Worth the effort? Not if you’re depressed
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
Comments
WP Themes on 2009.12.24
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Vigrx on 2009.12.26
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WP Themes on 2009.12.26
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Kazza on 2011.07.04
For me it comes down to this:
If your mother told you to go and wash the car, and your reward for doing so was a smack in the face, would you do it enthusiastically?
Would you live your life doing things, with the ultimate reward for everything being a smack in the face?
If the reward was a smack in the face, there is no damn way you are going to go and do all those things just to receive that!
If the reward isn’t worth having, then you won’t do the required task. And then imagine if no rewards you could think of are worth doing the task? That is when doing the task becomes a job that you don’t get paid for. Why do it? You get nothing out of it, and it is a chore. Spend 16 hours a day doing things you hate, for no real reason and for no reward whatsoever. It’s all a bit pointless really.
Expand that to every iota of your life and you have anhedonia in a nutshell. There are no rewards worth having, but you still have to do all these stupid chores, all for no reason at all. Actually one reason I do these relentless chores is to shut other people up. So that is one reason, but it has nothing to do with a reward. I think it is called being driven by fear.
So you have to basically live your life being driven by fear. It’s a sad, lame existance that I hopefully won’t have to put up with for much longer.
admin on 2011.12.30
I hear you. I know what you are saying.
This is the first time I have been back to my own site in 2 years. EVERYTHING is better and some things are great – but even better – I can even handle the bad things well – like when my two “forever” dogs died last year – or I lost a business… I have been taking Selegiline for two years, 50- 60 mg per day the first 1.5 years and about 20 mg q day now. I have not been depressed for over two year – which is about 22 months longer than EVER before. I have been incredibly busy – but very productive AND I got married Oct 29 th. I am 58 years old and I finally have a life that I like for the first time in my life!! Never give UP.