When an event causes a person to experience or witness physical harm or violence, they can go on to develop PTSD. Blunted affect, however, describes a dulled or constricted response, where a person’s emotional response is not as intense as normally expected.īlunted affect is commonly seen in those with post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. Those with flat affect have no response to emotional stimuli. While flat affect and blunted affect may sometimes appear interchangeable, they are different.

In addition to blunt trauma, brain injuries caused by strokes, especially right hemisphere strokes, can cause a person to experience flat affect. Those who suffer a traumatic brain injury caused by a blunt trauma, fall, blast injury or other violent situation may experience post-trauma flat affect. Some people with PD also experience depression, anxiety, psychosis, dementia, and flat affect. Parkinson’s disease is a neurological disease most commonly affecting the older population that presents with symptoms, including resting tremor, rigidity, limited movements, and instability. Consequently, those with autism are often described as having flat affect. Some of those affected by autism will be unable to speak and intellectually disabled to varying degrees.

Share on Pinterest One of the potential symptoms of autism is flat affect.Īutism is a condition with varying symptoms and severity, but which describes a spectrum of disorders that include abnormal or challenging social skills, repetitive behaviors, and abnormalities in speech and nonverbal communication.

Blunted vs flat affect