Anhedonia

Last reviewed Saturday, October 24, 2026

Anhedonia means losing the ability to enjoy things you used to enjoy, or to look forward to them. It’s one of the two core signs of depression, alongside low mood. It also appears with schizophrenia and with heavy drug or alcohol use, and it often improves when the cause is treated.

Also called: loss of pleasure; loss of interest; emotional flatness. The word comes from Greek for “without pleasure”.

Signs and symptoms

Things that used to bring joy feel flat or pointless: food, music, friends, sex, a favourite programme, even prayer or church. You may:

go through the motions without feeling much
stop making plans, because nothing seems worth looking forward to
pull away from people and turn down invitations
struggle to get started, even on things you’d normally want to do

It can feel more like numbness than sadness.

Types

Trouble enjoying things in the moment (consummatory anhedonia): the meal or the song just doesn’t land.
Trouble wanting or looking forward to things (anticipatory or motivational anhedonia): you can’t find the drive to start, though you might still enjoy it once you’re there.

Researchers increasingly treat these as separate problems, because wanting a reward and enjoying it rely on different systems in the brain.

Causes

Depression: WHO’s diagnostic manual lists loss of interest or pleasure as one of the two key symptoms of a depressive episode, present most of the day, nearly every day, for at least two weeks.
Schizophrenia: anhedonia is one of the “negative symptoms”, alongside low motivation and withdrawing from others.
Alcohol and drugs: anhedonia is common in people dependent on alcohol or drugs. It usually follows the heavy use rather than causing it, eases with time off the substance, and makes cravings and relapse more likely in the meantime.

Anhedonia isn’t laziness or ingratitude, and it isn’t something you can end by trying harder.

Treatment

Treatment depends on the cause. For depression, behavioural activation is one of the first-line talking therapies. With a therapist, you plan small, doable activities and do them before the enjoyment returns, instead of waiting until you feel like it. CBT and other structured therapies help too, and a doctor may prescribe an antidepressant such as an SSRI.

Newer therapies that focus on rebuilding pleasure and reward did better than a standard approach in two small trials in the US, and researchers are testing them further. When alcohol or drugs are involved, the flatness often lifts gradually after stopping, with support.

Day to day, it helps to keep regular sleep and waking times, stay active, eat regularly and spend time with people you trust, even while it all feels flat.

In Nigeria

Anhedonia often goes unnamed. Someone may say they’re tired, or “tired of everything”, rather than sad, or may first see a doctor about aches, poor sleep or a heavy head. Families can read it as laziness, ingratitude or a spiritual problem. WHO notes that in some communities, low mood and getting less done are seen as personal weakness, which keeps people quiet.

Naming it matters. In a Nigerian study of 829 people, loss of interest and low mood predicted depression much better than body symptoms did.

Anhedonia vs sadness, boredom and alexithymia

Sadness hurts, but good moments still break through. With anhedonia, the good moments don’t arrive. Boredom lifts when something interesting comes along; anhedonia doesn’t. Alexithymia is different again: the feelings are there, but they’re hard to recognise and put into words.

When to get help

See someone if the loss of pleasure has lasted two weeks or more, or it’s affecting your work, studies or relationships. You can book a licensed therapist on Mytherapist.ng who works with depression and mood disorders, or start with our depression screening test.

Research links anhedonia with thoughts of suicide, even apart from low mood. If you have thoughts of ending your life, get help now: call 112 (or 767 in Lagos), or Safe Place Nigeria on 0800 800 2000. The full list is on our helplines page.

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