My comment,   —-here is why your ssri (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) or your ssnri (selective serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor)  anti-depressants are not addressing the symptom, very serious residual symptom, of anhedonia.

“New research indicates that decreased cravings for pleasure may be at the root of a core symptom of major depressive disorder. The research is in contrast to the long-held notion that those suffering from depression lack the ability to enjoy rewards, rather than the desire to seek them.

The research, led by Vanderbilt psychologists Michael Treadway and David Zald, was published Aug. 12 by the online journal PLoS One.

“This initial study shows that decreased reward processing, which is a core symptom of depression, is specifically related to a reduced willingness to work for a reward,” Treadway, a graduate student in psychology, said.

Decreased motivation to seek and experience pleasurable experiences, known as anhedonia, is a primary symptom of major depressive disorder. Anhedonia is less responsive to many antidepressants and often persists after other symptoms of depression subside. However, understanding the different components of anhedonia – the desire to obtain something pleasurable versus experiencing pleasure – has been difficult for researchers to determine in humans.

“In the last decade and a half, animal models have found that the neurotransmitterdopamine, long known to be involved in reward processing, is involved in craving or motivation, but not necessarily enjoyment,” Treadway said. “To date, research into reward processing in individuals with anhedonia has focused on enjoyment of rewards, rather than assessing the drive to work for them. We think this task is one of the first to do that.”             READ MORE AT THE LINK BELOW>

http://www.physorg.com/news169316755.html

I think BOTH the desire to experience pleasure and the ability to experience pleasure are significantly reduced.  How would you develop a ‘normal’ desire to experience pleasure-if the “reward”, the pleasure is not significant for you ?  Then perhaps it is one way for some people and another for others. What do you think?     Diane

Remember when you had a dream of what you wanted to be when you grew up.  Someone or something had impressed you-a cowboy, a firemen, a doctor, a nurse.  Dreams are made of inspired energy and inspired energy moves people toward goals.  I never considered what I wanted to be when I grew up.  I was a child with no dreams, no aspirations and goals. Nothing felt exciting or rewarding.  I had few friends, but it didn’t seem important.  I went to school because my mother made me go to school.  I went to church because my mother made me go to church.  But wherever I was there seemed to be nothing for me, nothing that had meaning, value, excitement.  I took piano lessons and I was bored.  I took violin lessons and I was bored. I took clarinet lessons – I was bored.  My mother finally quit bothering me with lessons.  I didn’t feel lonely, because I have never had any particular desire to be around people, except to meet basic needs.  In my world, everything has been nothing forever.  The only way I know there is something different, something much better, on a few occasions, once for a couple hours once for a couple weeks and once for two months I have broken through to the real world where good feelings are available. 

Then there is the constant watching of people doing what is called having fun and not understanding why, even when I am participating I’m just watching, because “fun” is just a subjective feeling that I don’t have. I’ve tried all kinds of sports, adventurers, moves, changes, experiences and diversions. Most of them were okay, and most of them I have no particular interest in repeating.  Sometimes a line from a song runs through my head, “57 channels and nothing’s on”,  “57 channels and nothing’s on”,  “57 channels and nothing’s on”.  It is hard to have this condition, but I can imagine it must be so much more devastating to have been normal, to have been able to participate and lost it.
Diane