Shadowing Practice: 6 Telltale Signs You're Feeling Numb - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Hey Psych2Goers, welcome back to our channel.
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We wanted to let you know that each and every one of your comments, likes, and shares help support this channel in our goal to spread awareness about mental health and psychology.
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You help us make psychology and mental health more accessible to everyone.
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So, thank you for your support.
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Now, on to the video.
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You may have heard someone who suffers from depression or another mental illness say they feel numb inside.
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What does this mean exactly?
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Do they feel empty?
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Do they always feel this way?
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Are they depressed, angry?
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Are they void of any feelings at all?
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Suffering from emotional numbness doesn't mean you have to feel nothing all the time.
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Your emotions can even merge together from an unconscious or conscious suppression to create a primary feeling that can accompany your numbness.
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Often this is anger, as it's a powerful emotion.
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When you're not feeling this frequent primary emotion, you're otherwise numb.
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So it's very possible to feel more than just emotional numbness, but still suffer from it.
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So how do you know if you feel numb?
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Well, here are six telltale signs you're feeling numb.
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Number one, you're living on autopilot.
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Do you feel as if you're not living your life fully present?
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You may stick to your familiar routine, which can be a good thing, but there are no highs or lows in your day.
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It's as if you're a virtual character left on an autoplay system.
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While others around you are completing quests and winning battles, you're stuck in the lobby waiting for someone to take control.
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That someone being you.
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The thing is, you can be aware that you're in this autopilot state and wonder why you don't feel more.
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You're observing yourself and you want to live in the present.
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Yet somehow you remain detached from your own life, watching your own character live its life on autopilot with often no accompanying feelings.
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Number two, you don't enjoy the happy events, even the big ones.
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It's your birthday.
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Your family and friends secretly planned a huge surprise party for you.
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And as you walk through the door, your closest friends and family jump out to shout, Surprise!
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Your response?
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Oh, thanks.
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You don't know what you're feeling because there doesn't seem to be a strong emotion at all.
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You may feel a bit happy, but you notice your emotions during these big events don't seem as strong as others.
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Your friend had a birthday party last month and seemed genuinely happy.
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Your sister got promoted at work and was ecstatic.
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Your brother graduated from college and felt proud, but you, you feel a fraction of these feelings when you experience the same accomplishments or celebrations.
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Number three, when you do feel something, it's anger.
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You've been feeling them for days, and yet one small annoyance can cause you to go into an irritable rage.
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When we subconsciously or consciously suppress or block off feelings, they can build up and gather into one big emotion.
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With all these suppressions built up, these feelings will eventually burst out and usually a powerful emotion will be the one to let them out, anger.
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It seems you only have two emotional states, anger and numbness.
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And when the time comes to feel anything, anger and irritability take the lead on this one.
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They're the player one who finally pushes play from your pause game, your autopilot state.
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And it's not a pretty picture.
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It's best to try to delve into the emotions you may be suppressing.
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Talking to someone such as a counselor or a mental health professional is a good place to start.
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They can help you take the steps necessary to manage your anger
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and to get to the root of your feelings or lack thereof.
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Number four, when you do feel, it's through watching a movie or TV show or reading a book.
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Oh, Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
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The romance is leaping off the pages of the script and it's as if you yourself are in love.
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You finally feel something.
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Love, wonder, happiness, and it's great.
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The only problem is it's fiction.
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Somehow in real life, you just don't feel those strong emotions.
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But when you open a book or turn on an engaging film, your mind delves into the feelings of its characters.
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Maybe you empathize with the protagonist, or it's as if you are the characters themselves.
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While this can be better than feeling nothing at all, it's still important to make sure your real life is taken care of.
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If you feel empty in real life, but emotions only start to present themselves when you watch a show or read, you may be suffering from emotional numbness.
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Number five, you're dealing with emotional blunting.
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Certain antidepressants and medications can help us get back to feeling like ourselves again if we're suffering from a mental illness.
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But with the benefits, some medications have some side effects that cause emotional blunting.
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Emotional blunting is a common term to describe the dull state many individuals feel while on certain antidepressants.
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Sometimes patients will describe that they don't feel quite themselves.
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This feeling is common in antidepressants and downers, which is a name for drugs that are meant to depress your central nervous system.
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Several studies from Oxford University have shown that between 46
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and 71% of antidepressant users have experienced emotional blunting during treatment
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although for some emotional blunting was viewed as a positive in
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the study 37 of the 819 subjects regarded it as a negative outcome of treatment
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while 38 viewed it as a positive generally those with severe blunting symptoms were likely to rate it as a negative
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And number six, you can't empathize with others.
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Do you find yourself not being able to empathize with your friends or loved ones?
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Do you feel as if you have to act through the day-to-day motions, but deep down you feel empty?
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Maybe you even feel a bit uncomfortable because you're unsure of how to react.
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After all, if you can't empathize with someone in a moment, it may be harder to react genuinely and still show support for them.
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Loss of empathy can be a sign that you're feeling numb.
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It's not that you don't love and support your family and friends.
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You're just going through a struggle of your own
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And maybe with a little support from them
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or help from a counselor You can take one step forward on the path to feeling like yourself again
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So do you relate to any of these signs?
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If so, what do you plan to do next?
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Let us know in the comments and know that you're not alone
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Even I felt this way before and if the feelings persist consider seeking help from a mental health professional
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With a bit of support, you could soon be on your way to pushing play on your feelings again, not just in a movie, and not playing on autopilot either.
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If you find this video helpful, don't forget to click the like button and share this video with someone who might be struggling with emotional numbness.
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Subscribe to Psych2Go and hit the notification bell icon for more content like this.
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And as always, thanks so much for watching.
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Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 91 sentences and 1226 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:15. The speaker talks at a natural 169 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
- emotion /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/ (noun) — A person's internal state of being and involuntary physiological response to an object or a situation, based on or tied to physical state and sensory data.
- anger /ˈæŋɡə/ (noun) — A strong and unpleasant feeling of displeasure, hostility, or antagonism, usually combined with an urge to yell, curse, damage or destroy things, or harm…
- blunt /blʌnt/ (adjective) — Having a thick edge or point; not sharp.
- suffer /ˈsʌfɚ/ (verb) — To undergo hardship.
- numb /nʌm/ (adjective) — Physically unable to feel, not having the power of sensation.
- illness /ˈɪl.nəs/ (noun) — An instance (episode) of a disease or poor health.
- psychology /saɪˈkɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/ (noun) — The study of the human mind.
- react /ɹiːˈækt/ (verb) — To act in response.
- medication /mɛdɪˈkeɪʃən/ (noun) — A medicine, or all the medicines regularly taken by a patient.
- genuinely /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/ (adverb) — In a genuine manner; truthfully, truly.
- accompany /əˈkʌm.pə.ni/ (verb) — To go with or attend as a companion or associate; to keep company with; to go along with.
- counselor /ˈkaʊnsələ(ɹ)/ (noun) — A professional who counsels people, especially on personal problems.
- suppression /səˈpɹɛʃən/ (noun) — The act or instance of suppressing.
- suppress /səˈpɹɛs/ (verb) — To put an end to, especially with force, to crush, do away with; to prohibit, subdue.
- awareness /əˈwɛɹ.nəs/ (noun) — The state or level of consciousness where sense data can be confirmed by an observer.
Phrasal verbs you will hear
- build up (verb) — To erect; to construct.
- play on (verb) — To exploit (a potential weakness or vulnerability) by exacerbating.
- burst out (verb) — To appear suddenly from within something else.
- deal with (verb) — To handle verbally or in some form of artistic expression; to address or discuss as a subject.
- get back to (verb) — Return to (an activity)
- go into (verb) — To get involved in; to investigate or explore.
- go through (verb) — To travel from one end of something to the other.
- lead on (verb) — To mislead, to try to make someone believe a lie.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 30 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, don't, can't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: gather /ˈɡæðɚ/, thereof /ðɛˈɹʌv/, empathy /ˈɛmpəθi/, empathize /ˈɛmpəˌθaɪz/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: emotion /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/, medication /mɛdɪˈkeɪʃən/, suppression /səˈpɹɛʃən/, fiction /ˈfɪkʃən/, celebration /ˌsɛl.ɪˈbɹeɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: psychology /saɪˈkɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/, medication /mɛdɪˈkeɪʃən/, genuinely /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/, accompany /əˈkʌm.pə.ni/, celebration /ˌsɛl.ɪˈbɹeɪ.ʃən/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like emotion, anger, blunt.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | someone who suffers · routine, which can · one who finally |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is taken · are meant · was viewed |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have shown · have experienced |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.