If your emotions were dampened down, how would your life be different?

Bearable.

I actually would rather have the outrageous extremes that I have than feel less. When I was 16, I was put on Lexapro and I was an absolute empty shell. No sadness, no happiness, no nothing. I thought I’d simply cease to exist. Sometimes I wish that my extremes could be taken down a notch, but I’d never wish the existence I had when I was on Lexapro on annnyone.

I live so vicariously that it would change my life so drastically. I would fear it would no longer be my life..

My emotions already seem a bit damped down, so I dunno. How damp are we talking? Vulcan? Amoeba?

@daloon I can certainly appreciate why you ask the question.
For the majority who are not currently depressed or bipolar, the points of reference are so very different.

For me, the range of emotions is pleasant and within my comfort zone. A restriction of that range would be a painful loss. I would be no use to myself or others in such a state.

I experienced this and I was relieved to lose the jagged edges. I just felt more me and less my out-of-control chemical reactions.

People still feel such highs and lows. Just not nearly as frequently and with such rapid progression between the two.

I find when I have very little to do I settle into a fairly neutral emotional state. Shockingly, it isn’t too thrilling. And I just speak less than I usually do. I think life would be pretty boring if I were like that all of the time. I much prefer pretending to be like that all of the time just to screw with people.

I’d have fewer panic attacks, better sleep, less self sabotage when it comes to relationships where the minute someone says they love me then everything they do becomes suspect. It takes a very patient person to love me and care for me

Crudge. I currently don’t know if I have any emotions that aren’t sopping wet. Are you getting treatment for your bipolarness? As a live-long depressive I wonder if people suffering from a severe case of bipolar disease, feel differently from those who may be having ups and downs that don’t reach the heights of the Himalayas or the depths of the Oceanic Trench know what you are going through. I rarely reach heights of anything, but it would be nice once in a while. Aren’t our emotions a large part of our lives? Mine have largely disenfranchised me from society and my family. No friends (I’m not sobbing here just stating facts) and personally I wouldn’t want to be my friend. I do take meds for my depression and Adderral does give me energy and make me talk too much (is that a high?) I plan on conquering the depression, though after 50+ years it will take a while even with the help of meds and therapists. Ya know, ‘boring’ is just something we learn from other’s opinions. What is boring for you? I love to read and my son would cut his throat if he wasn’t off climbing mountains, biking in Europe etc. Hope you get some good answers to your question. And yes, my emotions have made me do things I wouldn’t normally do, but that was when I was younger and didn’t realize I could take some control of my emotions. It can be exhausting, but if you have a few good friends and family support you can do it.

A little smoother, I suppose. It might work out. I hate surprises. Do I still get to hate things?

If I had a lesser range of feelings life would not be worth living… Low lows really suck and can be taxing on the soul…but the highs can be extraordinary and make waking up everyday worth it hoping a high will sweep me off my feet!

I spent 18 months or so on Paxil, which shut off my low range feelings.
I walked out of Shindlers List wondering why everyone was crying. It isn’t good.
It did get me thru some bad times, tho.

@filmfann…hahahahahaha I love your explanation of antidepressants effects.
That’s it in a nutshell.

removing my emotions would have helped me remove some of the barriers that I have experienced growing up.

I’ve been doing a lot of obsessive thinking lately, and it’s been causing me to have a hard time sleeping. I just read that that kind of thinking is one of the symptoms of my illness. It’s hard to imagine reducing the amplitude of my emotions just for that if I can find some way to do it that does not include drugs.

People suggest mindfulness, but it seems to me that if you’re fighting brain chemistry, it’s a pretty uphill fight,

LOL @ evandad.

If my emotions were diluted, life would be a lot more peaceful, and I’d probably sleep better (no more staying up late being tortured by worries and the what if’s from the Shel Silverstein poem!). But it would also be boring.

I usually try to not bring myself down due to emotions. Emotions can kill me so i move away from it. Instead i focus more on what i can do with my life that would make me feel different from the way i view things as of the moment.

I start asking myself what needs to be done in order for me to get back the valuable me i knew once before.