ANHEDONIA: meaning, causes, symptoms and treatment

Life is usually easier to bear when we find something that allows us to enjoy or be passionate about it. The human as an instinctive being seeks pleasure and enjoyment, when we taste a portion of our favorite cake, when we practice our favorite sport or When we watch the television program that we like so much, we feel that no matter how heavy the day has been, we have a moment to enjoy and feel ourselves quiet. Pleasure and enjoyment can be achieved in many of the activities we do on a daily basis, but this can be seen affected when we suffer from something called anhedonia, that is why, in this Psychology-Online article, you we will explain the meaning of anhedonia, its causes, symptoms and treatment.

Index

1. Definition and meaning of anhedonia
2. Anhedonia: symptoms
3. Anhedonia and depression
4. Difference between anhedonia and abulia
5. Different between anhedonia and affective flattening
6. How to evaluate anhedonia
7. Anhedonia: treatment

The term anhedonia is used frequently in psychology, as it is a very prominent symptom in many of the mental conditions. People with anhedonia are characterized by excessive and constant inability to feel pleasure.

Next, we mention what are the symptoms of anhedonia more characteristic:

• There is a loss of interest or pleasure in all or most of the activities that are carried out on a daily basis.
• Little or no interest in hobbies or hobbies previously enjoyed. For example, they stop playing the sport they liked so much and children can justify that they are no longer attracted to the games they used to enjoy.
• Social isolation.
• Altered appetite.
• Tendency to show false emotions, pretending to show happiness when in reality it is not felt.
• Loss of libido or lack of interest in physical intimacy.

Anhedonia is not generalized, since it can also only manifest itself in some areas of life (social or physical). Here some or all of the experiences that cause pleasure or a feeling of well-being can be canceled.

Anhedonia is, without a doubt, a serious disorder that must be intervened, but in itself it is not a mental disorder. It is a symptom that is frequently shown in various mental pathologies, especially in the depressive disorders.

In the major depressive disorder, anhedonia occurs concurrently with the following symptoms:

• Anergy: the feeling of a lack of energy or strength.
• Insomnia or hypersomnia: difficulty falling asleep or excessive sleep.
• Feeling of worthlessness or excessive guilt.
• Decreased ability to think or concentrate.
• Recurring thoughts of death.

All of them in a simultaneous or fluctuating presentation represent a major depressive disorder. The mere appearance of anhedonia is not sufficient for the diagnosis of a mental disorder.

Abulia it is related to an alteration of the will, whereas anhedonia is involved in the disturbance of the subjective sensation of pleasure and well-being. The feeling of loss of pleasure can lead us to abandon all activities that express or represent a source of well-being or enjoyment.

Anhedonia is, then, the loss of ability to feel pleasure, but that even presenting that loss, the activities can be carried out.

People with affective flattening show a considerable reduction in emotional response, presenting themselves as seemingly unemotional subjects. People who experience affective flattening express that they cannot respond emotionally to events that may have previously produced some emotion.

The characteristics of affective flattening could be the following:

• In the face of good news, there is no emotional response of joy.
• Faced with an event that culturally can generate fear, there is no sign of this emotion.
• Few or no events can produce emotions in the person.

L. Chapman and M. Raulin (1976) proposed two scales called "Chapman scales", which help to assess anhedonia. This scale measures physical and social anhedonia.

The scale for physical anhedonia is a 61-question self-administered questionnaire that assesses the ability to experience pleasure from physical stimuli, such as food, sex, and touch. The scale for social anhedonia It is a self-administered 40-question questionnaire that assesses the ability to experience pleasure from social stimuli (for example, talking or going out with other people).

In order to diagnose anhedonia, a mental health professional must be in charge of evaluating the person's ability to experience pleasure.

For the treatment of anhedonia, it is necessary to intervene first in the exploration of the cause of this symptom (for example, a depressive disorder, schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder or a neurocognitive disorder).

The treatment it will depend on the cause of the anhedonia. In some people who experience anhedonia, improvements have been observed after taking medications that increase the levels of dopamine (the neurotransmitter involved in pleasure), for example, norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitors or those known as SSRIs (serotonin reuptake inhibitors).

As a natural treatment for anhedonia, another alternative is the practice of yoga and meditation when combined with exercise. A radical change also in diet and sleep hygiene can help, for example:

• Reduction in the consumption of processed food.
• Reduction of the consumption of caffeine, alcohol and sugar.
• Reduction of the use of the telephone in bed at bedtime or any other object that does not allow the initiation of sleep.

It is also necessary to explore or seek activities that can produce positive stimulation in our lives despite the absence of the feeling of pleasure. It is advisable to maintain that contact with these stimulations.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Anhedonia: definition, causes, symptoms and treatment, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.

• L. Chapman; M. Raulin. (1976). Scales for physical and social anhedonia. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. Winsconsin, Madison.