Emotional blunting, aka reduced affect, describes the lack of positive/negative emotional expression (whether or not the emotion is internally felt). It is hypothesized that SSRIs may reduce the function of specific brain areas that are involved in emotional processing. For example, regional brain metabolism appears lower in the anterior cingulate of depressed patients. SSRIs are known to further decrease activity in this region.

fMRIs have shown a reduction in neural processing of both rewarding and aversive stimuli due to the use of SSRIs. Given their high prescription rate, this needs to be taken into consideration in upcoming clinical studies.