I laugh at funny things just as often as before I got ill, but other good things rarely make me happy and bad things rarely make me sad. I can explain about my suicide attempts and the reasons I attempted and not feel a thing. If someone tells me something horrible happened to them I have to feign emotions. Is this blunted affect? I just don’t know because I’ll laugh and smile pretty often but don’t feel a lot of emotions besides finding some things funny. My therapist wrote that I have blunted affect but it’s hard for me to believe because I laugh at almost every appointment. How is blunted affect for you?
Lately I have been remembering things that were very funny to me in the past, and I have to struggle not to laugh out loud. I guess people would think I was weird if I did that in public. But I too have a blunted affect. I can’t laugh on cue, and I have trouble manufacturing any emotion I’m supposed to feel at the moment. That’s true of a lot of us. In AA they say, “fake it till you make it”.
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I have an almost flat affect, I cannot cry and I force myself to laugh. I often smile though. I’m more responsive to positive news than to negative ones, which is somewhat of a blessing.
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Laughter is the best medicine.
All the best to you, Treebeard.
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I can laugh at funny things (but it isn’t a full laugh, laughter doesn’t fill me up) and smile but I can’t cry I don’t even feel sad.
When something is going on that I should be able to feel sad or cry about, it’s like I hit a dead end where I can see the road continues but I can’t get past the barrier. That might not make sense.
I also laugh and smile at inappropriate times like when I am in with my psychiatrist and I am talking about stressful or scary things. It’s not because I think what I’m saying is ridiculous, I just can’t help it. I’ve been like that for as long as I can remember.
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I do this too. When I was in hospital my psychologist was very angry at me for laughing when we talked about suicide.
I have a fake smile on when talking to people. It is very hard for me to feel joy or true happiness.
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I have been to comedy clubs and sat through a few stand-up comics act and barely smiled but I am actually having a good time.
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Hmm interesting question. I can laugh but not genuinely in blunt. Often, I need another person to laugh first, and I kinda piggy-back on their laugh. it isn’t very enjoyable, but it is still a laugh. With some other emotions, forget it. Sometimes, they may at least not even exist. I generally need other people to express them in front of me to get any emotion. I think it is a mental thing???
Plus, sometimes laughs aren’t for joy. When someone is really mad at me…I will occasionally burst out laughing even though I find nothing funny…
Oh well, I wish you the best of luck. 
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