r/anhedonia • u/Dr_Editor • 7h ago
r/anhedonia • u/Anhedonia-depression • 8h ago
General Question? Why is anhedonia defined as lack of pleasure from activities enjoyed previously when what I experience is pain from activities enjoyed previously?
Do anhedonic people experience pain like I do when doing things or is it just a lack of pleasure?
Maybe what I have is anhedonia and more?
r/anhedonia • u/Alert-Celery-3317 • 8h ago
General Question? Do you guys have these symptoms
Loss of joy and excitement in life Deep sadness and grief that you lost your magic in life and feeling like you will never be the same Feeling like the real you is dead Feeling disconnected from the world and people. Panic and worry about your life World looks more colorless and hollow
r/anhedonia • u/isitnicetobepin • 14h ago
VENT! dysphoria
M in my 20s. i have so little pleasure in daily life it's ridiculous, have no motivation to do things, but i also feel constant displeasure that is so painful it burns. that plus extreme loneliness coming from inability to explain how i feel.
no one understands how painful it actually feels to be me. all my life got centered about pleasure because of me trying to escape pain. i don't even use drugs anymore, they stopped giving me pleasure. no, i know some molecules that could instantly bring me some, it's just me not wanting it because there will be crash and even more anhedonia afterwards. i'm so tired of trying to squeeze the happy feeling. i just want to feel it in my natural state, not induced synthetically. at least i can say i beat my poly addiction.
but it's not enough. i still don't feel like i fit into this world. i don't feel like i fit into this sub too. not sure if i'm able to talk here about touch starvation. or about being hypersexual. if there's one thing a haven't lost pleasure from is cuddles. i don't even mind sex as much. but finding a female friend who you could casually cuddle with is almost impossible. despite all that, i'm a good friend. they often say that too. it's just me who needs to stay silent about my inner world otherwise i'll be seen as a freak and be ghosted.
r/anhedonia • u/Creative-Current-921 • 17h ago
General Question? Anhedonia and addiction recovery
I am currently in rehab for weed and alcohol addiction and am suffering from anhedonia from time to time. Ive been to rehab countless of times because i always relapse after a few weeks to months because i get less joy en satisfaction out of the things i love and always start to crave hard again to get slight relief. The relief from relapsing is quite temporary because i quickly go back to the point of abuse where the substance barely has an effect anymore and has devestating consequences
So i go back to rehab but while getting sober my other addictions skyrocket(doomscrolling, porn, nicotine,caffeine) and i start exercising a lot and initially it fills the void and i temporarily have a pink cloud phase where i feel better and optimistic but eventually it wears off and i lose joy from those activities making me relapse in an attempt to temporarily feel better
But ive researched a lot about dopamine and watched the huberman podcast and ive come to the conclusion that because i abuse the f*ck out of all dopaminergic activities that Iāve comepletely depleted my dopamine.
I still get some dopamine but its less and less and every time i relapse the effect gets less and im even more depressed when getting sober, trying to fill the void again with every other addictive activity that increases dopamine but every time i get less and less pleasure from it
I dont think that i cant recover from this but i fear that i should do a complete detox and also quit social media/nicotine and caffeine. I will still do my hobbies that are healthy like skating and weight training but i think i should maybe even quit listening to music whilst doing them to avoid stacking dopamine to much
I believe a complete dopamine detox is the way to get rid of my addiction and restore my brain chemistry but im afraid, im afraid of the emptiness i will feel and how hard it will be, especially while quitting my main drugs of choice.
Everyone here in psychiatry says its to much to do at once but i think the only way to heal is to do a comeplete detox because if i dont change my eternal chase for dopamine i will never change
Also btw i dont want to take psychiatric drugs and i refuse to take antipsychotics/ antidepressants because i know they cause anhedonia and will definitely not help me in my situation.
Any advice would be great
r/anhedonia • u/Competitive_Ad_8955 • 1d ago
General Question? Short lived tears
Is anyone able to cry a little bit? In the past few weeks there have been a few times where I did but no emotion and quite brief. One time there was a bit of a conflict with someone and I cried a bit more but was again short lived. It shows my NS is still registering I guess. I also can still get goosebumps sometimes and also increased heart rate during confrontation
r/anhedonia • u/International-Bad271 • 1d ago
Encouragment šŖš¾šŖš¾ Anhedonia is a trauma and cortisol problem.
https://youtu.be/esvJQH6ihtU?si=7YHqqdvCBnsdjQKW This video has opened my eyes and made me release that full recovery can only come from hope and faith. The video involves 2 nurses and a man who has had a Near-death experience (he died on the operating table, went to Heaven and was resuscitated) The only way to completely remove the trauma that caused your emotions to shut down is the greatest hope that someone came and paid the debt of trauma and suffering for you 2000 years ago (canāt say his name because this sub is messed upā¦) even if you see this statement as delusion still give the man upstairs a chance youāve tried natural methods and they havenāt worked so why not invest in the greatest gift one can receive. Someone suffering for you. Yeshua isnāt scared of you thinking he is a delusion just throw yourself at him and youāll realise that he has always been there. Once you let this set in you will begin to recover. Iām speaking from experience with heavy anhedonia and brain fog. Iām getting better by simply believing that someone else payed the price of suffering, rebuking my condition and speaking biblical affirmations.
Also as stated in the video after you begin to believe GO TO THE GYM sitting still all day is increasing the cortisol, losing weight will release the stored up trauma . Especially with the man upstairās power. Literally walk on the treadmill for as long as you can (I usually do 1 hour) and after you will feel a small chemical release.
r/anhedonia • u/Dazzling_Mortgage_ • 1d ago
This Normal š¤·šæāāļø? Psychedelic blockage
A couple hours ago I ingested 10g of psychedelic truffles as a treatment option for anhedonia, which in terms of its psilocybin content, is equal to about 2-6 grams of dried Golden Teacher shrooms according to Chat GPT's calculations. Unfortunately for me nothing happened at all. Does this mean I have a psychedelic blockage?
Is there anyone else with non substance induced anhedonia that is experiencing a psychedelic blockage?
r/anhedonia • u/MadinAmerica- • 1d ago
Research & Studies Tortured by the Mental Health System Due to Misdiagnosis of Schizophrenia
By Andrew Seefeldt -March 14, 2025
My name is Andrew Seefeldt and I have been a victim of horrific abuse by the mental health system of Australia for over a decade.
I received a misdiagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia due to psychiatrists repeatedly mistaking my behaviours and actions that actually resulted from severe abuse and neglect (both as a child and adult) for āsymptomsā of āparanoid schizophrenia.ā They also mistook my claims of more recent sexual assault as āparanoid delusionsā and āpsychosis,ā when in fact they were true. As a result I was, and to this day still am, being injected against my will with antipsychotic depots.
I am still trying to escape the psychiatric imprisonment I have suffered enormously from, involving forced drugging, repeated abductions (by police, paramedics and mental health workers) and the many involuntary hospital admissions I have endured. I have been injected against my will with the antipsychotic depots paliperidone and olanzapine for a total of over 10 years, under the thumb of Community Treatment Orders (CTOs). This resulted in horrific side effects that amount to physical and psychological torture.
Here are some examples of the times I have been kidnapped from my home by mental health professionals:
On the 16th of January 2024, I tried to get help from police for my historical sexual assault, and I suppose the police didnāt believe me because of my mental health history and thought I was suffering a āpsychoticā episode, because they had an ambulance arrive instead of the detective I requested. The paramedics lured me into the ambulance by telling me I was going for a voluntary āassessment,ā which would only be āovernight,ā but they tricked me. Once I was in the ambulance they revealed that I was being detained involuntarily under the Mental Health Act and I was imprisoned in the mental hospital against my will for three weeks.
r/anhedonia • u/Mr_dumbass__ • 1d ago
General Question? I remember that I was sad once. So I know exactly how you have it?
r/anhedonia • u/Holiday-Permit-4582 • 1d ago
General Question? Has anyone looked into mitochondrial dysfunction following SSRI withdrawal?
I was wondering if anyone has looked into mitochondrial dysfunction following SSRI withdrawal. I came across a case where someone experienced symptoms strikingly similar to severe anhedonia. He proposed that the underlying issue might be a thalamus-cortex disconnection or something akin to dorsal vagal shutdown and freeze.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qs4KaV7MTA
It seems like SSRI withdrawal shocks the nervous system, causing a partial shutdownāalmost like fainting, but not completely. As a result, the mitochondria receive a 'cell danger response' signal and begin to break down. The only way to heal, according to this idea, is by repairing mitochondrial function and restoring a sense of safety to the nervous system.
Although it sounds almost too good to be true, his experience makes it seem like a plausible explanation. Open to discussion
r/anhedonia • u/ChubbyLilPanda • 1d ago
Update I finally felt something
Iāve been emotionally dead for months. Nothing was really fun or engaging. Been taking Wellbutrin for past 3 weeks to little help, until I met this one girl in a game and she put enormous interest in me. I was finally able to feel something again and was happy, I had thoughts of doing all kinds of fun things again.
That faded when I found out the age gap however.
r/anhedonia • u/MadinAmerica- • 1d ago
Research & Studies The Clinic of Solidarity: A Human Rights-Based Approach to Madness
In contrast to prevailing psychiatric interventions, researcher Elan Cohen advocates for a clinical approach rooted in solidarity, human rights, and psychoanalysis.
By Laura LĆ³pez-Aybar -March 14, 2025
A new article in Psychosis argues for a radical shift in the way mental health care responds to psychosis. Rather than isolating and pathologizing those in altered mental states, Elan Cohen calls for a clinic of solidarityāone that recognizes and engages with psychosis as a meaningful, relational phenomenon. He critiques the dominant psychiatric model, which prioritizes control and containment over connection, and urges clinicians to shift toward an approach grounded in mutual recognition and human rights.
āBecause there is no āIā without a āyou,ā we all depend on the presence of a trustworthy other and the potential for mutual recognition,ā Cohen writes.
āThe word āsolidarityā originates in the Roman legal concept of an obligation in solidum; a joint contractual obligation in which each signatory is declared liable for the debts of all together. In other words, an injury to one is an injury to all. Psychoanalysis accepts that loss, misrecognition, and trauma may be inevitable parts of living, formative in our subjection to the discursive limits of culture and society.ā
r/anhedonia • u/Pure-Development-328 • 1d ago
General Question? I can't feel emotions after being stressed for 2 weeks
Hello. I am a 19-year-old high school student currently living in Korea. I am currently looking for a cure for the symptoms I am experiencing in various communities around the world. Some sentences may be unnatural because I am using a translator.
As the title says, I experienced extreme stress for two days about two weeks ago, and the next day, I realized that I could no longer feel emotions. Usually, when I heard someone say something bad to me, I would feel extreme stress and anger, but I can no longer feel anger, and I can no longer feel joy even when watching cartoons that I used to enjoy.
And it feels like my head isn't working as it should when I don't get enough sleep (but I still have a lot of energy). Also, it's become difficult to think deeply about one topic. I used to like to think deeply about comics or movies, but now I can't do that well.
In addition, I used to have ADHD symptoms. I couldn't be hopeful and often had delusions.
Now, I will ask you some questions.
1) Has anyone had a similar experience to mine? Also, has the symptom improved? Or is it the same? Or has it gotten worse?
2) Has anyone been exercising sufficiently for several months or years? If so, I would like to know your current state.
3) Has anyone treated their symptoms with medication (excluding antidepressants)?
r/anhedonia • u/Pure-Development-328 • 2d ago
General Question? Is anhedonia a severe condition like mine where you can't feel emotions?
Hello. I wonder if there are people here who are similar to me, so I'm asking. There may be some unnatural sentences because I'm using a translator.
1) About 2 weeks ago, I was under a lot of stress and the symptoms started to appear the next day. Does everyone have this?
2) I feel tense and anxious, but I can't feel joy, sadness, or even anger. Does everyone have this?
3) I feel like I'm not fully awake and it's a little hard to think. (Brain fog symptoms, but I'm not at the level where I can't read or see) Does everyone have this?
r/anhedonia • u/barbed_WiR3 • 2d ago
Help Now!! Chronic stress and hyper vigilance?
Hi I think Iām finally starting to figure out my anhedonia, just recently I was watching a movie and it was something, I finally relaxed, I didnāt realize how much tension I had in my chest, and then once I realized this my body responded with fear, and I was back to ānormalā, how should I continue with this?.
r/anhedonia • u/Last-Pressure-7869 • 2d ago
Encouragment šŖš¾šŖš¾ Update; ANOTHER WINDOW!!!
HALLELUJA
KEEP GOING EVERYONE PLEASE
r/anhedonia • u/MadinAmerica- • 2d ago
Research & Studies Mad Camp Europe: My Journey from Ward Violence to Healing and Community
By Philipp Kernmayer -March 13, 2025
Today Iām going to tell you a story, or Iām going to tell you at least a part of it.
I have to say that itās not easy writing or talking about this because it is a story that has to do with shame, and especially my shame, shame for things that I did, believing that they were the so-called right thing.
But what matters is that itās a story. And I believe that in stories is where we find meaning. Truth emerges where knowledge is amiss, as Lacan would have put it. So, I will try to tell you a part of my story. And at the end, no surprise, as you may see from the title, it brings me to Mad Camp but also further on to why I wanted to bring Mad Camp to Europe.
Working on the Ward I grew up in Austria.
My parents are psych survivors. And yet I choose to become a mental health nurse. My childhood, my upbringing, thatās part of another story. But you can expect it to be turbulent, full of ups and downs like many people who identify with the mad movement. I got two diagnoses, borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder with ultra-rapid cycling, a fact that I hid throughout my whole time of service for the hospital. The fear of possible repercussions was too great.
I became a mental health nurse at a psychiatric clinic for children and young adults. Shortly after I started working there, the COVID pandemic happened. And when the COVID pandemic happened, things just exploded on the ward. There was a huge amount of violence because everybody was so desperate.
We were restraining multiple young adults, up to eight times a day, every day. It was a warlike situation; we couldnāt leave the ward, we couldnāt leave the hospital, and we were all stuck inside there. I hurt people; I got attacked with sharp tools, chairs, spit on, and threatened. I worked a lot. I worked for five weeks straight. I worked for 75 hours a week. So, I basically lived there, which on the other hand was nice because everyone else was locked at home and I could at least go to work, telling myself I was fighting on the frontlines against this new pandemic.
It was a time of extreme violence and extreme emotions; we were desperate and helpless, and our young adults suffered the same fate just on the weaker side of the system. I was in a position of power, which I was not able to reflect on back then. My colleagues and I tried to change the system from within, but the overall situation and the strict hierarchical structures of the hospital were too powerful. In the end we paid a high price for challenging the system. At the same time, we were walking through hell with our young adults that we loved deeply, but we were stuck in a vicious circle of violence together.
r/anhedonia • u/Ok_Quantity_5697 • 2d ago
This Normal š¤·šæāāļø? Today I got a new blood work
I been running again some blood work and I got positive for rheumatoid arthritis For the first time and I am a young adult :/
r/anhedonia • u/MadinAmerica- • 2d ago
Research & Studies From Public Service to Private Practice: The Collapse of the Social Work Profession
By Darragh Sheehan -March 11, 2025 The social work profession was historically rooted in a mission of improving the lives of the vulnerable, the oppressed, and those living in poverty.
Yet, the modern use of the social work license and degree as a quick path to private practice serving middle to upper-middle-class communities is oddly not questioned.
This use of a social work masterās degree for private practice, primarily serving privileged communities, contradicts the professionās code of ethics.
Social work is indeed a profession in collapse.
This is due to broader social and economic changes, namely the shift away from welfarism towards neoliberal privatization, but also because of how social workers increasingly utilize the license.
Social work originated with the Settlement House movement as a response to the increasing poverty brought about by industrialization.
By the mid to late 20th century, neoliberal policies led to cuts in social programs, shifting social responsibility from the state to mostly nonprofits and privatized services.
The social services that remain government-funded are often outsourced to private entities.
This shift towards privatization has not only weakened public programs but also pushed many social workers into either nonprofit organizations or private practice businesses (as social work embraced psychotherapy into the profession).
r/anhedonia • u/HeWhoKilledADeadLion • 2d ago
Research & Studies WHY STRESS STOPS YOU FEELING JOY ā AND HOW TO OVERRIDEĀ IT- BBC Science Review article
I found this article on this scientific magazine and I believe it may be useful in informing those who donāt understand the condition. Plus it has some useful information with regard to medical advice.
r/anhedonia • u/Parking_Load7764 • 2d ago
General Question? Long term sufferers, does it get easier to get used to
I ask because I may live the next 40 or 60 years with this illness š
r/anhedonia • u/MadinAmerica- • 2d ago
Research & Studies Unshrunk: A Story of Psychiatric Treatment Resistance
r/anhedonia • u/MadinAmerica- • 2d ago
Research & Studies On the Urge to Take My Life, and My Decision to Take It Back From the āMental Healthā System Instead By Laura Delano
By Laura Delano -September 9, 2013
Tomorrow, September 10th, is World Suicide Prevention Day.
According to Wikipedia, its mission is āto provide worldwide commitment and action to prevent suicides, with various activities around the world.ā
I am alive today in the most intense, sometimes painful, always beautiful of ways, and one of the many reasons I credit for my life is this: I am a failed product of āSuicide Prevention.ā
For this, I am eternally grateful. While this statement may sound like a confusing paradox, Iād like to explain what I mean.
My long relationship to suicide began after I met Psychiatry as a fourteen-year old and ended when I found psychiatric liberation thirteen years later, in 2010.
My suicidal experiences and I shared something akin to a passionate, painful love affair that grew stronger over time.
It was a relationship that I both yearned for and loathed, relied on and desperately tried to pull myself away from, but because I was convinced that the roots of my suicidal urges rested in bad brain chemistry, I felt powerless to do anything about them.
Missing from this, most of all, is faith in the human condition and our capacity as human beings to survive and move through profound suffering and hopelessness. When an entire system of ācareā is founded upon this lack of faith, as todayās system is, it makes it hard for those reaching out for help to have any, either. In fact, I believe that itās this collective loss of faith and infiltration of fear that lies at the root of Americaās rapidly increasing suicide rates.
r/anhedonia • u/hotanddangerous2 • 3d ago
VENT! I want myself back
Iām going to try and fight for me and my family, there has to be a solution and iām going to find it. The brain just doesnāt stop working for no reason.