Common antidepressants may blunt both pain and enjoyment

“Emotional blunting is a common side effect of SSRI antidepressants. In a way, this may be in part how they work—they take away some of the emotional pain that people who experience depression feel, but, unfortunately, it seems that they also take away some of the enjoyment,” said Professor Barbara Sahakian, a co-author and professor of psychology the University of Cambridge, in a statement. “From our study, we can now see that this is because they become less sensitive to rewards, which provide important feedback.”

SSRIs target serotonin, a chemical in the brain called the “pleasure chemical” or the “happiness molecule” that carries messages between nerve cells. According to the National Health Service (NHS), more than 8.3 million patients in England received an antidepressant during 2021 and 2022. In the United States, prescriptions for anti-anxiety and antidepressants increased by an estimated 21 percent following the COVID-19 pandemic.

A team led by researchers at the University of Cambridge and the University of Copenhagen looked into the long term clinical use of SSRIs. They recruited 66 healthy volunteers and gave 32 of them an SSRI called escitalopram and the other 34 took a placebo. According to the team, this drug is known to be one of the best-tolerated antidepressants available on the market and the study participants took them over 21 days.

The participants completed self-reported questionnaires and were given a series of tests that assessed learning, inhibition, executive function, reinforcement behavior, and decision-making.



https://www.popsci.com/health/antidepressants-emotional-blunting/