Mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, and mood disorders can cause social withdrawal and isolation. Socialising can feel like a chore when you're struggling with your mental health, and it can be hard to be truly present with others when your mind feels messy.
You're not alone. There are many people suffering from the disconnection of modern life. In fact, it's quite natural and it can happen to anyone, no matter their living situation or social status. Fortunately, there is a lot you can do to reconnect.
Emotional detachment is when a person is unable to engage fully with their own or other people's feelings. It can occur as part of an attachment disorder or in response to a temporary situation. Emotional detachment can affect a person's physical, psychological, emotional, and social development.
One of the leading causes of inner disconnection stems from abuse, trauma, or distressing situations. Our brains block out the emotions or memories from the trauma or abuse when it is too overwhelming to process at the moment.
Closed-off qualities can be down to certain character traits, like being shy. Or something may have happened to make a person more cautious, like certain experiences or even traumas. For example, when someone has experienced heartbreak they might find it harder to let another person in again.
Mindfulness regards being more present and aware of what you're doing and includes a deeper awareness of your thoughts in the moment. According to Kang, “working on mindfulness, being grounded, and being more present in your day-to-day activities can greatly improve the feeling of disconnection in general.”
Detachment is a common symptom of panic disorder and severe anxiety. People can detach emotionally from friends, family, and life, or they can struggle with detachment as a symptom itself – feeling as though they are outside of their body or living in an alternative reality.
One of the widely-reported side effects of SSRIs is 'blunting', where patients report feeling emotionally dull and no longer finding things as pleasurable as they used to. Between 40-60% of patients taking SSRIs are believed to experience this side effect.
The fear of intimacy often comes after experiencing emotional distress in relationships, even the early ones. Getting too close to another person can mean exposing your vulnerabilities — emotional hotspots where you could be hurt. But intimacy can also offer you support, understanding, and a sense of connection.
Sometimes people struggle to upon up with others because of mental health challenges that they're dealing with. This could include things like an eating disorder, bipolar disorder, or other personality disorder. People with depression and anxiety may also struggle with opening up on a deeper level with people.
Shutting down emotions can be a normal part of human experience, as a coping strategy in stressful situations. Under high stress, it allows your body and brain to protect itself from perceived threats or harm.
What Causes Emotional Unavailability? While there is no one explanation for emotional unavailability, it can be caused by a number (or combination) of factors. These include attachment styles developed in childhood, history in relationships, trauma, mental health conditions, and one's circumstances and priorities.
Why People Emotionally Shut Down. Trauma, prolonged stress, anxiety, depression and grief all contribute to feeling emotionally shut down. Nemmers says medication, while lifesaving for many, can also trigger a side effect of emotional numbness.
One of the key signs that you're emotionally detached is that you aren't open or forthright with others regarding your emotions. You tend to keep things very private, hidden, and under wraps. Even if you're feeling sad or hurt, you never open up about this to others or let your true emotions show.
Social anxiety disorder is an intense, persistent fear of being watched and judged by others. This fear can affect work, school, and other daily activities. It can even make it hard to make and keep friends. The good news is social anxiety disorder is treatable.
Paranoid personality disorder. People with this disorder are often cold, distant, and unable to form close, interpersonal relationships. They are often overly suspicious of their surroundings without good reason. People with paranoid personality disorder generally can't see their role in conflict situations.
People who are afraid of others' judgment, evaluation, or rejection are naturally more likely to shy away from making intimate, personal connections. In addition, some specific phobias, such as the fear of touch, may occur as part of the fear of intimacy.
Emotional numbness is typically an unconscious protective response to feeling difficult emotions, whether due to anxiety, stress or trauma. Chronic and acute trauma can trigger a stress response that swamps the system and triggers a state of collapse, including emotional numbness.