The Wait

Is it normal to feel flat between sessions?

Short answer

Yes, feeling flat, numb, or emotionally muted is common, and it does not mean something is wrong with you. In a survey of 752 people with depression, emotional blunting was widespread, and most people in an active phase of depression described it as severe. For many, the flatness eases over time.

The research
Christensen, M. C., Ren, H., & Fagiolini, A. (2022). Emotional blunting in patients with depression. Part I: clinical characteristics. Annals of General Psychiatry, volume 21, article 10.
Sample 752 adults with depression who were taking a prescribed antidepressant, surveyed online in Brazil, Canada, and Spain in 2021
Published 2022
Journal Annals of General Psychiatry
Michael Cronquist Christensen and his colleagues surveyed 752 adults who were living with depression and taking a prescribed antidepressant, across Brazil, Canada, and Spain, in 2021. Everyone in the survey reported some emotional blunting, a sense of feeling flat, numb, or emotionally muted. The team measured it with the Oxford Depression Questionnaire, a standard scale for this experience, where higher scores mean more blunting. What stood out was not just that blunting was there, but how heavy it often felt. Just under half of the group, about 44 percent, rated their emotional blunting as most severe. Among people in an active phase of depression, that share rose to roughly 7 in 10. Among people whose depression was in remission, it was closer to 1 in 4. More than half of the group connected the flatness to their depression itself, and many also connected it to their treatment. The authors read this as evidence that emotional blunting is a frequent and often serious part of living with depression, one that deserves attention rather than silence.
Read the paper

What does this mean for you?

The gap between sessions can go quiet in a way that feels worrying. The color drains out of things. Food, music, people you love, none of it lands the way it used to. It is easy to read that flatness as proof that you are not getting better, or that you are doing the work wrong. This research points the other way. Feeling flat is one of the most common experiences in depression, not a rare glitch or a personal failing.

Be clear about what this study can and cannot say. It was a one-time online survey, so it captures a moment, not a story over time, and it cannot prove what causes the blunting or how it changes week to week. Everyone in it was already living with depression and taking an antidepressant, so the exact numbers may not match your own care or your own diagnosis. What it does show is steady and useful: this experience is widespread, it is real, and it has a name. You are not the only one, and you are not broken.

For you, the value is in the frame. Flatness between sessions is often the nervous system resting or bracing, not the end of your progress. It helps to keep small routines going even when they feel hollow, to stay near people you trust, and to be patient with a feeling that tends to shift. If the flatness deepens, lingers, or starts to feel like nothing matters at all, that is worth telling your care team, so they can look at it with you.

The takeaway

Terms in this page
Afterglow Between-session support Grounding

This is the work Asendar™ was built for: staying with you through the flat, quiet stretches between sessions, so a numb week feels less like proof that nothing is working and more like part of the process. If you want a simple read on where you are starting from today, take your Mental Readiness Score.

Take your Mental Readiness Score

People also ask

Is feeling emotionally numb a normal part of depression?

Yes. In the survey of 752 people with depression, every respondent reported some emotional blunting, and just under half rated it as most severe. Among people in an active phase of depression, roughly 7 in 10 described it as severe. Feeling numb or muted is a common feature of depression, not a rare or shameful one.

Does feeling flat mean my treatment is not working?

Not on its own. In the study, more than half of people linked the flatness to their depression itself, while many also linked it to their treatment. The survey could not sort out the cause, and it is not a reason to change anything on your own. If the flatness worries you, the useful step is to raise it with your care team so you can look at it together.

How long does the flat feeling usually last?

The research here does not put a fixed number on it, since it was a one-time survey rather than a study over time. Flatness varies a lot from person to person and often shifts as you keep doing the work. If it stretches on, deepens, or starts to feel like nothing matters, that is worth telling your therapist.

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