Five reasons you may be in ‘anhedonia’ – and how to treat it

We’re used to hearing about happiness at one end of the mental health spectrum and depression at the other.

But now an expert has revealed there’s a new word – anhedonia – to describe the ‘blah’ grey area in between.

Author Tanith Carey has penned a book, Feeling Blah? Why Anhedonia has left you joyless and how to recapture life’s highs, about the feeling of life ‘without pleasure’.

She told FEMAIL: ‘Anhedonia – from the Greek “without pleasure” – is how you feel you are no longer able to take pleasure in life.

‘You may also lose motivation to do what makes you feel good in the first place, creating a vicious circle.

There’s a new word – anhedonia – to describe the ‘blah’ grey area in between. Stock image used

‘While it can be a symptom of major depression, it can also be a standalone condition in which case you are not happy, not sad, but just stuck in the grey space in between where so many of us live our lives.’

Tanith said that one reason for the feeling can be being overwhelmed by modern life, explaining: ‘Life today can also overload us with more information than the human brain was ever designed to deal with.

‘This can overwhelm our brains with the stress hormone cortisol, which can dampen down the action of the feel-good chemicals, creating a feeling of numbness.’

‘But just because you’re not depressed, anhedonia matters. Anhedonia can be the red flag [showing] your brain’s reward system is not working as well as it should. 

‘One more stressor and it can make a cup already full to the brim run over.

‘It dims our enjoyment and experience of the world. Sex, our senses of smell and taste, our love of music, and socialising can all be dialled down by anhedonia.’

Here Tanith reveals the five tell-tale signs of Anhedonia and how to beat it…

Author Tanith Carey has penned a book about how to recapture life’s highs if you’ve been seeing things in shades of grey 

1. YOUR ORGASMS AREN’T AS STRONG 

Anhedonia can dial down the pleasure you get from touch, and that will mean sex and orgasms may not feel as good.

One reason may be disruption to dopamine levels in the brain’s main reward system, which is driven by feel-good brain chemical dopamine.

Tanith said: ‘Dopamine seems to have a key role not only in sexual craving – better known as lust – but it also seems to be an orgasm accelerator, making climaxes faster and easier to achieve.

‘So if you are in a state of “blah”, orgasms may take longer to achieve, fade more quickly or not feel as intense.’

How to beat the Blah:

Put on some music: touch and sex can be enhanced by music. In experiments, robots were used to stroke the skin on the forearm of volunteers with a brush. 

When music was played that the participants found sexy, they rated the touch as feeling more sensual.

2. YOU SEE THE WORLD IN SHADES OF GREY 

Does the world no longer seem to be in glorious technicolour and more in a palette of muted greys?

When you are feeling ‘meh’, you may see the world in more muted shades too.

In one experiment by researchers at the University Hospital of South Manchester, it was found that people who were not enjoying life were more likely to use the colour grey to describe how they felt.

One possible reason may be that the photoreceptors in the retina of the eye are the most energy-hungry cells in the body.

If brains of people with anhedonia are already running at a low ebb, their brains may not process the full range of colour coming into the eye, making the world look more drab.

How to beat the Blah:

Take a walk in the sunlight: bright, natural light triggers the release of feel-good brain chemical dopamine from the retina and has been found to improve colour vision. Plus, sunlight appears to increase the number of dopamine receptors in the brain.

One study of 68 healthy adults found that those who received the most sunlight exposure in the previous 30 days had a higher density of dopamine receptors in the reward and movement regions of their brains.

3. YOU’VE GIVEN UP PASTIMES YOU ONCE ENJOYED 

One of the first signs of anhedonia is that it dims your love of the activities you used to enjoy the most, whether it’s a sport, interest or favourite hobby.

Tanith explained: ‘Neuroscientists now know that enjoyment of a hobby or pastime is not just one thing. 

‘It’s divided into three parts: looking forward to doing it beforehand, enjoying it in the moment, and remembering it positively after so you want to do it again.

‘But if your brain’s reward system is no longer working as well as it should, you can’t get past the first stage.

‘You stop looking forward to things and stop believing they will make you feel good, and don’t do them at all, creating a vicious circle.’

How to beat the Blah:

To get your brain’s reward circuit back on track, try an evidence-based technique called ‘behavioural activation therapy’.

This involves doing a little bit of what you used to enjoy consistently, even if you don’t feel like it at first.

‘The first rule of behavioural activation is that doing something you used to enjoy, no matter how small, is always better than doing nothing,’ Tanith explains.

‘The second is don’t wait until you feel better to do it. Do it anyway. In other words, do the opposite of what anhedonia is telling you to do.

‘Even if you do just five or ten minutes a week of a hobby you’ve given up, whether it’s playing an instrument or doing something creative, keep going.

‘The evidence shows that if you keep going, the good feelings will eventually return, especially if you track your mood over the weeks.’

4. YOU STOP FEELING THE CHILLS WHEN YOU HEAR YOUR FAVOURITE SONG 

When you hear the best bit of your favourite song, it releases a shot of dopamine into your brain’s reward system.

This can cause physical changes too, like the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and you might get goosebumps on your skin.

One theory is that the brain mistakes the emotional reaction you are having for fear and reacts in the same way.

But if your reward system is not working as well as it used to, your reaction will be blunted and your emotional response to your favourite tunes will flatline.

How to beat the Blah:

‘Anticipation – and dopamine release – are such a major part of musical enjoyment; ration yourself,’ said Tanith.

‘Reset your musical dopamine level by putting off listening to a favourite song until next week, and then listening with intention.

‘When you do, notice the pace and pitch of the music, the sounds of the different instruments, while not doing anything else.’

There are other ways to recharge your enjoyment of your favourite tunes, adds Tanith.

‘Studies show that singing along with a song and as part of a crowd of people at a concert or in a choir will also boost the amount of dopamine music releases into your brain’s reward pathway, so gradually your enjoyment should return.’

5. YOUR FOOD TASTES BLANDER 

How sensitive you are to flavours is also influenced by changing levels of your brain’s feel-good chemicals.

‘If less dopamine is being released in your reward circuit, you won’t crave or enjoy the foods you usually do,’ says Tanith.

Hormone changes can also blunt our appreciation of flavour.

For example, falling oestrogen levels in midlife can lead to women making less of the saliva needed to break down food into individual chemicals so they can be tasted. 

Research by Turkey’s Ankara University found that 35 per cent of women said their palate was not as sensitive during menopause.

How to beat the Blah:

Herbs and spices – and sharp-tasting foods like vinegar and lemon – are flavours which can cut through and be strongly registered by our brains, even when our sense of taste is blunted. 

‘Other options are pepper, chilli, cinnamon, garlic powder (as long as it doesn’t contain too much salt) and ginger.

‘Feeling Blah? Why Anhedonia has left you joyless and how to recapture life’s highs’ is published by Welbeck from April 13

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