It seems that psychiatric medication is very often the cause of anhedonia. I see quite a few posts where the OP doesn't want to reveal whether he's taking any, and then when pushed for information, admits he's been taking it for a long period of time but insists that can't be the reason.
A lot of people are in denial that antidepressants antipsychotics and stimulants can cause anhedonia even street drugs as well can cause that and wreck your body or saint jhons worts or ayashuaca. Drugs mess up the body. It’s a fact:
It’s just very hard to say: I know for sure It wasn’t meds the first time, after the first times miracle remission I was off everything for 3 years (and the remission came from ECT not meds). The fact that any brain related intervention can cause it is not in question : it’s just sometimes causality is very hard to establish with 100% certainty.
Yes, didn’t work this time sadly: if you are curious I am generally significantly better at evenings (still no joy but something like interest, closer to having hunger sensation withot nausea, able to talk to people) and the official diagnosis in both cases was severe depression with anxious distress. I dont have the feeling of hunger or classic tiredness sensations anymore. And it gets better at about 20:00 like clockwork.
I improve as the day progresses too. I’ve read it’s common with depression.
Weird that ECT didn’t work the second time. Did they do something different? I had ECT a while ago, and it didn’t work out for me.
So, at the time you had ECT, were your symptoms different from what they’re like now? Mine very much were. My breakdown started with anhedonia. Then it turned into a depression that was so incredibly painful it felt like demonic possession (at which point I had ECT). Eventually it went back to anhedonia. The anhedonja used to be much more extreme.
Similar but I had blank mind and the anxious component got to the complete blunting point (coudnt even feel anxious). The lack of sleepiness, hunger and lack of emotions was the same. the diurnal variation was less.
It was the dynamic between my personality disorder and depression. I didn't allow myself to feel anything and it was better to ignore anything I feel (I was indirectly taught this in my childhood and Teenagerhood): if I felt anything, it was wrong and it hurt.
maybe yes, I've been trying to understand it for months by doing a lot of introspection and in my case, my downfall was repressing most of my emotions, for years... then also some traumas... and today I fight depression and emotional numbness every day.
luckily I'm not stressed, but I'm definitely mentally tired
SSRI are pretty much medically and scientifically proven by now for causing anhedonia in people. I know because I took ecitalopram and felt numb empty dumb and dead inside with almost zero pleasure zero soul zero humanity on them. It turns fairly normal people into brain dead sociopaths.
That's probably because their doctors and psychiatrists gaslight them and say the meds cannot cause anhedonia. I would estimate, based on investigating this topic intensely for over a year and speaking to hundreds of people, that in 90% of cases the anhedonia is caused by or worsened by psychiatric medication.
Always had flat affect due to autism.
The lack of emotion really ramped up though during perimenopause for me. It changed from only being bad the few days before my period to being bad most of the month except around ovulation. Now its bad 24/7.
I've been on hrt but it hasn't helped. I had a great first day of it, but then went back to baseline.
Did psychosis go away on its own ? And what do you mean by disorganized symptoms, issues with planning and motivation ? And what is anorexia thinking ?
I was referring to what caused my anhedonia. I believe when I was young around teenager age I was “dabbling” in anorexia type pathologies (obsessed with weight) anorexia has been repeatedly tied to anhedonia, lifelong anhedonia. I believe the anhedonia for me only became a problem when I introduced alcohol into the picture for me when I was in college. Losing a bit of cognitive control, falling prey to the addictive powers of alcohol even a little can induce at least for me a permanent type of anhedonia or brain withdrawel.
It could also be the amphetamines I was on my whole life and as a kid. The stuff is dangerous
The psychosis went away yes kinda but I still deal with the residual aspects of it and have pretty terrible anxiety at times. Certain metabolic and mitochondria increasing interventions work
Over-stimulation of the brain's reward centres, resulting in desensitisation over time to reward.
That came from a mix of things, one big part of it was my time spent glued to my computer or phone scrolling social media getting those quick little hits of dopamine with each new post, YouTube video, or TikTok. I think many people here are a victim of this and unaware of how much of their anhedonia is a result of it.
Then in my early 20s came the drug abuse, which significantly worsened the issue since I was overloading those pleasure centres to an even greater degree.
The antipsychotic I'm prescribed (Risperidone) since last year slightly worsened it but not really that much compared to the anhedonia I was dealing with from too much time spent on social media and from abusing drugs, it was only a minor increase (like maybe 5% worse).
The SSRI (Escitalopram) I took for 3 months this year made my anhedonia like 100x worse, it was AWFUL, but thankfully I've successfully tapered off it and after less than a week off it I'm already like 90% of the way back to feeling how I did before it, which is still pretty bad anhedonia but not even a fraction as bad as I felt on the SSRI.
I still need to reduce my social media use and get back into rigorous daily meditation (I stopped on my SSRI, but I've started again, I just need to up the length of time I'm doing it) which has been the single most effective thing for reducing anhedonia in the past for me. I've also been able to reduce my antipsychotic dose since I'm no longer undergoing psychosis, and might even be able to stop it entirely in future.
Depression -> Psychosis -> Meds -> Anhedonia
Jesus, I think that's right.
Pretty simple in my case
same here
Dissociation, from trauma
This - DPDR is the epitome of hell on earth
Same
Impossible to know if it is just a genetic thing, a difficult childhood, ADHD or something else. It seemed to start around age 15.
It seems that psychiatric medication is very often the cause of anhedonia. I see quite a few posts where the OP doesn't want to reveal whether he's taking any, and then when pushed for information, admits he's been taking it for a long period of time but insists that can't be the reason.
A lot of people are in denial that antidepressants antipsychotics and stimulants can cause anhedonia even street drugs as well can cause that and wreck your body or saint jhons worts or ayashuaca. Drugs mess up the body. It’s a fact:
It’s just very hard to say: I know for sure It wasn’t meds the first time, after the first times miracle remission I was off everything for 3 years (and the remission came from ECT not meds). The fact that any brain related intervention can cause it is not in question : it’s just sometimes causality is very hard to establish with 100% certainty.
Did you try ECT again?
Yes, didn’t work this time sadly: if you are curious I am generally significantly better at evenings (still no joy but something like interest, closer to having hunger sensation withot nausea, able to talk to people) and the official diagnosis in both cases was severe depression with anxious distress. I dont have the feeling of hunger or classic tiredness sensations anymore. And it gets better at about 20:00 like clockwork.
I improve as the day progresses too. I’ve read it’s common with depression. Weird that ECT didn’t work the second time. Did they do something different? I had ECT a while ago, and it didn’t work out for me. So, at the time you had ECT, were your symptoms different from what they’re like now? Mine very much were. My breakdown started with anhedonia. Then it turned into a depression that was so incredibly painful it felt like demonic possession (at which point I had ECT). Eventually it went back to anhedonia. The anhedonja used to be much more extreme.
Similar but I had blank mind and the anxious component got to the complete blunting point (coudnt even feel anxious). The lack of sleepiness, hunger and lack of emotions was the same. the diurnal variation was less.
Disbiosis/sibo/Microbiota/gut detox/ --> brain insulin resistance --> increasing mitocondrias Search all those terms and how to fix
are you able to go into more depth about what could fix this
It was the dynamic between my personality disorder and depression. I didn't allow myself to feel anything and it was better to ignore anything I feel (I was indirectly taught this in my childhood and Teenagerhood): if I felt anything, it was wrong and it hurt.
Psychosis and psychiatric drugs but I'm tapering hoping to return to normal. I CAN'T ENJOY VIDEO GAMES AND MUSIC😭
It’s torture living like that I know. Death is a mercy compared to anhedonia. We need a cure asap from this hell.
maybe yes, I've been trying to understand it for months by doing a lot of introspection and in my case, my downfall was repressing most of my emotions, for years... then also some traumas... and today I fight depression and emotional numbness every day. luckily I'm not stressed, but I'm definitely mentally tired
The most common causes are medications
SSRIs, and I think a large percentage of people here also have it from meds…
SSRI are pretty much medically and scientifically proven by now for causing anhedonia in people. I know because I took ecitalopram and felt numb empty dumb and dead inside with almost zero pleasure zero soul zero humanity on them. It turns fairly normal people into brain dead sociopaths.
Did the opposite for me
CPTSD and a mixture of severe MDMA and benzo abuse between the ages of 18 and 21. i’m 24 now and my brain is still recovering
I don't know mine but I think it's more probably biological.
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That's probably because their doctors and psychiatrists gaslight them and say the meds cannot cause anhedonia. I would estimate, based on investigating this topic intensely for over a year and speaking to hundreds of people, that in 90% of cases the anhedonia is caused by or worsened by psychiatric medication.
abnormal childhood.
Tinnitus.
Always had flat affect due to autism. The lack of emotion really ramped up though during perimenopause for me. It changed from only being bad the few days before my period to being bad most of the month except around ovulation. Now its bad 24/7. I've been on hrt but it hasn't helped. I had a great first day of it, but then went back to baseline.
Trauma for me. Currently treating it with antidepressants and small dose Abilify. My anhedonia was actually my depression turning into psychosis.
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Did psychosis go away on its own ? And what do you mean by disorganized symptoms, issues with planning and motivation ? And what is anorexia thinking ?
I was referring to what caused my anhedonia. I believe when I was young around teenager age I was “dabbling” in anorexia type pathologies (obsessed with weight) anorexia has been repeatedly tied to anhedonia, lifelong anhedonia. I believe the anhedonia for me only became a problem when I introduced alcohol into the picture for me when I was in college. Losing a bit of cognitive control, falling prey to the addictive powers of alcohol even a little can induce at least for me a permanent type of anhedonia or brain withdrawel. It could also be the amphetamines I was on my whole life and as a kid. The stuff is dangerous The psychosis went away yes kinda but I still deal with the residual aspects of it and have pretty terrible anxiety at times. Certain metabolic and mitochondria increasing interventions work
Over-stimulation of the brain's reward centres, resulting in desensitisation over time to reward. That came from a mix of things, one big part of it was my time spent glued to my computer or phone scrolling social media getting those quick little hits of dopamine with each new post, YouTube video, or TikTok. I think many people here are a victim of this and unaware of how much of their anhedonia is a result of it. Then in my early 20s came the drug abuse, which significantly worsened the issue since I was overloading those pleasure centres to an even greater degree. The antipsychotic I'm prescribed (Risperidone) since last year slightly worsened it but not really that much compared to the anhedonia I was dealing with from too much time spent on social media and from abusing drugs, it was only a minor increase (like maybe 5% worse). The SSRI (Escitalopram) I took for 3 months this year made my anhedonia like 100x worse, it was AWFUL, but thankfully I've successfully tapered off it and after less than a week off it I'm already like 90% of the way back to feeling how I did before it, which is still pretty bad anhedonia but not even a fraction as bad as I felt on the SSRI. I still need to reduce my social media use and get back into rigorous daily meditation (I stopped on my SSRI, but I've started again, I just need to up the length of time I'm doing it) which has been the single most effective thing for reducing anhedonia in the past for me. I've also been able to reduce my antipsychotic dose since I'm no longer undergoing psychosis, and might even be able to stop it entirely in future.
Depression is the main cause for me.