r/anhedonia

I booked flights to go see my friend I haven’t seen in a couple of years earlier and I literally felt nothing. It then got me thinking… what would a normal response to this be anyway? Would someone be really excited? Or mildly excited? Or just look forward to it without excitement? I know this might seem like odd questions and thought processes, but this is what anhedonia has done to my mind and ways of perceiving the world. I genuinely don’t know what is normal anymore

I have severe anhedonia, I can't watch more than 30 seconds of TV, can't listen to more than 30 seconds of music, can't read more than a page of a book. I just stare into space most of the day.

It's getting so tiresome.

I don't know what to do.

I was extremely dissociated when I first developed anhedonia and the substance block, like everything looked like a bad shroom trip, along with inner akathasia and intense head pressure and throbbing. but as I get more grounded in reality I start to feel very slight bodily sensations and extremely mild effects from alcohol. I also had like a physical block at the front of my head at it's worst. I also am starting to have the urge to do things again even tho I still don't enjoy it. The most I get is a mild flow state

Can you still have anticipatory and consummatory anhedonia ( especially consummatory ) while still being able to feel negative emotions like worry, discomfort, frustration, anger, etc… ?

Hi fellas, How are you?

I am 27 and for some reason i don’t feel drunk anymore. When I drink I can feel that there is alcohol in my body and can get a headache if i drink too much but don’t feel anything. I loved coming home to have one beer and listen to old music. My favorite thing was adding a whiskey shot in my beer and just smoke a cigarette in the winters outside,Belmont if you are Canadian. I used to feel stuff, get lost in my mind, never felt the need to express or talk to people that much you know. It happened all of sudden and it’s been more than a year now.

I also don’t feel many emotions anymore be it watching movies, going out, playing video games, being with gf, being with friends. Nothing. I also don’t feel much stress or anxiety. I was recently in a fight, it wasn’t my fault but i didn’t feel anything. Like literally nothing. I was driving and some bike guy crashed, i helped him, he was fine but I didn’t feel anything. my memory has also become weak like my brain doesn’t want to register much stuff. I went to this trip with random group for 10 days, I had fun but didn’t feel anything. Sceneries didn’t inspire me, Didn’t feel the need to make connections. I don’t know how to explain. Radiohead playing in my head with any emotions rn.

Songs that had memories, took me on a ride every time i listen to, they don’t work anymore. Lyrics don’t hit, nothing is inspirational. Did something broke? i tell you i was in a bad phase for 3 years and in constant fear. One day I had an outburst and stuff happened, after few months of that this all started. I can’t even cry if i want to now. I have tried.

I was the kid who was effortlessly good at most things. I am not even evil. Like i believe the innate human desire is to help others.

I used to think I have many friends but seriously can’t talk to any of them. I can’t express even if i wanted to , i don’t want to talk to them. I tried therapy but i don’t want to go through it anymore. I just want to know will it be fixed? have you experienced this?

There are much more stuff i wish i could write, could phrase and explain better, but i don’t want to go and change and articulate better. I know this is a some sort of depression, idk. How long will it pass. I want to enjoy life. Music with nice company. Please You can ask me stuff if you want to.

The most debilitating part of depression for me is that I don't feel the want to start doing things, no future wants. And even if I force myself to do the presumably enjoyable activity (i got this advice to activatate without the want) , I don't feel joy, or basically anything dopamine related. I have been on 5 different antidepressants and addons, nothing helped. I also attend therapy. My question is: is it really just a brain circuit problem and would a "reset" , like ketamine, ECT or rTMS help? Or is it something therapy can help with? The problem with those more serious treatments is that they are done in a hospital setting, and need to be in a psych ward. Which I just can't do 🥺

Experiencing trauma in childhood can lead to a lack of motivation and less pleasure from rewards-or anhedonia-later in life. In humans, childhood trauma is linked to changes in the activity of reward-related brain pathways stemming from an area called the hippocampus. Preclinical work in animals suggests that hippocampal changes may contribute to anhedonia. But do hippocampal changes linked to childhood trauma make people more vulnerable to developing anhedonia? New in JNeurosci, a research team led by Kathleen O'Brien at Temple University and Vishnu Murty at the University of Oregon sought to answer this question. 

A large cohort of human participants took questionnaires probing childhood trauma and the ability to experience pleasure. The researchers then used fMRI to examine hippocampus interactions with motivation-related brain areas. Individuals with childhood trauma and disrupted hippocampus pathways experienced more anhedonia than those with childhood trauma and no disruption to hippocampus pathways. 

According to the researchers, this work suggests that childhood trauma interacts with disrupted motivation-related pathways in the brain to contribute to the onset of anhedonia. Murty emphasizes that this work is among the first to link the hippocampus, a brain region typically associated with memory, to apathetic behavior in humans. The research team hopes to identify a target in the hippocampus that can increase pleasure in people with childhood trauma and to continue exploring the relationship between memory and anhedonia. 

I got to wondering, just now...where are you all? I'm in the UK, myself!

It’s been a while since I’ve last been on this sub, so I just wanted to give an update about how I’m doing ever since I saw results with pimavanserin.

For those who haven’t read it, basically: SSRI induced anhedonia; took pimavanserin; (practically) fully treated

If I mention some things which conflict with my previous post without mentioning it, I apologise as my recall is terrible - just take this post as authoritative.

Non-sexual-anhedonia wise, I’d say I’m about 95% of the way there to being fully normal. I don’t think I’ll get that last 5% but I’m so okay with that, given how I was 0% six months ago. I’ve picked up hobbies I dropped years ago, I WANT to do so many things now (as opposed to out of habit or necessity) and overall I’m just happier. I’m to the point where a good song will have me dancing in the mirror, or if I’m really enjoying an activity I’ll start humming or singing. Cheesy but accurate.

Sexually, the case is interesting. Libido wise and Mechanistically, I’m normal - but the actual act (eg sex, masturbation) isn’t pleasurable. This is something I’m working on fixing independently. Pimavanserin hasn’t fully treated this specific symptom, although in terms of desire it has significantly restored the “wanting” sexual aspect. This somewhat makes sense, given how Pimavanserin works pharmacologically.

I don’t take Pimavanserin anymore and I’ve noticed no worsening of symptoms.

I want to clarify that my response is probably at least partially idiosyncratic. I had no depression (never had and still don’t) and my anhedonia was purely induced by an SSRI. Please don’t assume it’s a blanket fix for all anhedonic phenotypes, especially ones with depression (Pimavanserin failed its stage 3 clinical trials as an adjunct for depression). Also, I never lost my consummatory pleasure, at least not in the same way my anticipatory pleasure took a massive blow. Even at my worst, food still tasted good and music was nice to listen to, even if I physically could not get out of bed. I wouldn’t expect Pimavanserin to restore consummatory pleasure as much as it would desire and wanting - for example it made me want sex more but the act is still blunted.

Please ask any questions you might have.

The scariest part about having anhedonia is figuring out what is causing it. It's easier to blame medication but what if it isn't.

So I'm just wondering about other causes that aren't chemical.

Did you return to normal after stopping taking antipsychotics ? I have gone cold turkey 40 days ago , few days ago I felt really good for 4 days , really happy but anhedonia has returned again . It is making me really suicidal and depressed .

Damn that shit was fire.

Wondering

Is anybody having a stuffy nose with pramipexole, and how do you manage it? Do you use any nasal spray, and which ones?

Hey Fellow Ahedonian's

From ages 16 to 30 I had some gnarly depressive episodes with no obvious reasons why. I've always had a strong community around me, slept well, exercised regularly and ate healthy. Managed to get through them without medication. However have always felt like something was off with me due to how intense and prolonged the sadness episodes where.

I am now 34 and for the past 4 years I have had locked in a permanent Anhedonia state (non SSRI induced), complete numbness coupled with occasional intense pain states where it feels like my brain is on fire/poisoned or intense persistent discomfort. No pain medications help however thankfully I can still fall asleep in this state.

This pain state can last multiple days at a time, usually after a several days week I am on my hands and knees looking for any help (medication). This is where I cant resist any longer and end up trailing antidepressants.

I have recently been fortunate and completed a psychedelic assisted therapy program in Australia where I was able to do 2x high doses of psilocybin in a clinic setting (25mg and 35mg). Which was absolutely mind shattering and incredibly interesting/scary. I do see the benefit for a lot of people but unfortunately I did not get any long term benefits. (also after each dose I had a gnarly come down from 3-7 days which was incredibly tough)

I wasn't able to recall a lot of my journey's which made the integration difficult. Therefore they offered me the choice to switch to MDMA for the 3rd dose day.

MDMA was the only thing I have found that made me feel like myself again. I was able to reconnect with joy, contentment and excitement for the future. Which proves I am capable of still feeling all these positive emotions just my brain isn't producing the neurotransmitters to feel it. However it's very fleeting and have not been able to leverage any long term benefits either. Which now brings me back to wondering about trialling a new medication.

I have trailed venlafaxine, escitalopram and vortioxetine over the past few years to no avail.

I am currently living in Brasil with my partners family and considering using Ayahuasca as a hail mary but most likely will trial a new medication as its probably a safer option.

Has anyone been on a similar rollercoaster ?

I can still physically cry but don't get relief

Hello, new to this community, looking to find answers.

I was on retatrutide 3 mg for 8 weeks. Got off cold turkey once I started feeling the anhedonia. Still did not help, ~2 and a half months later. I also have sexual anhedonic symptoms. I have never taken an SSRI and am looking to stay away from them. Is Wellbutrin my next step? Any guidance is greatly appreciated.

Thank you. I hope everyone here finds relief.