[jules77]

hello psych central humans
i was wondering if any of you have experienced this as well: i am not extremely depressed, coming out of a bad depressive episode, but still am having deep feelings of apathy. i simply don't care to leave my house and do anything except necessary things. it's not because i'm incredibly sad and upset, i just don't care to do anything - i don't gain pleasure from most things. i get bored, but i don't really care that i do nothing. frustrating at this point, cause i need to do things with my life to move forward, but i don't care at all. is this anhedonia?

[Sesiley]

I'm the same way...I get bored and side tracked really easy too. I have no interests or hobbies

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Originally Posted by jules77

hello psych central humans
i was wondering if any of you have experienced this as well: i am not extremely depressed, coming out of a bad depressive episode, but still am having deep feelings of apathy. i simply don't care to leave my house and do anything except necessary things. it's not because i'm incredibly sad and upset, i just don't care to do anything - i don't gain pleasure from most things. i get bored, but i don't really care that i do nothing. frustrating at this point, cause i need to do things with my life to move forward, but i don't care at all. is this anhedonia?

To question one, experienced what you are describing? Yes. Though I'd be more likely to think of it as apathy, maybe with some quantifying term (such as mild, moderate or severe).

Concerning anhedonia, I can only describe it to you in the worst I ever had it. There was an extended period when everything and even everyone, right down to loved ones, had the same impact on me as looking at the leftover cardboard of a paper towels roll. No exaggeration. I felt nothing. It wouldn't even occurred to me to be frustrated. That would have required feeling. Of which I had zippo.

To question2 is what you're describing anhedonia? Could be. (It's worth your knowing that I have problem with recognizing lesser forms than the worst I've ever experienced of any given state.) Or maybe it's (most likely(?)), a residual effect from your depression. Did you have the "loss of interest in..." symptom? That might be a matter of that being the hardest to shake for you. Do you think that might be? Do past depressions echo that in any way?

[UncertainIdentity]

Yes. I'm experiencing that right now. Especially the boredom and a little frustration, but because I want a mentally-stimulating activity and nothing sounds good.

I'm not very good on terminology, but the literal definition (unable to feel pleasure) seems to fit what you describe? I guess the bigger question is, are your feelings pathological (in this case I mean related to brain chemistry) or situational? If you break down the descriptions of your mood even further, what do you find, if anything?

Thinking about my situation, I wonder if my boredom is coming from being stuck on a novel I started working on during a hypomanic phase. When I came down from that good mood, I started to feel inadequate (depression talking, maybe). Feelings of inadequacy led to me thinking my novel might actually be stupid. Now I am possibly afraid to keep working on it because I might scrap it altogether?

The reason I think it's possible is that what keeps repeating in my head is "I should work on my novel." When the word should comes up instead of want to, I think it's significant. My perspective has changed from one of enjoyment to one of obligation, even though the obligation is self-assigned. Then, when I think of other activities, I may be dismissing them because of self-assigned guilt over not wanting to work on my possibly-stupid novel.

So to bring it back to you, would it help to look a little deeper into those feelings of boredom and frustration? Is there a thought that is occurring to you that you might be shoving away due to other more specific feelings?

It might not be, and your feelings of apathy would nonetheless be valid, but it's just some food for thought.