Most people understand that depression can cause extreme sadness. It can make you feel helpless and hopeless and even take a physical toll on your well-being. But, another common symptom of depression that can be overlooked is anhedonia.
Anhedonia is characterized by a lack of interest in things you used to enjoy. You might not find joy in your favorite hobbies anymore. Maybe you don’t want to spend time with the people you love. Things that used to make you happy, or that you looked forward to no longer seem appealing.
Unfortunately, anhedonia can create a vicious cycle with your mental health. When you isolate yourself and stay away from the people and things you love, your symptoms of depression can become worse.
Let’s take a closer look at anhedonia and cover a few effective ways to cope with it.
What Does Anhedonia Look Like?
Depression can make you feel sad, but anhedonia isn’t the same as sadness. Rather, it can make you feel like you don’t have the ability to experience joy or pleasure. It can cause you to feel empty or numb. When you struggle with those feelings, it simply might not seem worth it to try things you used to enjoy or spend time with people you care about.
Some of the common feelings associated with anhedonia include boredom, numbness, and negativity. It’s also often confused with apathy, but the two are very different. Apathy refers to a loss of motivation. If you don’t have the energy to do something, you’re apathetic. That can also occur during depression, since fatigue is common with the condition. But, anhedonia refers to the loss of joy from doing things.
What Causes Anhedonia?
Anhedonia is a common symptom of depression because of the way your brain processes dopamine. Dopamine is the hormone responsible for making us feel good and happy. When you’re depressed, your brain produces less dopamine.
Additionally, the “pleasure center” of your brain can change when you’re depressed. So, you can start to view things that you used to enjoy differently. You might have once seen those things as happy rewards. Now, they don’t feel like anything.
What Can You Do?
The best thing you can do to cope with anhedonia is to get a grasp on your depression. Working with a mental health professional is often the most effective way to treat depression. A therapist can help you understand where it stems from while offering effective strategies to overcome your symptoms.
At home, self-care can make it easier to fight back against anhedonia. Regular exercise is a great place to start. Physical activity naturally releases dopamine into the brain, which can help boost your mood and make it easier to find joy in things you used to love.
Getting enough sleep, practicing mindfulness, or even journaling your thoughts can also make it easier to combat depression and the symptoms that go with it.
Even though you might not want to, try to engage yourself in activities you typically enjoy. Or spend time with close friends or family members. Even if it’s in small doses, doing these things can remind you of the rewards associated with them. They can also introduce bursts of dopamine into your brain, making you feel a bit better.
Depression, and the symptoms associated with it, don’t have to dictate your life forever. If you’re struggling with anhedonia and you’re ready to find enjoyment again, feel free to contact me to set up an appointment for depression counseling. Together, we’ll get to the root cause of your depression and work on healthy ways to cope, so you can move forward.