• The Oxford Depression Questionnaire (ODQ) is intended to assess emotional blunting as a side effect of SSRI treatment. • ODQ scores are confounded by core symptoms of depression. • The different sections of the ODQ show differential validity. • Section 2 of the ODQ, as well as the ODQ total score, should not be used. Emotional blunting is a commonly reported side effect of antidepressant (AD) treatment, particularly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The Oxford Depression Questionnaire (ODQ) is frequently used to assess this phenomenon, but its validity as a measure of AD-induced emotional blunting versus depressive symptoms remains unclear. The present study examined the validity of the three ODQ sections in 83 inpatients with major depressive disorder. Depressive symptom severity was assessed using the revised Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). Forty-eight patients were on stable AD therapy (22 with SSRIs), and 35 were AD-free. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses (HMRA) controlled for age, gender, age at depression onset, unemployment, history of suicide attempts, and comorbid anxiety disorders, predicting ODQ-1 (current state), ODQ-2 (comparison to pre-illness), and ODQ-3 (AD-specific) scores. ODQ-1 and ODQ-2 scores were significantly predicted by depressive symptom severity. ODQ-1 scores were additionally influenced by SSRI use, whereas ODQ-2 was not. ODQ-3, completed only by patients on ADs, was predicted solely by SSRI use and not by depressive symptoms. These results indicate that the ODQ can detect SSRI-associated emotional blunting, particularly when items explicitly target AD effects (ODQ-3). ODQ-1 is sensitive but substantially confounded by depressive symptom severity, whereas ODQ-2 is unsuitable in its current form. Total ODQ scores should not be used. Future research using the ODQ should control for depressive symptom severity and refine item instructions to better isolate AD-related effects.
Maß et al. (2026) studied this question.