13 hours ago, GreggeryPeccary said:

There are lots of good studies on the positive effects of exercise on the brain. I think it's a good thing to try. I do agree it probably won't fix me on it's own but it might help. But I do agree that people go overboard trying to "fix" themselves. I have seen a lot of wacky stuff people do to try and fix PSSD and withdrawal like taking anti-sezuire medication or trying homeopathy

Could you link to some of these studies? That would be very interesting?

I agree I don't think it is a big issue to try things, but from what I have seen of people who go this route of thinking, it ends up being a rabbit hole and feeds their problems. As we know there are no quick fixes in WD, and from what we can see broadly in the community, time is the healer, so if you try something that 'should' help and it doesn't it opens up the thought process that we are not trying hard enough, which is the opposite of what I believe we should be doing in the first place. One of the most important things is to keep the nervous system calm and reduce stress I believe.

I do think as we heal it is important to start to learn how to do things we have been avoiding and gradually start living again, so some level of immersion style therapy is a good idea, getting back to life as we start to feel ready, not over doing it, but reminding our brains of what we would like them to be able to handle and perhaps working that muscle a bit, but imo only as we become ready.

15 hours ago, Chippy said:

Could you link to some of these studies? That would be very interesting?

Here is one https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7752270/

5 hours ago, GreggeryPeccary said:

Here is one https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7752270/

Thanks for sharing. That’s very interesting. I think it shows that generally for most people exercise is a good thing and can help develop better brain health. This makes sense. It’s good to note that it showed more regular strenuous exercise was better than light. Interesting stuff.

I’ve always believed that diet plenty of liquid low stress and exercise is important to aid healing.

I am cautious about the term neuro plasticity and I think we need to remember that what we are going though is different to what most non harmed individuals are experiencing and we can’t think our way out of this. Time is certainly the most important thing but as with all healing aiding it with healthy practices is important too.

Well it's about 11 months and 2 weeks now. Still no improvements. I have been sick with something I suspect to be bronchitis for about a week now. Haven't been able to exercise all this time. For some reason I feel my emotional blunting and brain fog has been even worse. Maybe the illness is making these things worse? I also took some cough syrup which has various stuff in it including antihistamines. Perhaps that could also be to blame? I hope taking this stuff hasn't thrown off my recovery somehow.

I don't think getting a viral illness will significant impair recovery.

I didn't really get sick at all for nearly 2.5 years as I barely left the house, however I did then get covid pretty badly around that time, it was actually just before 2.5 years off.

I continued to improve after that.

13 hours ago, GreggeryPeccary said:

Well it's about 11 months and 2 weeks now. Still no improvements. I have been sick with something I suspect to be bronchitis for about a week now. Haven't been able to exercise all this time. For some reason I feel my emotional blunting and brain fog has been even worse. Maybe the illness is making these things worse? I also took some cough syrup which has various stuff in it including antihistamines. Perhaps that could also be to blame? I hope taking this stuff hasn't thrown off my recovery somehow.

Many people get sick in WD, sometimes it can't be helped. Try not to over think all this. All I would say is, avoid adding drugs and products like syrups and anti histimines to your system. They can make things a little worse, but anything you have already taken, IF, it makes things a little worse for you, you will still recover from, all I am saying is consider not taking anything else going forwards and trust your body to heal naturally. We are way to drugged in this western world in my opinion anyway.

I have recovered from my illness but now my taste is almost completely gone. It was already kind of spotty, possibly due to medication effects, but now it's really bad. I wonder if I contracted covid. I have seen reports of covid causing emotional blunting or making it worse. I hope this isn't the case. In other news, in seven days it will officially be my one year anniversary off meds. One whole year of zero improvement. Whoopee.

On 5/3/2026 at 3:30 PM, GreggeryPeccary said:

I don't think there are any exercises you can do to improve numbing. I have tried to be "present" and "notice" emotions but it never works. In fact it might even make things worse because it makes me hypervigilant about all the emotions I'm not feeling. Whether or not I feel something seems to be completely random, and when I do the feeling is so small it might as well not even be there. Basically all I can do is try to take decent care of myself physically and just wait.

Gregory, I’m so sorry this user is being so invalidating. They just don’t understand Anhedonia. I have it and I completely understand everything you’re saying and you can’t think your way out of it there isn’t a lot. We can do sadly but just try to keep ourselves as comfortable as possible. Please just don’t engage with this person.

On 4/21/2026 at 2:58 AM, Sophia said:

Hi @GreggeryPeccary ,

I can relate to so many things you wrote. I also desperately look for a 100% similar succes story.

However, its hard to find certain cases. However, I have found a few interesting things on SA. Maybe you can relate to some of them. Some are from long term use cases + reinstatement injuries.

ave you seen this story? He was on Zoloft for 20 years, quit it CT, reinstated 5 months later and quit CT again after 4 months. He also had sexual disfunction and brain burning and many other horrible symptoms. Took him 2,5 years to turn a corner.

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/forums/topic/14913-pug-your-miracle-is-coming-hang-on/#comment-288141

Toast also mentioned he has severe anhedonia for 2 years (was 19 years on the med)

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/forums/topic/32469-toast-recovery-after-19-years-on-ssris-including-since-childhood/

Charlie was on them since young age as well. He regained all emotions and sexual function back. He started to feel more after 3 years.

CharlieBrown's Long Road To Success! - Success stories: Recovery from psychiatric drug withdrawal - Surviving Antidepressants

Another person healed form anhedonia and libido issues

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/forums/topic/22421-happilyderailed-from-heaven-to-hell-and-back/#comment-473812

This person also experienced no emotions / anhedonia / low libido

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/forums/topic/14042-aissela-back-to-life/#comment-271341

This person also had reinstatement injury and all kinds of symptoms

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/forums/topic/17500-matisse-80-90-of-my-symptoms-gone/#comment-343465

This one is also very interesting! He answers all questions in the comments. Took him 4,5 years to get all his emotions back…

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/forums/topic/31009-3bbsgurkpog-great-success/

Interesting post

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/forums/topic/17647-tao-of-the-brassmonkey/#comment-351118

Violets: Fully recovered from severe form of PSSD after two years - Success stories: Recovery from psychiatric drug withdrawal - Surviving Antidepressants

Thank for this Sophie! I have severe pssd and anhedonia from a reinstaent injury and look forward to reading these

WARNING: the following post is very long and negative.

Well, here we are. Exactly 1 year since I quit all meds, and nothing has gotten better. The brain fog, DPDR, and emotional blunting have not budged. I’m pretty sure I’ve had no real windows and waves. Honestly my situation is so uniquely screwed up it gives me little hope of ever recovering. Most people get emotional blunting from starting meds or from coming off them. I got them after reinstating meds after a period of severe withdrawal, possibly as a result of some kind of kindling. It’s like my brain shut off to protect me from the intense anxiety and distress I was feeling. It seems that this is not uncommon, and I have read about others getting emotional blunting from reinstatement. Apparently reinstating even a small fraction of your original dose can cause it. Well, I was withdrawing from two medications, Effexor and Zoloft, at the time. Not only did I reinstate, I reinstated BOTH medications AT FULL DOSE. And not only that, I went off Zoloft then reinstated it 2-3 times over a couple of months while still on Effexor, with each reinstatement making my emotional blunting even worse. I have never, ever read about anyone on this planet who has screwed up their brain like this. And piled on top of that, the withdrawal is causing me intense brain fog and DPDR.

The brain fog is still just as bad and might even be a little worse. My reading comprehension, memory, and abstract thinking abilities are still shot. I have no idea how I am going to return to the workforce at this rate. I promised my mom I would get a job and move out after a year. Well, it’s been a year and I am still just as bad. I have talked with her and we agreed to give me another year. What the hell am I going to do if I haven't recovered my mental faculties by then? I might be doomed to work at McDonald’s or something. And this is after getting a degree in computer science and being a software developer with a high salary. The DPDR is also just as bad. Everything still seems like a dream, like everything outside of my head isn’t real. I am in a haze 24/7. Time has no meaning anymore. Even though it’s been a year, it feels like no time has passed at all. The morning feels the same as the evening and the evening feels the same as night. Spring feels like summer feels like fall feels like winter. Weeks pass by me in the blink of an eye.

But by far my most debilitating symptom is emotional numbness. I have never read any account anywhere that describes numbness as intense as mine. Every single emotion is either completely gone or so severely reduced that I can only feel maybe 5% of it on a good day. And when I say every single emotion I mean every. single. emotion. Good, bad, and all the subtle indescribable ones in between. It is hard to put into words just how alien and devastating it is. Obviously not being able to feel joy or love or interest is bad but it somehow goes even beyond that. It’s like I cannot even comprehend these feelings anymore, possibly because it has been so long since I’ve felt any of these things. I feel like an extraterrestrial being trapped on Earth. I think of things that used to bring me joy and can’t remember why I liked them at all. I try to watch a funny show and it feels like I can’t even comprehend the concept of humour any more. I listen to music and it sounds like a bunch of meaningless noise. Women’s bodies invoke no sexual reaction at all. I might as well be looking at a sack of potatoes. Every single day that passes I get farther and farther removed from a human being as I forget what emotion feels like.

And then there are the bad emotions. You really don’t appreciate bad emotions until they are gone. I grieve them just as much as the good ones, as they are just as much a part of being human. During my previous withdrawal attempts I would always get some kind of anxiety or a burning, uncomfortable feeling in my head. But now since the reinstatement debacle some switch has flipped and I can’t even feel those uncomfortable withdrawal emotions any more. I miss them in a weird way. I fill my days with meaningless web-surfing because I can’t feel boredom which would normally push me to do something more interesting or productive. I have not socialized with friends for over a year since I cannot feel the loneliness that would normally push me to seek companionship. My entire family could die in front of my eyes and I wouldn’t care because I can’t feel sadness or grief. The most shocking sexual fetish and the most horrific war crime make me feel absolutely nothing because I cannot feel disgust or anger. I have no values or opinions about anything. Abstract concepts like “justice”, “truth”, or “kindness” mean nothing to me. I am rude and cold to others, even my own family, because I cannot feel social anxiety, shame, or empathy. Petting my cat, who I used to love, feels like nothing. I can burn my hand on the stove or dunk my hand in ice cold water and feel no emotional distress. I can feel the pain, but there is no bad feeling that accompanies it. There are no contrasts any more. Bland food feels the same as good food. The most beautiful movie in the world elicits the same reaction from me as a piece of crap with a 0% score on Rotten Tomatoes. And when I say I don’t feel these things I don’t mean it’s just blunted, I mean it’s entirely GONE most of the time. It’s like there is a brick wall in my head blocking any emotion from reaching me.

And then there are the emotions in-between good and bad. The subtle, intensely subjective, indescribable emotions that you might get when listening to music or watching a movie. Everything is gone. Even my imagination feels blunted. The images in my head are much fainter now, and actively trying to imagine something requires much greater effort. When I close my eyes it is like a black emptiness with very minimal thought activity. This person that I used to be feels like a past life, like an entirely different being. I used to love music. I played guitar and made my own songs. I was creative. I loved humor. I loved video games. I cared about stuff. I got angry. I felt anxiety about my future. I had OCD and was obsessed over stupid stuff all the time. All of that is gone. I really don’t know if I’ll ever get that person back because that person feels so far away. I think about suicide pretty much every day. This suicidal ideation is not caused by some kind of withdrawal neuroemotion. It is simply a logical consequence of being severed from my humanity for so long. If anyone else was in my shoes I’m sure they would get thoughts like it too. In my mind since I am already dead, suicide would just finish the job.

I can’t believe in recovery. Maybe it will happen, who knows. But I can’t feel any hope. Not when there are tons of people out there who have been suffering with emotional blunting caused by medication for 3, 5, 8 years or even longer. People here act like these cases are extremely rare, but they’re not. They are not common, but they definitely happen. I have seen many, many people like this on surviving antidepressants, reddit, and other places. I especially can’t believe in recovery when I have never seen any success stories from anyone with total emotional anesthesia of both good and bad emotions who developed it in similar circumstances. I am already feeling like an alien. Just think about how much more removed from humanity I will be 3 years from now.

You know, I really don’t know why I keep coming here to post. Maybe I just want to vent. Maybe some part of me very deep down still cares about connecting with others. Maybe I want reassurance that I can get better. But I can’t help but think it’s useless. No matter how much I whine and complain here it won’t help, and nothing anyone says to try and make me feel better will help either. In fact, I think it’s pretty selfish of me to come here and expect some kind of emotional support when I can’t provide any in return because I simply can’t feel empathy or interest in others. Perhaps I don’t deserve to be here.

I will try to keep going for another year, but I don’t know how much longer I can hold on. Every single minute of every hour of every day is a nightmare.

1 hour ago, GreggeryPeccary said:

Honestly my situation is so uniquely screwed up it gives me little hope of ever recovering. Most people get emotional blunting from starting meds or from coming off them. I got them after reinstating meds after a period of severe withdrawal, possibly as a result of some kind of kindling. It’s like my brain shut off to protect me from the intense anxiety and distress I was feeling. It seems that this is not uncommon, and I have read about others getting emotional blunting from reinstatement.

I am so sorry…. @Redding is in a similar position :(

I did not have a reinstatement injury but I think my injury is almost the same as yours. I feel like as soon as the brain gets injured, it switches to this state. And doesn’t matter if its immediate adverse reaction, kindling or caused by withdrawal.

My entire emotional range is also gone. I cannot relate to other peoples withdrawal posts. Its physically impossible for me to ruminate. I have no opinions, no dreams, no shame, no thoughts. I just exist. Nothing comes thru me on a deep level. I used to be very sensitive and had a rich inner world. Thinking about the world, life, my relationships, spirituality and philosophy. None of that is left. Blank mind. No spontaneous thoughts. I am in some sort of ways more functional because I don’t feel laziness or mental chatter distracting me, but it’s VERY UNNATURAL to me.

I also don’t have the negative emotions you describe. Sometimes I can cry but I have to put way more effort in it and I cry without emotions. My brain feels frozen. No shame either. I can walk into a crowded room and not feel the eyes watching me.

Music doesn’t give me chills. Dramatic scenes don’t give me any feelings.

I know I hate the situation I am in… but I can’t even feel the dispair. I even lost my entire fear response (and I had anxiety + ocd). I can relate to you stating everything feels logical. Its also physically impossible for me to have crying spells.

I am so afraid this is permanent. It honestly feels that way. And not to sound rude, but I also think many people who don’t have these symptoms can’t understand it. I also know many people in pssd community report these symptoms and some do suffer a long time. If people are anxious and sad and depressed, their limbic system at least is still responsive. Mine feels literally deleted. My brain is very weirdly calibrated and stuck in this malfunctioning state.

I just wanna let you know that I really understand what you are going through. I keep try to push through and hope that one day things will get better. Many people with anhedonia and emotional anesthesia did not believe in their recovery and yet they recovered.

Hang in there❤️‍🩹

Edited June 29Jun 29 by Sophia

@GreggeryPeccary if you keep going for another year, so will I. Everything you have written I can relate too. I have no empathy, no joy, no shame, no anxiety. No interest either. I am cognitively shut down, can't follow TV or read books. I feel hopeless like you do too. There is no motivation to even shower or get out of bed. "Friends" feel like a burden as I have nothing to give and don't care. My emotional anaesthesia is also getting worse. There used to be little blips up and down but not anymore. I feel like a psychopath most days. People talk about self-care but you have to feel kindness to wards yourself to do that, and I feel nothing.

If you hang in for another year, so will I buddy. I am 9 months off so a little behind you.

@GreggeryPeccary hang in there! I know the suffering is awful and for some the lack of progress over time can make the end seem impossible, but we are all healing under the bonnet, even if we are not reaping the rewards yet you will eventually. Time is your friend, just one day at a time you'll make it if you keep going long enough, that I have no doubt.

The blank mind and lack of emotions positive and negative absolutely are common, and I've read many accounts of this as well as being directly in touch with people off of this forum who had it and got better.

5 hours ago, Luke said:

The blank mind and lack of emotions positive and negative absolutely are common, and I've read many accounts of this as well as being directly in touch with people off of this forum who had it and got better.

Thank you 🙏 It feels so so so Alien and permanent that it’s hard to believe this is “normal”, as it is completely abnormal for a human being to be in this chemically induced state.

Thank you for giving some reassurance ❤️‍🩹

Edited July 1Jul 1 by Sophia

Thanks everyone for their kind messages. I think I will take a break from posting for a while. I probably won't be back until I see some major improvement.

On 6/29/2026 at 6:28 PM, GreggeryPeccary said:

WARNING: the following post is very long and negative.

Well, here we are. Exactly 1 year since I quit all meds, and nothing has gotten better. The brain fog, DPDR, and emotional blunting have not budged. I’m pretty sure I’ve had no real windows and waves. Honestly my situation is so uniquely screwed up it gives me little hope of ever recovering. Most people get emotional blunting from starting meds or from coming off them. I got them after reinstating meds after a period of severe withdrawal, possibly as a result of some kind of kindling. It’s like my brain shut off to protect me from the intense anxiety and distress I was feeling. It seems that this is not uncommon, and I have read about others getting emotional blunting from reinstatement. Apparently reinstating even a small fraction of your original dose can cause it. Well, I was withdrawing from two medications, Effexor and Zoloft, at the time. Not only did I reinstate, I reinstated BOTH medications AT FULL DOSE. And not only that, I went off Zoloft then reinstated it 2-3 times over a couple of months while still on Effexor, with each reinstatement making my emotional blunting even worse. I have never, ever read about anyone on this planet who has screwed up their brain like this. And piled on top of that, the withdrawal is causing me intense brain fog and DPDR.

The brain fog is still just as bad and might even be a little worse. My reading comprehension, memory, and abstract thinking abilities are still shot. I have no idea how I am going to return to the workforce at this rate. I promised my mom I would get a job and move out after a year. Well, it’s been a year and I am still just as bad. I have talked with her and we agreed to give me another year. What the hell am I going to do if I haven't recovered my mental faculties by then? I might be doomed to work at McDonald’s or something. And this is after getting a degree in computer science and being a software developer with a high salary. The DPDR is also just as bad. Everything still seems like a dream, like everything outside of my head isn’t real. I am in a haze 24/7. Time has no meaning anymore. Even though it’s been a year, it feels like no time has passed at all. The morning feels the same as the evening and the evening feels the same as night. Spring feels like summer feels like fall feels like winter. Weeks pass by me in the blink of an eye.

But by far my most debilitating symptom is emotional numbness. I have never read any account anywhere that describes numbness as intense as mine. Every single emotion is either completely gone or so severely reduced that I can only feel maybe 5% of it on a good day. And when I say every single emotion I mean every. single. emotion. Good, bad, and all the subtle indescribable ones in between. It is hard to put into words just how alien and devastating it is. Obviously not being able to feel joy or love or interest is bad but it somehow goes even beyond that. It’s like I cannot even comprehend these feelings anymore, possibly because it has been so long since I’ve felt any of these things. I feel like an extraterrestrial being trapped on Earth. I think of things that used to bring me joy and can’t remember why I liked them at all. I try to watch a funny show and it feels like I can’t even comprehend the concept of humour any more. I listen to music and it sounds like a bunch of meaningless noise. Women’s bodies invoke no sexual reaction at all. I might as well be looking at a sack of potatoes. Every single day that passes I get farther and farther removed from a human being as I forget what emotion feels like.

And then there are the bad emotions. You really don’t appreciate bad emotions until they are gone. I grieve them just as much as the good ones, as they are just as much a part of being human. During my previous withdrawal attempts I would always get some kind of anxiety or a burning, uncomfortable feeling in my head. But now since the reinstatement debacle some switch has flipped and I can’t even feel those uncomfortable withdrawal emotions any more. I miss them in a weird way. I fill my days with meaningless web-surfing because I can’t feel boredom which would normally push me to do something more interesting or productive. I have not socialized with friends for over a year since I cannot feel the loneliness that would normally push me to seek companionship. My entire family could die in front of my eyes and I wouldn’t care because I can’t feel sadness or grief. The most shocking sexual fetish and the most horrific war crime make me feel absolutely nothing because I cannot feel disgust or anger. I have no values or opinions about anything. Abstract concepts like “justice”, “truth”, or “kindness” mean nothing to me. I am rude and cold to others, even my own family, because I cannot feel social anxiety, shame, or empathy. Petting my cat, who I used to love, feels like nothing. I can burn my hand on the stove or dunk my hand in ice cold water and feel no emotional distress. I can feel the pain, but there is no bad feeling that accompanies it. There are no contrasts any more. Bland food feels the same as good food. The most beautiful movie in the world elicits the same reaction from me as a piece of crap with a 0% score on Rotten Tomatoes. And when I say I don’t feel these things I don’t mean it’s just blunted, I mean it’s entirely GONE most of the time. It’s like there is a brick wall in my head blocking any emotion from reaching me.

And then there are the emotions in-between good and bad. The subtle, intensely subjective, indescribable emotions that you might get when listening to music or watching a movie. Everything is gone. Even my imagination feels blunted. The images in my head are much fainter now, and actively trying to imagine something requires much greater effort. When I close my eyes it is like a black emptiness with very minimal thought activity. This person that I used to be feels like a past life, like an entirely different being. I used to love music. I played guitar and made my own songs. I was creative. I loved humor. I loved video games. I cared about stuff. I got angry. I felt anxiety about my future. I had OCD and was obsessed over stupid stuff all the time. All of that is gone. I really don’t know if I’ll ever get that person back because that person feels so far away. I think about suicide pretty much every day. This suicidal ideation is not caused by some kind of withdrawal neuroemotion. It is simply a logical consequence of being severed from my humanity for so long. If anyone else was in my shoes I’m sure they would get thoughts like it too. In my mind since I am already dead, suicide would just finish the job.

I can’t believe in recovery. Maybe it will happen, who knows. But I can’t feel any hope. Not when there are tons of people out there who have been suffering with emotional blunting caused by medication for 3, 5, 8 years or even longer. People here act like these cases are extremely rare, but they’re not. They are not common, but they definitely happen. I have seen many, many people like this on surviving antidepressants, reddit, and other places. I especially can’t believe in recovery when I have never seen any success stories from anyone with total emotional anesthesia of both good and bad emotions who developed it in similar circumstances. I am already feeling like an alien. Just think about how much more removed from humanity I will be 3 years from now.

You know, I really don’t know why I keep coming here to post. Maybe I just want to vent. Maybe some part of me very deep down still cares about connecting with others. Maybe I want reassurance that I can get better. But I can’t help but think it’s useless. No matter how much I whine and complain here it won’t help, and nothing anyone says to try and make me feel better will help either. In fact, I think it’s pretty selfish of me to come here and expect some kind of emotional support when I can’t provide any in return because I simply can’t feel empathy or interest in others. Perhaps I don’t deserve to be here.

I will try to keep going for another year, but I don’t know how much longer I can hold on. Every single minute of every hour of every day is a nightmare.

Dear @GreggeryPeccary, I may not feel as emotionally blunted as you are but I can most definitely relate with at least 90% of what you said. You may or may not know my situation but my main symptoms are anhedonia, apathy and a couple more on the side.

You explained what I feel (or rather lack in feeling) into words so eloquently that it actually got to me. You put into words what I could not because of the brainfog I have. I feel you and at the same time I feel understood.

For a whole year, I have felt mostly very anxious, straight-up unwell or just empty and alienated.

Only in recent days, after 13 months off, have I started to feel truly better. Things are slowly coming back online and I feel kind of like my "old self". And dare I effing say it but for the first time, I'm starting to feel somewhat hopeful. Mind you, I wasn't able to feel hope for the past 2.5 years.

I believe this goes to show that things can and will change in time. So even if what I say doesn't make you feel anything, I wish you lots of improvement in the near future and a full recovery. Please hang on and don't give up.

Thank you @Niels91 !! Your words really helped me ❤️‍🩹