[AlphaHydrae]

I do know I have lack of emotions but sadness, find no joy or interest in many thing.

 

[anhedonia]

I do know I have lack of emotions but sadness, find no joy or interest in many thing.

Same here (except sadness).

It's a living hell....

 

[AlphaHydrae]

Same here (except sadness).

It's a living hell....

WHy yes it is.

There is also the fact that there is a need to fake emotions in front of others which makes it so hard on ourself. It's as though there is this self contradtiction or conflict or something..if you get what i mean.

I suppose you have the thousand yard stare. or even the need to have those hollow eyes.

a living hell with our soul sucked out. just perfect.

 

[rymo]

Even when things were going well for me I was always very unhappy. Not depressed, but just lacking in joy. Nothing got me excited. At all. It wasn't until very recently that I discovered some hobbies that made me feel much more fulfilled that I started to take some pride in myself and start to find that joy. I think if there are things we want to do deep down inside but we are always too afraid or unmotivated to do them, we will just feel like empty shells. Everyone has their passions, and I feel that if you're not striving for those passions every day, you're just not going to feel the positive emotional effects of life.

 

[SVIIC]

Everyone has their passions, and I feel that if you're not striving for those passions every day, you're just not going to feel the positive emotional effects of life.

Yes, this.

I mean, I've lost my passion for games. Even when I hear about something that sounds good, I'm not actually into it emotionally, I'm just going through it logically in my head and deciding that it seems a good thing.

I need a job. But the fact that I am where I am is complicating everything :roll.

 

[anhedonia]

WHy yes it is.

There is also the fact that there is a need to fake emotions in front of others which makes it so hard on ourself. It's as though there is this self contradtiction or conflict or something..if you get what i mean.

I suppose you have the thousand yard stare. or even the need to have those hollow eyes.

a living hell with our soul sucked out. just perfect.

It is so hard to fake emotions.... so hard. As for thousand yard stare... yeah, I have that.

Everyday is the same day... there's no such thing as a bad/good day, and no matter what you do, it's the same day. Nothing in life is exciting, at all.

The worst part is, for me, you feel like everything is meaningless, and that life is meaningless.

What's the purpose of having a bf/gf? What's the point of having a career? What's point of anything when there is no reward for it? Everything seems pointless.

I have absolute no feelings or emotions... and I've been this way for 5 years, so I don't know remember what emotions use to feel like.

Even when things were going well for me I was always very unhappy. Not depressed, but just lacking in joy. Nothing got me excited. At all. It wasn't until very recently that I discovered some hobbies that made me feel much more fulfilled that I started to take some pride in myself and start to find that joy. I think if there are things we want to do deep down inside but we are always too afraid or unmotivated to do them, we will just feel like empty shells. Everyone has their passions, and I feel that if you're not striving for those passions every day, you're just not going to feel the positive emotional effects of life.

Well, I guess in a way it's good you can find some joy (I don't even know what that means anymore, I don't even feel like a human... I feel like a machine/robot/zombie observing the world)

Yes, this.

I mean, I've lost my passion for games. Even when I hear about something that sounds good, I'm not actually into it emotionally, I'm just going through it logically in my head and deciding that it seems a good thing.

I need a job. But the fact that I am where I am is complicating everything :roll.

Yes, the same exact thing for me.

Anyone else feel like they're a zombie/robot/machine that is observing the world?

 

[WanderingSoul]

I'm beginning to suffer from this. I'm not sure if it's because of a lack of job, structure, variety in life? Does OP have either of those?

I do not work and do the same thing every day - chatting, play video games, laying in bed, sleeping, work out, visit my parents. No variety, no real structure. Everything feels boring and I don't enjoy it. I'm assuming this is part of the cause of the anhedonia.

 

[anhedonia]

I'm beginning to suffer from this. I'm not sure if it's because of a lack of job, structure, variety in life? Does OP have either of those?

I do not work and do the same thing every day - chatting, play video games, laying in bed, sleeping, work out, visit my parents. No variety, no real structure. Everything feels boring and I don't enjoy it. I'm assuming this is part of the cause of the anhedonia.

It might be... you might have to try new things, but do you have emotions?

 

[Invisiblehandicap]

I dont have this. I have a lighter depression caused version. I can always feel anxiety though ill tell you that. I wish I could want things.

 

[Tristeza]

Oh, man, I confused Anedhonia w/ Alexithymia. I think I have the later, making it a lot diffcult to be emotionally intelligent and relating to others.

 

[sj11]

It is so hard to fake emotions.... so hard. As for thousand yard stare... yeah, I have that.

Everyday is the same day... there's no such thing as a bad/good day, and no matter what you do, it's the same day. Nothing in life is exciting, at all.

The worst part is, for me, you feel like everything is meaningless, and that life is meaningless.

What's the purpose of having a bf/gf? What's the point of having a career? What's point of anything when there is no reward for it? Everything seems pointless.

I have absolute no feelings or emotions... and I've been this way for 5 years, so I don't know remember what emotions use to feel like.

Well, I guess in a way it's good you can find some joy (I don't even know what that means anymore, I don't even feel like a human... I feel like a machine/robot/zombie observing the world)

Yes, the same exact thing for me.

Anyone else feel like they're a zombie/robot/machine that is observing the world?

I've had this my whole life pretty much and I'm now 28.

I can occasionally feel an emotion but it's so weak it's almost negligible. The fact that I only feel like I'm in my head and not in my body means that I don't think I've ever felt an emotion fully. It's more like part of my brain is observing the emotion and I'm not really experiencing it. My parents talk of divorcing as a child caused a few tears but I remember feeling no real sadness.

What you say is true, I see other people living fulfilling lives and I'm jealous but it's a logical thought in reality I don't think I'm able to have strong feelings about being like this (even though I do hate it). Being asexual also makes life feel even more pointless, I have almost never felt any sort of lust for any woman, I've kissed a few in the past but to be honest I got bored of it pretty quickly. There was a time in the past I could feel a weak orgasm but now I feel nothing from that either, so in alot of ways I feel I have more in common with a robot than a person.

All the joy and excitement that other people experience is missing from my life. When I was a child and my parents talked about getting married I knew then that I would never fall in love with anyone.

Talking to people often feels like a chore. They'll ask me about myself and just answering them I find it really hard to hide my complete apathy towards everything.

It's called a personality disorder (schizoid) but in reality part of my brain doesn't work (combination of dopamine transporter gene and or low dopamine receptors, might be other things involved as well).

What you say about every day feeling the same rings true with me, I said to my therapist recently it's like being in the film "Groundhog day". So far having therapy hasn't helped because no event in my life has caused me to be like this, there's no hidden trauma and nothing to talk through. When I leave my session with him I forget almost instantly that I was ever there (lack of emotion seems to tie in with very poor short term memory).

 

[riptide991]

I do, abilify worked but I had to quit it because it was costing me 200/month. I am now hoping Effexor will help. I think from doing a lot of research the primary neurotransmitter to look out after for anhedonia would be norepinephrine. Remeron/Zoloft worked for me in the past before they pooped out and Remeron targets norepinephrine. I also read a pretty extensive journal the other day where chronic coffee/caffeine intake severely downregulates the alpha adrenergic receptors quite a bit and could possibly contribute to anhedonia. As such today was my first day without coffee! I'm done with it for the time being.

DMAE may help some people with the increase in acetylcholine, though it's a hit or miss.

 

[jack61098]

I often feel little emotion even from things like loved ones dying but maybe you just need to find things that are really engaging.

 

[Twelve Keyz]

I've been suffering from this for years, and it's only getting worse. I feel like a zombie all the time.

 

[inerameia]

A test I took last year told me I had anhedonia. I think it was flawed though - there's a difference between not taking pleasure in things and not being able to take pleasure in things.

Isn't lack of emotion one of the hallmarks of anti-social personality disorder? Anti-social personality disorder is what psychopaths have. I'm not saying that you're a psychopath - anti-social personality disorder expresses itself in all kinds of ways - psychopathy is just one rare way. I just used that example to give you an idea of the disorder that I'm talking about. Then I start to think about autism and those kinds of disorders, but it sounds like you recognize emotion in other people, just that you can't seem to feel it.

Anyway, disregard most of what I just said and go see someone about it. That's your best bet.

No, anhedonia isn't a hallmark of ASPD. Lack of empathy is what you're thinking of.

 

[inerameia]

I've been suffering from this for years, and it's only getting worse. I feel like a zombie all the time.

Yeah, me too. Sucks. Remeron hasn't helped at all. What have you tried? I'm thinking of Klonopin with Focalin. That's just what I've got right now that actually works. But I have to wean off Remeron, right? I don't know.

 

[Miss Awesome]

No, anhedonia isn't a hallmark of ASPD. Lack of empathy is what you're thinking of.

I didn't say anhedonia is a hallmark of ASPD. I said lack of emotion, which isn't to say that people with ASPD don't recognize emotion, just that they don't feel it.

 

[nullptr]

Do you suffer from depression, if not give me your Anhedonia.

 

[inerameia]

I didn't say anhedonia is a hallmark of ASPD. I said lack of emotion, which isn't to say that people with ASPD don't recognize emotion, just that they don't feel it.

Oh okay, but people with ASPD do have emotions. They get angry, for example. They do feel emotions, but not the same way most do. You're referring to the lack of empathy.

EDIT: Actually... they do have shallow emotions. I'm not even an expert. I looked at some posts from people with ASPD.

 

[Miss Awesome]

Oh okay, but people with ASPD do have emotions. They get angry, for example. They do feel emotions, but not the same way most do. You're referring to the lack of empathy.

EDIT: Actually... they do have shallow emotions. I'm not even an expert. I looked at some posts from people with ASPD.

No, I'm not simply referring to lack of empathy.