Anhedonia

Anhedonia
Classification and external resources
Specialty	Psychiatry
MeSH	D059445
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Anhedonia (/ˌænhiˈdoʊniə/ AN-hee-DOH-nee-ə; Greek: ἀν- an-, "without" and ἡδονή hēdonē, "pleasure") is the inability to experience pleasure from activities usually found enjoyable, e.g. exercise, hobbies, singing, sexual activities or social interactions. While earlier definitions of anhedonia emphasized pleasurable experience, more recent models have highlighted the need to consider different aspects of enjoyable behavior, such as motivation or desire to engage in activities (motivational anhedonia), as compared to the level of enjoyment of the activity itself ("consummatory anhedonia").

According to William James, the term was coined by Théodule-Armand Ribot.

One can distinguish many kinds of pathological depression. Sometimes it is mere passive joylessness and dreariness, discouragement, dejection, lack of taste and zest and spring. Professor Ribot proposed the name anhedonia to designate this condition. "The state of anhedonia, if I may coin a new word to pair off with analgesia," he writes, "has been very little studied, but it exists."

Anhedonia can be a characteristic of mental disorders, including mood disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, schizoaffective disorder, borderline personality disorder, schizoid personality disorder, dysthymia and schizophrenia. For example, the 7th DSM-IV criterion for Borderline Personality Disorder: "chronic feelings of emptiness." Results indicate that emptiness is negligibly related to boredom, is closely related to feeling hopeless, pathologically lonely, and isolated, and is a robust predictor of depression and suicidal ideation (but not anxiety or suicide attempts). Findings are consistent with DSM-IV revisions regarding the 7th criterion for Borderline Personality Disorder. In addition, findings suggest the emptiness reflects pathologically low positive affect and significant psychiatric distress. People affected with schizophrenia often describe themselves as feeling emotionally empty.

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