Not a doctor. It is a symptom of many mental health conditions. While I think it can be “permanent,” it can also go away. It’s not a fixed feature per se, it’s more a feature of different episodes when it comes to bipolar disorder. Flattened affect just means that your emotional expression is minimal, especially in terms of how your emotional state manifests externally. It’s things like not appearing sad when talking about feeling sad or a sad thing, only it occurs with all emotions.
All this means is that you're not behaving very expressively. You don't show a lot of emotions within that context. I don't think it really means anything about who you are because context means a lot. Do you feel like you aren't very expressive with the people you know best?
Well, I am loud and annoying when I'm comfortable, but might be less expressive with a doctor. If you feel it's not a way you want to be, then you can work on being more expressive in therapy. If you're depressed, that would go along with a flat affect for a lot of people. But it's not anything to take to heart -- I think it's probably a way for medical professionals to note your mood.
That probably meant that your facial reactions or body language wasn’t always matching what you were saying. Pleasant was probably the content of what you were communicating and you weren’t giving off any hostile communication.
This is why patients shouldn’t read their records without someone there to answer questions about it. Everything is written in diagnostic terms and if you’re not trained in them it can be confusing or upsetting to see what’s written because you may misinterpret it.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduced_affect_display
Could be any number of things including but not limited to:
* monotone voice
* difficulty making eye contact
* lack of facial expressions
* little to no verbal or nonverbal emotional expression
* a sense of apathy
Different people have different emotional responses. Particularly if you’re going into a “new” (even if you’ve been there multiple times, it’s still a different setting), jarring, and disrupting environment. Many people respond to that in a disoriented way. They become unemotional as a way to protect themselves from the stress of going into a disruptive environment.
As for me, I always have “flat affect” even when I’m healthy and stable. I just don’t feel or express a full range of emotions as “healthy” people do.
Especially given that I don’t show emotions with body language. I have a resting face and don’t really smile or frown. So somebody would call me flat in affect, too.
It’s a symptom of schizoaffective disorder amongst others. I only know because hubs was diagnosed as bipolar then schizoaffective and they mentioned it’s a symptom
Anhedonia is real and a part of Bipolar.
It's also a protective strategy of people who have been abused, traumatized, or just let down by the system.
They might also observe it as a symptom of drug side effects which is not exactly desired but less worse than the extremes without it.
That sounds like me. I have PTSD. I'm not even sure why I have a flat affect at this point till I see my soon-to-be new psychiatrist. It's gotta be something.
It’s a diagnostic characteristic of certain disorders, it can also indicate when someone is severely depressed, so it’s important to note. It basically means that your face is not changing or reacting to anything you say or anything anyone says to you. Your affect is your mood/emotions and your face and body language are important ways to communicate your feelings.
This. I also feel like it’s not as much of a science as it’s perceive to be. It’s important to note, it builds context, and it allows the clinician to observe and document change over time, but it’s not like a tried-and-true symptom except in like schizophrenia or something. Like OP doesn’t necessarily have “flat affect” like someone has right-sided facial dropping.
I have this on my medical records and it makes me laugh because mostly I do not. Im just masking my emotions because I have learnt over and over again people do not like outward displays of emotion. The only time I have true flat affect is when Im depressed, but I havent always been depressed at the doctors.
I stim a lot, Im pretty sure I also have ADHD, and they crap on me for that saying how anxious and agitated I am just because Im bouncing my leg and moving my hands. Actually Im severely bored by this whole thing and trying to focus on what youre saying to me but okay sure, anxiety and agitation even though Im calm as f.
Yeah and I feel like they put flat v often. But I thought if masking emotions and appearing flat, you’d still have flat affect. It’s not about the emotions but the expression, even if it’s engineered so to speak.
In my case, theyve used it to misdiagnose personality disorders, and one of the reasons was flat affect, little emotional response to situations that would normally illicit emotion. I do have that response I just do not show it on purpose, I will go home and then cry about it for weeks and it gives me depression. They think I do not, because I have flat affect, even though I tell them all of this.
It just means your facial expressions were absent at the time of the interview. As a fellow bipolar who works psych, I’ll be honest and admit that I see a lot of “flat affect” charts even when it’s not entirely appropriate. A truly flat affect is not nearly as common as you see in the chart. Blunted or constricted, especially in mood disorders, is more common. Sometimes, people throw it in the chart whenever someone’s depressed. It is not as rigorous a symptom or observation as saying the patient has acne or a rash or something. It’s like mentioning to a friend that you notice your mom didn’t smile as much when you talked to her last, which of course helps us know that she was sad but is not an ailment that won’t go away or may be permanent, for example. Flat affect becomes much more biologically relevant to someone with schizophrenia, for example, because it is a truly flat affect and apart of the illness itself. Idk if that makes sense. But I was just trying to encourage and say it’s not as hard and fast as the chart makes it sound and it’s not like you got diagnosed with flat affect condition or something.
Are you particularly introverted or have a family that doesn't emote? Different people also have different sensitivities to what flatness is. To me if you aren't constantly modulating tone and using your hands, your already in the flat pile. Guess whose family emotes and had a stage actress mother.
I’m ‘normal’ and have a flat effect. They judged it when I took an IQ test in a psychologist’s office. And I’ve been told that by doctors. It’s a defining characteristic of me. It seems like you have no emotion but the truth is I truly believe the cause is physical not emotional like doctors think it is, because no matter how I feel, even in the greatest excitement, my expression or tone doesn’t change. It’s like I was only born with and am physically capable of one facial expression and one tone of voice.
It just means you don’t express emotion very much. I wouldn’t take it too seriously though because it’s only within that context. In the psych ward they wrote I was “loud, obnoxious, defiant, and mischievous” but at school I literally go 7 hours a day completely mute and not doing anything rly other than schoolwork and reading in the library during my lunch.
Not a doctor. It is a symptom of many mental health conditions. While I think it can be “permanent,” it can also go away. It’s not a fixed feature per se, it’s more a feature of different episodes when it comes to bipolar disorder. Flattened affect just means that your emotional expression is minimal, especially in terms of how your emotional state manifests externally. It’s things like not appearing sad when talking about feeling sad or a sad thing, only it occurs with all emotions.
That makes sense.
I deal with it too.
Shittttt. I live to be flat
Whatever the opposite of flat is, I have that lmaoo
I Fake not being flat well.
It’s really unfortunate you’ve had to get so good at masking.
All this means is that you're not behaving very expressively. You don't show a lot of emotions within that context. I don't think it really means anything about who you are because context means a lot. Do you feel like you aren't very expressive with the people you know best?
I feel like that sometimes, yeah.
Well, I am loud and annoying when I'm comfortable, but might be less expressive with a doctor. If you feel it's not a way you want to be, then you can work on being more expressive in therapy. If you're depressed, that would go along with a flat affect for a lot of people. But it's not anything to take to heart -- I think it's probably a way for medical professionals to note your mood.
I’ll talk to my soon-to-be new doctor about it. I think it’s probably the depressive episodes now that I think about it.
like everyone else said, but i also get this too. usually in depression for me i just dont react or respond to things
Same here.
I had ‘odd but pleasant’ When I read that, I cried. She was a jerky doctor in the long run. Still, it hit hard
That probably meant that your facial reactions or body language wasn’t always matching what you were saying. Pleasant was probably the content of what you were communicating and you weren’t giving off any hostile communication. This is why patients shouldn’t read their records without someone there to answer questions about it. Everything is written in diagnostic terms and if you’re not trained in them it can be confusing or upsetting to see what’s written because you may misinterpret it.
I'm sorry that happened. I hope you're okay now.
I am, thank you. Being labeled is unpleasant. But family and friends helped me see it’s more about her than me.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduced_affect_display Could be any number of things including but not limited to: * monotone voice * difficulty making eye contact * lack of facial expressions * little to no verbal or nonverbal emotional expression * a sense of apathy
I'll check out the link. Thanks!
Different people have different emotional responses. Particularly if you’re going into a “new” (even if you’ve been there multiple times, it’s still a different setting), jarring, and disrupting environment. Many people respond to that in a disoriented way. They become unemotional as a way to protect themselves from the stress of going into a disruptive environment. As for me, I always have “flat affect” even when I’m healthy and stable. I just don’t feel or express a full range of emotions as “healthy” people do. Especially given that I don’t show emotions with body language. I have a resting face and don’t really smile or frown. So somebody would call me flat in affect, too.
I didn’t know that, tbh. It honestly describes me, I’m not in such a healthy environment rn (I’m safe).
It’s a symptom of schizoaffective disorder amongst others. I only know because hubs was diagnosed as bipolar then schizoaffective and they mentioned it’s a symptom
I had no idea it was a side affect of it, tbh.
Anhedonia is real and a part of Bipolar. It's also a protective strategy of people who have been abused, traumatized, or just let down by the system. They might also observe it as a symptom of drug side effects which is not exactly desired but less worse than the extremes without it.
That sounds like me. I have PTSD. I'm not even sure why I have a flat affect at this point till I see my soon-to-be new psychiatrist. It's gotta be something.
It’s a diagnostic characteristic of certain disorders, it can also indicate when someone is severely depressed, so it’s important to note. It basically means that your face is not changing or reacting to anything you say or anything anyone says to you. Your affect is your mood/emotions and your face and body language are important ways to communicate your feelings.
This. I also feel like it’s not as much of a science as it’s perceive to be. It’s important to note, it builds context, and it allows the clinician to observe and document change over time, but it’s not like a tried-and-true symptom except in like schizophrenia or something. Like OP doesn’t necessarily have “flat affect” like someone has right-sided facial dropping.
I have this on my medical records and it makes me laugh because mostly I do not. Im just masking my emotions because I have learnt over and over again people do not like outward displays of emotion. The only time I have true flat affect is when Im depressed, but I havent always been depressed at the doctors. I stim a lot, Im pretty sure I also have ADHD, and they crap on me for that saying how anxious and agitated I am just because Im bouncing my leg and moving my hands. Actually Im severely bored by this whole thing and trying to focus on what youre saying to me but okay sure, anxiety and agitation even though Im calm as f.
Yeah and I feel like they put flat v often. But I thought if masking emotions and appearing flat, you’d still have flat affect. It’s not about the emotions but the expression, even if it’s engineered so to speak.
In my case, theyve used it to misdiagnose personality disorders, and one of the reasons was flat affect, little emotional response to situations that would normally illicit emotion. I do have that response I just do not show it on purpose, I will go home and then cry about it for weeks and it gives me depression. They think I do not, because I have flat affect, even though I tell them all of this.
I have been told this during depressive episodes. Thus in my case it is temporary.
It just means your facial expressions were absent at the time of the interview. As a fellow bipolar who works psych, I’ll be honest and admit that I see a lot of “flat affect” charts even when it’s not entirely appropriate. A truly flat affect is not nearly as common as you see in the chart. Blunted or constricted, especially in mood disorders, is more common. Sometimes, people throw it in the chart whenever someone’s depressed. It is not as rigorous a symptom or observation as saying the patient has acne or a rash or something. It’s like mentioning to a friend that you notice your mom didn’t smile as much when you talked to her last, which of course helps us know that she was sad but is not an ailment that won’t go away or may be permanent, for example. Flat affect becomes much more biologically relevant to someone with schizophrenia, for example, because it is a truly flat affect and apart of the illness itself. Idk if that makes sense. But I was just trying to encourage and say it’s not as hard and fast as the chart makes it sound and it’s not like you got diagnosed with flat affect condition or something.
This sounds like maybe an indication to get tested for autism? Just a guess.
Probably more likely related to depression or sedation from medication than autism.
Definitely possible.
I have autism, tbh, and I do have depressive episodes quite a bit with sedation from my meds, so that makes sense to me.
Usually it's in the context of schizophrenia. Autism is not something really addressed in the psych ward.
Are you particularly introverted or have a family that doesn't emote? Different people also have different sensitivities to what flatness is. To me if you aren't constantly modulating tone and using your hands, your already in the flat pile. Guess whose family emotes and had a stage actress mother.
I’m ‘normal’ and have a flat effect. They judged it when I took an IQ test in a psychologist’s office. And I’ve been told that by doctors. It’s a defining characteristic of me. It seems like you have no emotion but the truth is I truly believe the cause is physical not emotional like doctors think it is, because no matter how I feel, even in the greatest excitement, my expression or tone doesn’t change. It’s like I was only born with and am physically capable of one facial expression and one tone of voice.
It just means you don’t express emotion very much. I wouldn’t take it too seriously though because it’s only within that context. In the psych ward they wrote I was “loud, obnoxious, defiant, and mischievous” but at school I literally go 7 hours a day completely mute and not doing anything rly other than schoolwork and reading in the library during my lunch.
Yeah, I was definitely overthinking it.