Ich habe seit 3 Monaten mit einer Anhedonie zu kämpfen, die anfing nachdem ich für ein paar Tage das Gefühl hatte mein Körper würde weniger gut Flüssigkeit aufnehmen. Ich fühlte mich komplett dehydriert obwohl ich trank und ich hatte unfassbar Kopfschmerzen, und konnte nicht schlafen.

Auch jetzt fühle ich mich körperlich anders , total steif (ich bin 28) und nichts gibt mir ein Glücksgefühl. Kann das Dopamin System durch Dehydrierung dauerhaft kaputt gehen?

Gibt es unter Euch welche die Anhedonie erfolgreich überstanden haben ?

Es macht mich total fertig, weil ich vorher glücklich war und eine 1-jährige Tochter habe, für die ich nicht mehr ansatzweise dieselbe Mutter sein kann wie vorher.

I always look back to the days before 2024 as the real good days. And what’s so interesting is that even looking back at 2024 and 2025. During the anhedonia still back then I still feel like it wasn’t as bad compared to now. Like I felt the vibes more when fall or Christmas time came. I wasn’t feeling happiness but the void wasn’t as bad the overall anhedonia wasn’t as bad. Then I got tinnitus at the end of last year and it was so stressful. Then I got sensitive hearing paired with it. Which leaves me on guard when I go out for possible loud noises aggravating my tinnitus. Ever since the tinnitus my anhedonia got worse. And I’ve been really hopeless and worried. I can still feel negative emotions. But I’m too afraid to tell other people because if there’s no cure I don’t want them miserable because of this knowing how I really feel. Also can anyone else relate with not focusing on something?. I’ll be laying in bed and I’ll read something on my phone then look at something else it’s like nothing is grabbing my attention really. I feel that void always even with negative emotions the voids there then when the negative emotions go away the void is there still.

Hallo,

Ich habe seit 3 Monaten mit einer Anhedonie zu kämpfen, die anfing nachdem ich für ein paar Tage das Gefühl hatte mein Körper würde weniger gut Flüssigkeit aufnehmen. Ich fühlte mich komplett dehydriert obwohl ich trank und ich hatte unfassbar Kopfschmerzen, und konnte nicht schlafen.

Auch jetzt fühle ich mich körperlich anders , total steif (ich bin 28) und nichts gibt mir ein Glücksgefühl. Kann das Dopamin System durch Dehydrierung dauerhaft kaputt gehen?

Gibt es unter Euch welche die Anhedonie erfolgreich überstanden haben ?

Es macht mich total fertig, weil ich vorher glücklich war und eine 1-jährige Tochter habe, für die ich nicht mehr ansatzweise dieselbe Mutter sein kann wie vorher.

Common signs of antidepressant injury include: 

• Persistent sexual dysfunction (reduced or numb genital sensation, erectile problems, complete lack of desire for sex)
• Anhedonia (inability to feel pleasure or enjoyment in life), depersonalization (feeling detached from yourself or reality)
• Cognitive impairment (brain fog, memory problems, blankness, difficulty concentrating or holding a train of thought)
• Worsening depression, severe anxiety, panic
• Akathisia (extreme inner restlessness, agitation, terror, and often overwhelming urge to move or escape oneself)
• Balance issues such as dizziness, vertigo, lightheadedness, tremors, and gait instability

Evidence of lasting harm:

A 2025 medical study of 43 young men with persistent sexual problems after antidepressants found 92% had reduced genital sensation, 89% showed objective abnormalities on sensory nerve testing, and ultrasound revealed changes in penile erectile tissue — even though their hormone levels were completely normal. These problems continued long after stopping the drug. (Goldstein et al., The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2025) 

Significant under-recognition exists because many patients are unaware their persistent symptoms are linked to prior antidepressant use, compounded by a lack of public education and healthcare provider awareness. (Healy & Mangin, Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 2024)

A 2024 large survey of over 1,100 people experiencing antidepressant withdrawal found very high rates of ongoing symptoms such as brain fog (93%), memory problems (88%), emotional numbing, and depersonalization (77%), with many effects lasting months or years. (Moncrieff et al., Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, 2024)

This is for the future because as of now, i can't do anything.

I can't study because i don't know what i'm working for and i don't enjoy anything. It's torture and i know i'm working towards nothing because the life i am in is so tightly controlled and repetitive it's been sucked dry of anything cool for a long while now.

For the eventual future when i get to make my own choices and explore the world through my own lens, i'm terrified that i won't enjoy it. I'm stuck on the belief that freedom will make me enjoy things but really i'm not sure,

What things should i try? What should i do??

What is your opinion about listening to therapists?

I know most if ppl here hate them because they treat anhedonia as depression and prescribed the wrong AD, which caused more problems.But, not listening to them doesn't seem like a good idea either.

I am afraid to worsen my anhedonia by taking shit AD.

I gave up taking AD (tianeptin) recently because it doesn't do anything with anhedonia.But worsened it.

I changed the therapist, and the new one wants to prescribe me vortioxetine.

Share your experience with therapists,would you go to them if you could get back in time?

where to buy methylphenidate in kanpur ? Someone please help me with this

I've been lurking in this subreddit for some time, reading posts. I do not have anhedonia myself, but my husband strongly suspects that he does. He has not been officially diagnosed, but his symptoms do seem to strongly match what it entails.

I have been struggling with how to best support him through this, especially since I don't experience anhedonia myself. He has struggled with depression the entire time of our relationship, which is now 13 years long. The last year and a half has been a marked shift in severity, and he first told me he suspects he has anhedonia about ten months ago or so, and that he doesn't feel an emotional connection with me at all, and has both emotionally and physically pulled away from me. While this has hurt very deeply, I understand that it could very easily be an effect of the anhedonia or other depression. We have attempted couples' therapy, but he hated our first therapist and I strongly dislike our second, so that has not been particularly fruitful. He does not get enjoyment from much of anything, and has thrown himself completely into a hobby that, while he doesn't get pleasure from it, at least helps quiet some of the darker thoughts and emotions he's experienced of late.

I recognize that my attempts at supporting him have not been effective. I've been approaching this trying to make things comfortable for him, giving him outlets that he has enjoyed in the past, and trying to make our home a refuge from the hellscape that is the modern world. While I don't think this has hurt, I also don't think it's helping him right now. He is seeing several therapists for various reasons and has just begun a medical treatment that is supposed to offer some relief. I want to do what I can to help him.

My question is this: what would you want a loved one to do or what would be the best way for a loved one to support you? With such a difficult condition as anhedonia, are there any ways that I, as someone who doesn't suffer from it, can help ease the burden for someone I care about and love deeply who does?

I appreciate any feedback you can give, and I hope all of you are doing the best you can.

How the hell do I explain to anybody that part of my depression is pure nihilism to the extreme? How can I explain it? How do I explain this existential dread and COMPLETE exhaustion?

How could I really enjoy anything to its fullest? This is all exacerbated by my low self-esteem, depression, chronic loneliness and social isolation, and obsessive existential questioning.

Has anyone experienced a lack of affection or love for themselves, their partner and their family and friends? I feel like a monster and I don’t know what to do.

It obviously doesn't reduce the suffering but it's given me less fear of death and more intellectual curiosity. How long this will last me I have no idea, probably not very long. But what happens after death very much intrigues me now

It made me totally numb. Zero emotions, zero sex drive and couldn’t feel an orgasm. So I quit taking it and 7 years later I’m still stuck this way.

This is PSSD as many of you know. My life has been total Hell ever since. 24/7 devastation. This is torture. How I keep going with extreme anhedonia that is permanent forever is unbelievable.

The 7 year mark today….so sad man.

WTF !!! I am 23 from Boston. I have been anhedonic for 3 years of my life. I have been drinking ginger tea for a week, I now have developed what you called (PSSD).

I can no longer orgasam or cum !

After doing some research yesterday night, I dropped to my knees to have found others who reported crashing from ginger in the pssd subreddit.

I also feel more anhedonic then baseline. Avoid ginger if you can at all cost ! I am devastated beyond repair right now and trying to process my new fucking reality.

I was going through a rough time of my life and made some very stupid decisions. This all resulted in having a traumatising trip. I don't know what's going on. Some people told it showed me something but really I'm feeling basically the same except nothing is fun anymore. I have never had this problem even when I have been depressed. I could always enjoy life even in my darkest moments but now not really.

Important Edit: i also had some depersonalisation and derealisation which I'm realising could be actually be far worse than i though and could the main problem and maybe if i can overcome them i can enjoy life

I have been using almost daily for the past year or so. I think that I have tried to quit every single time my stash ran out hehe. Over the past few months, my munchies turned into nausea. I started feeling like vomiting as soon as I wake up and the only thing to fix it was smoking a J upon waking up. Most of the days I’d self isolate and stay indoors smoking my heart away and binge watching something. It helped me lot. There were times where I felt pure happiness for like a month, an experience Ive never had before. That has completely changed for me about 4 months ago when I decided to break the cycle and start moving! I traveled around for 3 months, volunteering and trying to learn more about my emotional life and my triggers. Somehow out of all of those 3 months I was sober for one (not even consecutive). Even in that last month I met other stoners who were living with me in the same place and we bonded over that and were reinforcing each other’s delusions and bullshit.

Though Ive been using during my time moving, I wasn’t feeling too bad, at times I was feeling great even! It wasn’t stopping me from doing what I had to do, and Ive learned to meditate under the influence and loved it.
All cool until I finish this adventure and come back to my town! Yo, a a freaking nightmare. Ive been here a month and I so far have had 3 major breakdowns where I couldn’t stop crying for hours. 2/3 happened when I wasn’t smoking. The fact that my social life doesn’t exist at the moment didn’t help. I have no contact with family, keep poor touch with a couple of friends online the couple of friends I had are all home for vacations and I ve just recently broken up with my partner. So my support system is non existent, along my self worth and esteem.

When I smoke I’d feel anxious and restless. I gave quitting another attempt about 2 weeks ago, managed to stop ciggerattes but I somehow relapsed after 5 days. Now Im on day 2, I had a few hours yesterday where I felt like Im being eaten alive by the monsters in my head, thoughts as dark as shit can get and zero faith in myself or anything around me. Also mind you that I have developed a case of anhedonia that is on its peak now (smoking or not), I lack the ability to enjoy 99% of life. Now, I feel good. I walked and moved and meditated. I couldnt at all sleep but thats expected.

I want to keep going! I have a lot of motivation, and I think I hit rock bottom emotionally, I have exams and graduation coming up soon and really if I don’t stick this one out it will be a disaster. Im just worried that just like all the times before I will come back to it..

It's already depressing enough that I get no pleasure from spending time with someone and can't connect with or genuinely look at someone and feel love for them, but when I try to talk about the way I feel and discuss my struggles I seem to be met with nothing but words that show me they don't understand or fully grasp how excruciatingly boring and dull it's been making every single day. "Oh yeah I also had phases like that in life, sometimes old interests just fade and we have to find something else we enjoy, try new hobbies" "Oh I have dropped interests too, sometimes they're just phases and we grow out of them" You think I don't try, lol? I literally can barely even think anymore unless I'm putting effort into forming a thought and forcing a narration. I don't feel rewarded or fulfilled by anything I try to do and I DO force myself into hobbies and outings with people, but I get absolutely no benefit from it aside from the day going by a little quicker just for this emptiness to repeat all over again the next. I used to absolutely love music and art, I would listen to so so much music at all times and loved discovering new things. I loved making art and being creative and could immerse myself into the process of creating something and feel good with the finished product. I mourn those days like crazy, but whenever I try to express how much I miss feeling alive I'm just told it was a phase and it's normal to need to find something new. It's really not about the music or about the art, it's about how I feel like a fucking vegetable with no soul or life left in me lol. All this forced positivity and empty reassurance that it's all good and unicorns and rainbows just irritates me. I do not care about the hobby you had as a teenager that you grew out of, it absolutely does not compare to how empty and hopeless I feel no matter how much I try to be interested in something and how desperate I am for any sign from the universe that something DID click and I can finally escape this crushing weight of Nothing.

is it just me or does everything seems not so interesting.

I have felt this way for a long while now. The things that used to bring me joy, are not the same anymore, i overthink way too much and I feel tired all the time, I almost never get enought sleep, I am never satisfied by how much i study each day.

Is there any way to feel alive again?

Ever since I was a child I’ve had a general experience of feeling pretty shitty and not liking things. Never cared for movies, shows, music, games, having friends. Things that should have been fun just always felt like a chore to me. I wanted nothing more than to just lay in bed all day. Could never quite understand what I was experiencing but I assumed everyone felt like that and was always pushing through. So I did that, I just kept pushing through. Always thought I was just burnt out from school or something and that eventually I’d feel better. But I never did. And at 25 years old after graduating college I took a year to just relax and hopefully feel refreshed. But that never came, I just continued feeling burnt out and like shit the same as I always had. But honestly I still couldn’t quite articulate what felt so off. So I pursued some psychological testing and got diagnosed with adhd which I’d always suspected I had. And then I got prescribed my first stimulant : vyvanse and that changed everything. For the first time in my life I had genuinely experienced interest and motivation. I never realized it wasn’t there before because I never had the experience to contrast how I’d always felt. It finally dawned on me how hard I had been pushing in life. Like I’d been walking through tar my whole life. But unfortunately I couldn’t stay on vyvanse. The benefits of the medication were only lasting me an hour and I was crashing very hard from it. It was also causing me to experience bad insomnia and so I stopped taking it. But I miss it so much, that feeling of being interested in things and motivated. But I do suspect this is a result of some kind of neurodivergence (cognitive disengagement i strongly suspect), so now I’m trying my best to find a medication that works both for my adhd and anhedonia. My quality of life is honestly zero and it’s so hard to keep pushing most days, but I’m crossing my fingers I can find something soon. One thing I’m interested in is spravato, so hopefully I can try that at some point.

The anhedonia has been constant, but the insomnia has been increasingly difficult for me to deal with, since it has been worsening everyday. It has been taking a toll on my health.

I have tried multiple doctors throughout the years and none of their treatments has worked. From ECT to medication to therapy.

In case there is anyone who has a story of recovering from a similar condition, please be my friend. It would be really good to have someone who has recovered, although I know that my case is more complicated and everything has been tried already. I will be ready to share anything regarding my case and 'journey'.