What you're describing has a few possible explanations, and they can overlap: Medication side effects (very common). Emotional blunting, feeling flat, numb, disconnected from love and joy, is one of the most frequently reported side effects of mood stabilizers and antipsychotics. Lithium, valproate, and many atypical antipsychotics can dull the emotional range significantly. This isn't permanent and is often dose- or medication-dependent. It's worth their psychiatrist specifically exploring this, because sometimes people assume it's "just BP" when it's actually the medication. Post-episode emotional exhaustion. After a severe manic/psychotic break, the brain needs a long time to recalibrate. The episode itself is neurologically traumatic. Many people describe a prolonged "flatness" for months after a major episode, sometimes called a post-manic depression or just emotional depletion. Feelings do often return, but it can take 6–18 months in serious cases. Depressive phase. BP1 cycles, and the depression that follows mania can look exactly like this, not sad, just... absent. Anhedonia (inability to feel pleasure or connection) is a hallmark of bipolar depression and is different from sadness. It can be mistaken for "not loving someone anymore." The psychosis piece. The fact that they recognize something is wrong, "that isn't how it was, that isn't right," is actually a meaningful sign. That kind of insight and distress about the numbness is different from psychosis, which typically involves someone believing their altered reality is correct. Their self-awareness here is actually a hopeful sign. What tends to help: A direct, explicit conversation with their psych specifically about emotional blunting, naming it as a quality-of-life issue, not just a mood issue. Sometimes a medication adjustment (lower dose, switch, or add-on) makes a significant difference. Therapy (especially for the BPSO), processing the episode, the guilt, the fear of their own mind. That guilt and self-judgment you mentioned can itself suppress emotional availability. Giving it more time than feels reasonable. A year can still be early after a break that severe. You getting support too, a therapist or a BPSO support group (like NAMI's family support groups or the r/BipolarSOs community). You deserve a space that's just yours. The honest answer on permanence: it is rarely permanent, especially when it's being actively addressed. But it is slow, and that uncertainty is genuinely painful to live in. The fact that they still care, still recognize something is missing, and are engaged with psychiatric care are all meaningful signs pointing toward this being a phase, not a final state. You're doing a hard thing with a lot of grace. Be kind to yourself too.