Women might notice:

• a reduced ability to feel pleasure or interest

• muted emotional responses

• difficulty feeling excited, moved, or engaged

• motivation that feels mechanical rather than meaningful

• a sense of “going through the motions”

“I’m functioning, but I feel emotionally flat.”

This emotional flatness can be confusing and even frightening. Some women worry they’re becoming depressed. Others wonder if they’re burned out, unmotivated, or emotionally checked out. Often, it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins.

Many women in perimenopause find themselves asking a question that feels surprisingly hard to answer:

Am I anxious?
Am I depressed?
Or is this “just hormones”?