Help How do you counteract anhedonia?

[glad it’s night]

Have you ever felt like you don't want to do anything, yet you're bored out of your mind at the same time? My desire to wake up in the morning has slowly ebbed away. Years ago, I'd be up for productive tasks. Then I started only having the drive for leisure or hobby activities like watching tv or playing guitar. Now I don't even want to do things I previously found fun. I almost like workdays now, because otherwise I'm just stuck in a rut. I'm empty and blank at work too, but at least the time passes more quickly. If you've overcome anhedonia, how did you do it?

 

[WeDontKnowTheFuture]

I do think that anhedonia is something that pass over time, there is not specially something to do except to accept it and to not force things to go on the other direction as it could just worsen the anhedonia. This is what i did last year when i was very depressed. I just abandon myself to the anhedonia and at some point it stops for some reason that i can't grasp.

 

[-Link-]

"Behavioural activation" is the approach here, the concept being that even if you don't feel like doing something, if you do it anyway, you'll experience some positive emotion from it.

In other words, "Just do it."

Yes... "Just do it..." Personally, I loathe that statement when it comes to anything about mental health, but this is pretty much the only answer to addressing anhedonia as a standalone symptom.

With this, you'd think about what hobbies you've enjoyed in the past or think about what activities might interest you if you weren't currently under a cloud of anhedonia. Pick one of those things, and just start doing it, and keep with it for a long enough time that you give your brain a chance to overcome the anhedonia -- probably at least a half-hour. If, after that point, you haven't experienced any positive feeling from it at all, then it's probably best to try something else.

This is by far one of the most challenging aspects of depression to address, so be very patient with yourself and give yourself lots of credit for anything you're able to accomplish with this approach.

 

[Young]

Jump rope or some jumping jacks. You don't have to wreck yourself, just get your heart rate up. Then, do the things that you used to enjoy. You may also try new things like learning a song or watching a new show.