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[THREAD] Emotional numbness. It is very common but we always get surprised when it comes. It leaves us feeling empty, alienated from ourselves and our emotions. It can be scarier than the original anxiety and depression we were experiencing. Why do we even get it?
For the most part, that numbness is something that our bodies activate when they get overwhelmed. Experiencing many anxiety attacks or strong feelings of depression everyday for a while will be very overwhelming and take way too much energy.
That’s when our minds decide to shut it all off to protect ourselves from everything. As with everything our body does, this can be explained by evolution. Someone who spent most of their energy on emotions may not have had enough energy to survive periods with little food.
Shutting it off may repurpose that energy elsewhere where our brains think it may be needed. While the numbness is often associated with symptoms of depression, it can also be related to dissociation. This is because it often comes withfeelings of being estranged from ourselves.
It is important to realize that the numbness won’t be permanent. But it is a sign that we really need treatment because our mental health has been suffering for too long to the point of having to shut down the emotion centre of our brain.
Since we navigate our reality and environment through emotions, not having them can be akin to losing a sense. It is important to remember and document the emotions we would have felt in different situations even if we can’t feel them.
If you are experiencing numbness with your emotions, please consider going for treatment. If it is not feasible at the moment, then increasing self-care by a lot, journaling, externalizing and taking very frequent breaks from studies and/or work would be a good start.
It is important to listen to those alarm systems that our minds try to give us and not just power through and ignore them. To reach the point of numbness means that we have been fighting for too long and need some help to cope with all of this.
