Blunted affect is a decreased ability to express emotion through your facial expressions, tone of voice, and physical movements. We explore common causes for blunted affect and more
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Blunted affect is a decreased ability to express emotion through your facial expressions, tone of voice, and physical movements. Certain diseases and disorders are all linked to this condition.
What are the symptoms of blunted affect?
People with blunted affect don’t appear to be feeling much emotion. When they communicate, others might notice:
the pitch of their voice doesn’t rise or fall very much when they talk about something emotional
their facial expressions don’t change when they talk about emotional matters
they don’t move their hands and arms a lot as they communicate
their posture and body language doesn’t reveal very much about what they’re feeling
they might avoid making eye contact
Blunted affect is a symptom of several disorders. That means the disorder prevents or reduces your ability to function the same way other people do. In the case of blunted affect, these disorders may decrease your ability to express emotion:
Schizophrenia
Researchers think blunted affect might raise the risk of suicide for some people with schizophrenia, because it can interfere with social interactions and increase feelings of isolation.
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD)
are developmental disorders that make it difficult to interact and communicate with others. Autistic people often have limited interests, and they may repeat certain behaviours.
One of the most widely recognised symptoms of ASD is a mismatch between feelings and facial expressions, gestures, and body language. People with autism often speak in a tone of voice that doesn’t rise and fall with changing emotions.
Research indicates that these differences in emotional expressiveness can interfere with social relationships. This is because autistic people have a hard time recognising and interpreting other people’s facial expressions and because people who are neurotypical have trouble interpreting the facial expressions of autistic people.