What you are describing- the emotional numbness is called dissociation of affect. Affect is sort of another word for emotion.

We ALL dissociate from time to time. Some times that a lot of people tend to dissociate, for instance, include when driving or when sitting through a boring lecture! If you've ever driven somewhere and then not really remembered driving all the way there, and the trip felt shorter than it actually was, you probably dissociated. If you know you were present and awake for an entire lecture, but you were totally unable to pay attention and can't remember what the professor said, you've dissociated. Some of us dissociate a lot more than others, though. This is particularly true for many who've been exposed to some form of trauma: neglect, abuse, severe loss, accidents/injuries, etc. Also, some people just seem to be naturally prone to dissocation.

Dissociation can take a LOT of different forms, and degrees. Some examples of dissociation include:
-feeling like you aren't real
-feeling like you are moving in slow motion or in a dream
-being on "autopilot"- interacting, but not really connecting with the world
-"spacing out"
-daydreaming
-feeling like you are leaving your body
-emotional numbness

There are more. I have a book that lists them, but I've loaned it to someone else for the time being. These are the examples I could think of just off the top of my head.

Hope that helps!
Angela (SC)

-comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable-