 said:


> But the highs are just as high as ever, which is great.


By highs, do you mean hypomania?


----------



## melissa75 (Feb 16, 2010)

SSRI's have definitely caused an emotional blunting for me or general apathy, and it is immediate...within days of starting the new medication. Zoloft was the worst SSRI for me, and I will not take it again. It scared me in how apathetic I was towards everything even in that I could care less if I lived or died. I wasn't depressed anymore...I just switched to not caring. Right now, I'm taking fluvoxamine. And, something can really hurt me, and I think, I need to just cry...feel something b/c that really hurt. But, I can't. It's like I know I have that hurt feeling...but, it feels far away down a tunnel where I can't touch it. But, when I'm not taking SSRI's, everything feels very real and all over the place. I can be pretty emotional. I was still emotional when taking Wellbutrin, too. 

As far as not having feelings of love on SSRI's? I can't really differentiate that as I have just overall been unemotional on SSRI's. They definitely help me get over a break-up, though.


----------



## bmwfan07 (Jun 3, 2007)

melissa75 said:


> I was still emotional when taking Wellbutrin, too.


I'm emotional on Wellbutrin, but my emotions have shifted more toward irascibility and irritability rather than melancholy or anything else. I haven't cried once on Wellbutrin, and I feel like I literally can't. My depression is not a melancholic one; it's a "numb" and suicidal one, but I'd still cry for various reasons every few days or so. Now I can't even if I want to (and sometimes I do).


----------



## melissa75 (Feb 16, 2010)

bmwfan07 said:


> I'm emotional on Wellbutrin, but my emotions have shifted more toward irascibility and irritability rather than melancholy or anything else. I haven't cried once on Wellbutrin, and I feel like I literally can't. My depression is not a melancholic one; it's a "numb" and suicidal one, but I'd still cry for various reasons every few days or so. Now I can't even if I want to (and sometimes I do).


Really? My depression got intense on Wellbutrin at about 10 or 12 weeks. Crying constantly at that point, and it was definitely a suicidal depression, but I wasn't numb. Every little thing set me off for no reason. I look back at it now wondering how I even got through it...all those bad feelings.

So strange how Wellbutrin affected me so differently.


----------



## bmwfan07 (Jun 3, 2007)

melissa75 said:


> Really? My depression got intense on Wellbutrin at about 10 or 12 weeks. Crying constantly at that point, and it was definitely a suicidal depression, but I wasn't numb. Every little thing set me off for no reason. I look back at it now wondering how I even got through it...all those bad feelings.
> 
> So strange how Wellbutrin affected me so differently.


My depression is actually better. I hope it doesn't get worse like you experienced. It's really too bad it didn't work out for you. Had it helped previous to that 10 or 12 week point? I've been on it for almost four and a half weeks.


----------



## melissa75 (Feb 16, 2010)

bmwfan07 said:


> My depression is actually better. I hope it doesn't get worse like you experienced. It's really too bad it didn't work out for you. Had it helped previous to that 10 or 12 week point? I've been on it for almost four and a half weeks.


It did help up until that point. The drawbacks were the irritability and anxiousness, but I was fine with that as long as I wasn't depressed. I liked all of the energy. But, anyway, it did help the depression for that short period of time...not completely, but mostly. With fluvoxamine and lexapro, I feel no depression, but I've only taken either of them for less than 10 weeks each (consecutively not at the same time). With wellbutrin, the first 10 weeks, I felt small bouts of depression but not enough to make me want to stop taking it.


----------



## bmwfan07 (Jun 3, 2007)

melissa75 said:


> It did help up until that point. The drawbacks were the irritability and anxiousness, but I was fine with that as long as I wasn't depressed. I liked all of the energy. But, anyway, it did help the depression for that short period of time...not completely, but mostly. With fluvoxamine and lexapro, I feel no depression, but I've only taken either of them for less than 10 weeks each (consecutively not at the same time). With wellbutrin, the first 10 weeks, I felt small bouts of depression but not enough to make me want to stop taking it.


That's interesting. I'm glad your new cocktail is working thus far, and I hope it continues to work. I've noticed some level of mood instability, too, but it's hard to compare it to how I was before I started Wellbutrin and even harder to recall my emotional/mood fluctuations, if any, six months ago, before the downward spiral that led three months later to my current depression started. Were your bouts of depression days-long, or hours-long, or what?

I also have some reactive hypoglycemia issues, which cause mood swings. I tend to notice most of my mood issues an hour or two after eating, so I really don't know what to make of it. The irritability is something I definitely notice, but also, my circumstances are not particularly good and I'm being constantly nagged to get a job, which doesn't exactly bring out the best in anyone.

What are your symptoms when depressed? Do you oversleep and possibly overeat, have very low energy (sounds like it since you mentioned the increased energy on the Wellbutrin), have worse mood at night, and feel very apathetic and unmotivated? That is atypical depression and seems very common around these parts with social phobics.


----------



## melissa75 (Feb 16, 2010)

bmwfan07 said:


> That's interesting. I'm glad your new cocktail is working thus far, and I hope it continues to work. I've noticed some level of mood instability, too, but it's hard to compare it to how I was before I started Wellbutrin and even harder to recall my emotional/mood fluctuations, if any, six months ago, before the downward spiral that led three months later to my current depression started. Were your bouts of depression days-long, or hours-long, or what?
> 
> I also have some reactive hypoglycemia issues, which cause mood swings. I tend to notice most of my mood issues an hour or two after eating, so I really don't know what to make of it. The irritability is something I definitely notice, but also, my circumstances are not particularly good and I'm being constantly nagged to get a job, which doesn't exactly bring out the best in anyone.
> 
> What are your symptoms when depressed? Do you oversleep and possibly overeat, have very low energy (sounds like it since you mentioned the increased energy on the Wellbutrin), have worse mood at night, and feel very apathetic and unmotivated? That is atypical depression and seems very common around these parts with social phobics.


We've kinda discussed this on another thread before...can't remember which. Too lazy to look it up...so yes, clearly no energy here...haha. It's so bad, my doctor decided to do a blood workup Monday, but everything came back normal. I oversleep and eat unhealthily when depressed...that is why I liked Wellbutrin. I did neither. Well, I didn't like the insomnia so much. My mood is horrible at night. My motivation comes and goes but never when I need it. My depression is usually days long, then one day I will wake up and it's completely gone for no reason. Then, the next day, back to square one of terrible depression. Although, I have been able to go months with no depression.

That's definitely got to suck if you're dealing with depression and having to find a job right now. I'm lucky that I have a job...it's just extremely stressful, or it has been. I hope things get better for you and that you find a job soon!


----------



## bmwfan07 (Jun 3, 2007)

melissa75 said:


> We've kinda discussed this on another thread before...can't remember which. Too lazy to look it up...so yes, clearly no energy here...haha. It's so bad, my doctor decided to do a blood workup Monday, but everything came back normal. I oversleep and eat unhealthily when depressed...that is why I liked Wellbutrin. I did neither. Well, I didn't like the insomnia so much. My mood is horrible at night. My motivation comes and goes but never when I need it. My depression is usually days long, then one day I will wake up and it's completely gone for no reason. Then, the next day, back to square one of terrible depression. Although, I have been able to go months with no depression.


I'm sure we did discuss it... I've noticed my memory is a bit worse on the Wellbutrin (common, I believe), and it generally sucks anyway. Sorry about that.

So, we're comparing apples to apples here, roughly, except that you apparently feel sad and cry, while I just feel terrible (I guess "sad" is the closest approximation, but it really doesn't capture the mood) and don't. I'm not sure if these differences are significant, although perhaps the fact that I'm male is. I'm a fairly emotional male, though. Who knows... Oh, I also don't eat particularly poorly or excessively while depressed, but maybe there's little contrast since my normal diet kinda sucks (not tons of carbs or anything, just lots of unhealthy fats like cheeseburgers and such). :b

I also haven't experienced insomnia as you describe on Wellbutrin. How did this manifest for you? I did experience *awful* insomnia, as in not being able to sleep but two hours, the first day I took it, and the second day was much better... after that, I've had zero issues with sleep, even if I take it at 3pm.

Your depression definitely sounds somewhat cyclical. I've noticed a similar phenomenon with me a couple of times--but not recently, really--where I went three weeks depressed and then one week much less depressed (but still symptomatic), then two weeks depressed and, again, a few days of being much less depressed. Recently, the only variation I've noticed is fairly minor day-to-day and some considerable diurnal variation in anxiety (social and situationally-bound) and mood, and with blood sugar issues (and probably some kind of sleep disorder like PLMD) that I hope don't turn into something worse (the last thing I need is true hypoglycemia or, later, metabolic syndrome/diabetes...), it's hard to tell what's what... :no

I will say that I've not seen one case of atypical depression on these boards that *isn't* cyclical in some way. To me, that indicates a very likely link to bipolar disorder, which research has confirmed as well (something like 75% of atypical depressives are bipolar). Just out of curiosity, has your doctor mentioned trying a mood stabilizer if this regimen doesn't work out?



> That's definitely got to suck if you're dealing with depression and having to find a job right now. I'm lucky that I have a job...it's just extremely stressful, or it has been. I hope things get better for you and that you find a job soon!


Thanks so much for the well-wishes. I hope it gets better for both of us. I did have an interview today, and thankfully I'm better than I was a few weeks ago, but it's still so tough motivating myself to do much of anything. I don't even want the job.


----------



## melissa75 (Feb 16, 2010)

bmwfan07 said:


> I also haven't experienced insomnia as you describe on Wellbutrin. *How did this manifest for you?* I did experience awful insomnia, as in not being able to sleep but two hours, the first day I took it, and the second day was much better... after that, I've had zero issues with sleep, even if I take it at 3pm.
> 
> I will say that I've not seen one case of atypical depression on these boards that *isn't* cyclical in some way. To me, that indicates a very likely link to bipolar disorder, which research has confirmed as well (something like 75% of atypical depressives are bipolar). Just out of curiosity, *has your doctor mentioned trying a mood stabilizer if this regimen doesn't work out?*
> 
> Thanks so much for the well-wishes. I hope it gets better for both of us. I did have an interview today, and thankfully I'm better than I was a few weeks ago, but it's still so tough motivating myself to do much of anything. I don't even want the job.


I experienced terrible insomnia the ENTIRE 5 months I was taking wellbutrin. I could fall asleep after an hour of laying in bed maybe. But, then, I would wake up 3 hours later, always. So, I would alternate between taking ambien CR and melatonin so that I wasn't taking ambien every single night. It was really just awful. I couldn't sleep more than 3 hours at a time without help. A few days after quitting wellbutrin, I could sleep 8 hours again. No problem.

I haven't found a p-doc that I see regularly yet. One tried to get me to take Abilify. It was awful...terrible side effects. No one has offered mood stabilizers. I'm currently taking klonopin here and there for GAD (in addition to fluvox for depression).

Did you hear back regarding the interview? Sucks that you don't want the job, but maybe if you get it, it will turn out better than you expect?


----------



## bmwfan07 (Jun 3, 2007)

melissa75 said:


> I experienced terrible insomnia the ENTIRE 5 months I was taking wellbutrin. I could fall asleep after an hour of laying in bed maybe. But, then, I would wake up 3 hours later, always. So, I would alternate between taking ambien CR and melatonin so that I wasn't taking ambien every single night. It was really just awful. I couldn't sleep more than 3 hours at a time without help. A few days after quitting wellbutrin, I could sleep 8 hours again. No problem.


It's too bad you had such awful insomnia. I can't imagine going five months like that. But I guess at the time, it probably seemed like a trade-off: depression or insomnia?



> I haven't found a p-doc that I see regularly yet. One tried to get me to take Abilify. It was awful...terrible side effects. No one has offered mood stabilizers. I'm currently taking klonopin here and there for GAD (in addition to fluvox for depression).


I'm not a fan of Abilify in general. It has its uses, but atypical depression/bipolar 2 is not one of them, IMO--at least not without trying a mood stabilizer first. Anti-psychotics, in general, should not be used until mood stabilizers have been exhausted, and Abilify is one of the former.



> Did you hear back regarding the interview? Sucks that you don't want the job, but maybe if you get it, it will turn out better than you expect?


I didn't hear back and didn't send thank-you e-mails to the interviewers, heh. So I don't really expect to. I just can't see myself working there, and I didn't feel much chemistry with the interviewers anyway, so I think the feeling will be mutual. Of course, you never know.

It's tough making any sort of realistic judgment about these matters when one is depressed, though... I'd rather not work at all.


----------



## Hordak (May 5, 2017)

jim_morrison said:


> Yeah pretty much any SSRI, SNRI or serotonergic tricyclic antidepressant has the potential to cause mood/emotional blunting.


But in case of Clomipramine it shouldn't be as numbing as in case of a standalone SSRI? Right? Clomipramine might have strong SRI properties, but it also has strong NRI properties + 5HT2 & H1 antagonism... and that should counter the undesired SRI-effects?


----------



## Hordak (May 5, 2017)

LostPancake said:


> Thanks - actually there are lots of blacks and browns in there at the moment. But they're kind of goading me into getting my life together.
> 
> I must have gotten that apathy syndrome after being on it so long. I just didn't have enough motivation to do anything constructive. I suppose because positive emotions get blunted, and that's where a lot of motivation comes from. And I didn't care enough about the possible bad consequences of doing nothing, because the negative emotions got blunted also. Or it's some other effect on the dopamine system.


Exactly. It was the same for me with SSRIs. You jus don't care anymore: house on fire? Whatever.... just chill and relax. Bills unpaid? Yeahh... meeh. Let's just wait and see what happens...! Becoming homeless? Hmm, I am not bothered by it. Whatever :teeth


----------



## Hordak (May 5, 2017)

losttheforce said:


> My experience on lexapro for a few years seem to validate this study. Nothing and I mean nothing could have ever made me cry after years on lexapro.


I didn't even cry when my father died. I just acknowledged it when I got the call: _"He died? Well, okay. Thank you..."_

Only little emotion... :roll


----------

