Has anyone else heard of (or do you have) anhedonia as a symptom or result of depression?
Anhedonia is defined as the inability to experience pleasure from activities that normally make people happy.
I feel disinterested in a lot of things that people normally enjoy- going to the movies, going out to dinner, partying, socializing, exercising, going to the beach, shopping, doing artwork, etc. I still do these things a lot of the time, but it feels forced (especially with exercise) and I don't really get any pleasure out of it. I would love for life to make me happy but it doesn't.
I feel like I'm never actually happy. I'm "fake happy" a lot of the time, and I smile and laugh enough to make people believe that I'm OK, but I'm never truly happy. I'm never satisfied with myself either or with anything that I do.
I hate feeling like this because I think it makes my boyfriend and my friends think I'm bored with them or I don't want to hang out with them. That's not true at all. I just feel miserable and have a lack of interest in doing much of anything.
My medication helps with this symptom to an extent and it has improved since I started the meds I'm on now, but it's still there a lot of the time. Does anyone else have any experience with this or has anyone heard of it before?