Draft:Blunting

Blunting refers to the reduction or dulling of emotions, feelings, or sensations. In the context of antidepressant medications, emotional blunting is a common side effect where patients report a decreased ability to experience positive and negative emotions 1 5 . This can lead to medication discontinuation and a need for more comprehensive clinical assessments or interviews specifically designed to evaluate antidepressant-induced emotional blunting in MDD patients 5 . A recent study suggests that common antidepressants, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), may lead to emotional blunting by impacting the process of reinforcement learning 2 . However, the study did not show evidence of emotional blunting in a test of emotional processing or in subjective rating scales, and further work is required to examine this effect in major depressive disorder patients 2 . The study found that escitalopram, an SSRI, reduced reinforcement sensitivity compared to a placebo on two separate tasks, indicating that participants taking escitalopram were less responsive to both positive and negative feedback when learning a task 2 . This reduction in reinforcement sensitivity may be linked to the emotional blunting experienced by patients taking SSRIs 2 . In summary, blunting refers to the reduction or dulling of emotions, feelings, or sensations, and is a common side effect of antidepressant medications, such as SSRIs. A recent study suggests that this may be due to a reduction in reinforcement sensitivity, where patients taking escitalopram are less responsive to both positive and negative feedback when learning a task. However, further work is required to examine this effect in major depressive disorder patients.