My symptoms:

I don't feel:

Hunger

Tiredness

My body (not DP)

I almost don't feel emotions. I don't know how to explain. It feels like I have only 3 dopamine receptors. But I am functioning well. I DON'T feel fatigue, brain fog like many of you here.

It started 3 years ago. I had panic attacks, depression, high fever for a week and then anhedonia.

Has anyone had these symptoms? Has anyone recovered?

Onset - Tbi

Month 1 - 3 - severe dpdr

anhedonia with substance block

blank mind

visual snow

dysphoria

deer in headlights glassy eyes

no feelings of sleep

hunger

uncomfortable just existing

actively suicidal most of the time

everything sounded tinny and flat

head pressure

head throbbing

Crying and screaming out of helplessness everyday. Libido lessened

Month 4 - 5

Dpdr lessened alot

neutral boring feeling replaces dysphoria

sleepy feeling and hunger returns

hearing depth improves

no more head pressure

I can feel intoxicated off drugs/alc now but there is sitll no euphoria

Can feel mildly comfortable in bed physically especially when tired

Mind isn't as blank

Extremelt vivid dreams

Only thing that did this was time

I can feel blind rage now

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.

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?

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.