Nearly half of 669 people on antidepressants reported emotional blunting, and it tracked their depression score
An internet survey using the Oxford questionnaire: 46% reported blunting (52% of men, 44% of women), no difference by drug. It tracked depression severity, yet remitted patients still scored above recovered controls. 38% called it positive.
Suggestive but preliminary. Not settled. how we score evidence
Caveat on this rating: A self-selected internet survey with self-rated symptoms and no untreated depressed comparison group; the authors name self-evaluation and sample size as limitations. Blunting tracked depression severity, so the 46% mixes drug effect and residual illness by the authors' own account. Two of four authors are affiliated with a pharmaceutical research institute.
The only large count of the numbness people describe on antidepressants, and its finding that the drug and the illness are both in it.
Significant findings
Goodwin, Price, De Bodinat and Laredo ran an internet survey of 669 depressed patients on antidepressant treatment and 150 recovered, formerly depressed controls, using the Oxford Questionnaire on the Emotional Side-Effects of Antidepressants (OQESA), a scale built from an earlier qualitative study.
"The rate of emotional blunting in treated depressed patients was 46%, slightly more frequent in men than women (52% versus 44%)." It was more frequent in people with higher anxiety and depression scores. "There was no difference according to antidepressant agent, though it appeared less frequent with bupropion."
Blunted patients scored 42.83 on the questionnaire against 25.73 for recovered controls. The total blunting score correlated with the depression score at r = 0.521. Patients whose depression score was in the normal range (140 people) scored 35.07, still significantly above the recovered controls.
Perception split: "Among the patients with emotional blunting, 37% had a negative perception of their condition and 38% positive." Men were more negative than women, and higher blunting went with a more negative view.
The conclusion: "Emotional blunting is reported by nearly half of depressed patients on antidepressants. It appears to be common to all monoaminergic antidepressants." And: "emotional blunting cannot be described simply as a side-effect of antidepressants, but also as a symptom of depression. A higher degree of emotional blunting is associated with a poorer quality of remission."
The other direction
The authors' own reading cuts against the forum version: blunting rose with depression severity, so much of what people call the drug's numbness may be the illness that is still there, and more blunting marks a worse remission, which is an argument that treatment has not finished. The limitations they name are "self-evaluation and the modest size of the sample for detection of differences between antidepressants." It is an internet sample of people who chose to answer a questionnaire about emotional side effects, with no untreated depressed comparison group. Two of the four authors are affiliated with a pharmaceutical company's research institute.
What this does not show
It does not say what to do about blunting, and it names no strategy. Whether numbness is a reason to change anything is a question for the prescriber, with a depression score and a blunting score side by side.
Worth asking
Can we measure this with the Oxford questionnaire, and track it against my depression score?
Source
Emotional blunting with antidepressant treatments: A survey among depressed patients — Goodwin GM, Price J, De Bodinat C, Laredo J (2017)
Reputable peer-reviewed journal
Read the source: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2017.05.048
DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2017.05.048
How this was scored
- Study design
- Cross-sectional study / survey
- Funding
- Funding not disclosed
- Published in
- Reputable peer-reviewed journal
- Sample size
- 669
- Preregistered
- not recorded
- Conflicts disclosed
- not recorded
- Independent of proponent
- not recorded
- Retracted
- No
Read the full scoring rubric, including what it can't tell you.
Published September 29, 2026.
Questions
How strong is the evidence behind this?
veisund rates this source "early signal". Suggestive but preliminary. Not settled. It scores 43 out of 100 on our published rubric. One caveat travels with that badge: A self-selected internet survey with self-rated symptoms and no untreated depressed comparison group; the authors name self-evaluation and sample size as limitations. Blunting tracked depression severity, so the 46% mixes drug effect and residual illness by the authors' own account. Two of four authors are affiliated with a pharmaceutical research institute. The score is calculated from recorded facts about the source — study design, funding, publication venue, sample size, preregistration — not typed in by an editor.
What is the source for this?
Emotional blunting with antidepressant treatments: A survey among depressed patients — Goodwin GM, Price J, De Bodinat C, Laredo J (2017). Published in: Reputable peer-reviewed journal. DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2017.05.048. The full source is linked on this page so you can read it yourself.
Who paid for this research, and does that matter?
Study design: Cross-sectional study / survey. Funding: Funding not disclosed. Independence from the proponent is not recorded. Industry sponsorship is one of the most reliably measured biases in medicine, which is why funding carries real weight in the score rather than sitting in a footnote.
Is this medical advice?
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.