The graphic above from a Google Image Search pretty much covers emotional numbness, which is a problem. In fact, it seems to be a growing issue with more people getting stressed out and pulling away from general society. No, social media doesn’t count as all the human contact that you need. So, what effect can numbness have on an author?
A really big one because this means an author won’t be able to access emotions when writing certain scenes. Happiness, sadness, anger, and the like will be flat on the page since one won’t be able to stir them even slightly. Yes, you can use the proper words to bring the emotion across and an experienced author might be able to get a spark within a reader. Yet, there was always be something lacking for a reader who is drawn deeply into the book. It can stand in contrast to anything written without the numbness, which makes the issue even worse.
Keep in mind that I’m not saying an author has to go into a rage to write anger or weep to create sadness. I mean, being able to sense the emotion on some level and remember or imagine what it feels like on a deep level. With numbness, you can have trouble pulling at the emotions with ease. Forget jumping between them if you have different characters feeling different things at the same time. You’ll have a struggle without realizing it and your writing will suffer. If not flat then you’re going to have a lot of jerkiness within the scene.
Unfortunately, most people need to have their numbness pointed out by those who care about them. It isn’t something you can easily be aware about because you hit survival mode and simply keep going through life. Dealing with the stresses and not getting a break for an extended period of time gets away from you. The numbness comes on gradually too, which means it’s easy to fall into the abyss.
There are a few things to do for recovery or even avoiding the problem in the first place:
- Always take time to relax and do something fun. Get your mind off your stresses for even an hour because they aren’t going away through fixation. This could be taking a midday walk, watching a movie every Friday evening, jigsaw puzzle time before bed, or whatever activity helps you relax.
- Maintain some social connections beyond social media. Since most of human communication is nonverbal and paraverbal, we need to interact with other people to get the full effect. Adulthood isn’t the best for getting together with friends unless you hit retirement or everyone is on the same schedule. So, joining local groups that share your interests can help. For example, I go out to play Pokemon Go every Wednesday evening with other players for a weekly event. Even if I’m not talking much, I’m socializing.
- Being healthy in general can increase your mood. Exercise, meditation, sleeping the proper amount of time, and eating healthy can all increase your emotions. This will also reduce any physical maladies that cause stress.
- See a therapist if needed and possible. Yeah, I know insurance makes this a challenge, but even a monthly visit can have positive effects.
So, what do other people think of emotional numbness in general and with writing?
Legends of Windemere 
Good advice. I have felt numb/depressed. When I feel numb, I can’t write emotional scenes authentically. I’m grateful for the therapy I received to help me understand why I felt that way and things I could do to move forward. Some of that involved avoiding talking to some people about what I’m doing (writing especially), because they say negative things. Writers are sensitive people. That’s why we’re able to write. I wonder if the people who find it easy to mock or criticize the emotion expressed in a scene might be deflecting because they are covering up something inside themselves and don’t want anyone else to find out.
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I’m in therapy, but still have these moments. Even if it’s not related to writing, it makes it difficult to get work done. Good point on possible deflection reason.
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Therapy is so helpful!
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I think emotional numbness is a real problem for writers. If you think about how much time we spend alone with our writing it is no wonder numbness can set in. I think the writer has to be alert for early signs. Not wanting to go out. Avoiding people. Canceling on events because they will take away from the writing.I think your recovery points are excellent and should be put in play when the symptoms appear.
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The scary thing is that those symptoms could also stem from simply wanting to write.
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A complete paradox for sure.
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Some people write poetry when depressed and it seems to help them. I find I can’t do that. I suppose it’s due to numbness.
I recently read that there is a thing about casual social contact. The lady you smile at while walking to town. The man who stands back to let you go first. The family having coffee in the local coffee shop. All these contacts with strangers are important, too, and are often overlooked. People who are housebound miss these. They might have family visiting, or living with them, but the little, seemingly unimportant contacts are missing.
As far as writing is concerned, yes, feeling emotions is important. We must remember how we felt when angry, or sad, or joyful etc. If we don’t, how can we put it on the page?
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Guessing the small social interactions reminds people they’re not alone. Even if they don’t realize the effect. With poetry, I can write when feeling down. Can’t when numb. The scary thing about emotional numbness is that you don’t even feel the negative emotions. Just a total void, which is hard to recover from.
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This reminds me of just how much of a hermit I have become. Aside from a select group of authors, like you, I don’t interact with many people. I never actually meet up, other than the rare lunch with a co-worker.
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I’m heading there, but the divorce caused part of it. Hard to get together with friends with families when they do family stuff and I don’t have my son. Gets awkward. Most single people I meet are either 20 years younger or focused a lot on finding a date. So, my social life is dead.
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In a lot of ways, since COVID, I think many people have internalized not meeting in person because it isn’t safe. Then you add in the possibility of harassment (for race, gender, on and on) and now we even fear being snatched off the street by masked men.
I know that my gaming group went to Discord during COVID, and also one of us was shut in doing elder care. You could just tell that some players were not engaged. They were looking at their phones during the game, or I suspect one of us was having drink after drink and that’s not good for you in a different way. (But could show the impact of emotional distance.)
Once the elder passed away, I had to really push for us to meet in person again. I’m glad that I did. It’s the in-person reactions and jokes, and the map and the miniatures that makes RPGs so much fun. And, we need to check on our no-longer-shut-in friend.
But it also shows anyone can fall prey to isolation, and you have to take positive actions to fight it off. Isolation won’t just go away if you try to wait it out.
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Covid definitely changed something. I was still doing a few in-person gatherings, but I stopped when the groups decided to no longer act cautiously. When you hear someone talk enjoy getting over covid the week before and they’re still coughing, you lose your interest.
Surprisingly, Pokemon Go and other activities that require big groups are still flourishing. They seem even stronger. That’s the extent of my social interactions beyond work. My living situation doesn’t help either.
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