World distribution of multiple sclerosis: greater prevalence in higher northern and southern latitudes. In the US, the number of people with MS is estimated to be about 400,000, with approximately 10,000 new cases diagnosed every year (thatâs 200 new cases per week).
Blunted affect refers to a reduction in the intensity of an individual's emotional response. The emotional response of an individual with blunted affect is a lot weaker than one would expect in similar circumstances. Imagine that you got a phone call and were told that you had just won the lottery.
A person with flat affect has no or nearly no emotional expression. He or she may not react at all to circumstances that usually evoke strong emotions in others. A person with blunted affect, on the other hand, has a significantly reduced intensity in emotional expression. Reduced affect should be distinguished from apathy, which explicitly refers to a lack of emotion, whereas reduced affect is a lack of emotional expression regardless of whether emotion is actually reduced.