Is NOT feeling anything a form of depression too?

As in being unable to feel happiness, excitement, love or even sadness.

I believe it's called apathy rather than depression. Check out the work of cheek-sent-me-high for more information

No it isn't, but it can be considered one of the symptoms of depression.

a form? yeah i guess if you've had the capacity to feel those emotions before

depression is partly completely losing interest in the things that used to excite you and make your life worth living

What should I do then? Really don't want to see a doctor but things aren't getting better. I feld 'depressed' for a few years but for the past year or two, I've been experiencing this.

As in being unable to feel happiness, excitement, love or even sadness.

We aren't qualified to amswer that. Have you tried asking for help from a professional in healthcare, or contacted some helpline?

I felt like that for some time, I pretty much just started to do as many things considered to be 'fun' to distract myself.

You can just kind of tell when you have depression. Even if you ignore it for a while. If you're having to numb yourself in order to do simple tasks (like so you can take a shower or eat without questioning whether you're worth looking after) then perhaps. But none of us on the internet will understand what you're trying to put across with only the information you have given in your question.

Better than feeling sh*t all the time at least

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As in being unable to feel happiness, excitement, love or even sadness.

yes its a form of severe depression.

people who go through episodes of depression will notice that they are at their peak depression because they feel nothing.

usually when you feel down and sad its actually an emotion and its stimulating. you can write music about how you feel and it can be inspiring all be it painful.

depression however often leads to complete numbness. which at times can feel strangely enlightening and peaceful. however it can lead to self harm. because after so long of feeling nothing you tend to start trying to look to feel things again which therefore leads to searching for pain.

food tastes like nothing.
sex if you can manage it is mainly for the other persons benefit.
you smile and laugh on cue to keep the act up.

yup
been there

I used to feel really down... To be honest, I think I kind of preferred it, no matter how masochistic that sounds. Now I can't even bring myself to care about my partner.

How did you manage to overcome it?

I used to feel really down... To be honest, I think I kind of preferred it, no matter how masochistic that sounds. Now I can't even bring myself to care about my partner.

How did you manage to overcome it?

It is.

Have you spoken to a GP about any of this?

I agree with other people that yes, it can be a symptom of depression. Weirdly though it can also be a side effect of some antidepressants. I would advise talking to your GP and seeing what help he can offer you; maybe medication, maybe therapy, it's up to the two of you to decide. But yeah, definitely seek out help and hopefully you'll feel better soon.

As in being unable to feel happiness, excitement, love or even sadness.

No. I honestly just can't bring myself to do it.

I used to feel really down... To be honest, I think I kind of preferred it, no matter how masochistic that sounds. Now I can't even bring myself to care about my partner.

How did you manage to overcome it?

No, never, can't bring myself to do that. Sometimes I want to but quickly change my mind.



I see. Well my mind just feels blank. I don't feel worthless. Simply dead, zombie like, stuck in a trance. Everything I do is almost 'robotic'. My head feels physically empty, or just filled with some cotton ****.


I don't know. It's strange. Almost as if I'm not alive at all.

Odd. I've been through it, quite a bit, and eventually I decided I needed a way out; I didn't see having to talk to someone about it who probably wouldn't really understand as much of a barrier.

For that reason, though, please PM me if you want someone to talk to - it may be easier to do so anonymously online. And I've got coping mechanisms that may well work for you - it'll be easier to do this if I have an idea of what it's like for you.



If you'd like me to I can just chuck general advice at you about coping (and working) with anhedonia in general, tomorrow since I'm pretty busy tonight.

lol i know what you mean. sad part about it though is it ruins your life.

partners is really tough. everyone around you thinks they can help you n they end up exhausting them selves to try n "cheer you up".

It depends on what type of depression you have. some people have depression triggered by circumstances.

other people have chemical imbalance depression. where the depression will just kick in for no reason despite everything being fine.

i have the latter.

i tend to find its not really something to overcome. but an illness. a bit like artheritis.. you just have to deal with it and you have good days n bad.

i find what helps me is i make a plan. based on more scientific reasoning since i'll lack the artistic joy to come up with something more whimsical. its also good to make a plan when your not depressed ideally. but when your feeling better you can edit it.

the plan helps me to carry on being productive even though at the time i may not see the point in even being alive.
but when i get through that phase then im glad i stuck to the plan cause when i'm feeling better i don't have bad circumstances that will just send right back in to depressed mode.

as for relationships that can be tough.
i noticed i tended to drive all my friends and loved ones away when i was open and unfiltered with how i felt.

so as a result i've become very good at acting.

its very tiring though. especially when you don't have a lot of energy to do anything in the first place its hard to go putting on an act.

in this sense i tend to then cut my self off from people temporarily as a sort of quarantine. cause i noticed my depression tends to almost catch on other people like a cold.

the excuses for cutting myself off are usually i'll say im doing some really time consuming work. i'll even lie n make stuff up if i have to.

a good thing to AVOID is going nocturnal. i do that from time to time to avoid people. so that i'm a sleep and don't have to deal with them during the day.

but its bad cause when you go nocturnal its hard to sort your life out to go to the shops before they close you lose track of time miss appointments can't phone people cause its too late/early.

the hardest thing will be your romantic partner who wil probably think your losing interest in them or w.e

all i can say for this is act. and maybe when you see them try n make up for the lack of time you've given them by taking them to something very intimate and romantic. like a walk in the park or something.

It could turn into more than that. Do you feel a bit isolated?- just going on the fact that you've chosen to tell us rather than friends/family. The majority of life is spent not feeling any specific emotions. We're just sort of content, or distracted by everyday stresses. Then we go out with our friends and sometimes we manage to feel temporarily happy. You might feel better if you stop thinking about it, but I would suggest you sort of casually bring it up with someone you trust, and look out for other changes. Most people choose to research depression to be aware of the symptoms, but a lot of it is vague, or doesn't go deep into how it can affect all aspects of someone's life. Not only does it vary from person to person, but more severe/long term depression always changes (symptoms come and go, some worsen, sometimes you get the hang of normal life but you feel numb- like what you're describing, your behaviour changes, emotional pain may translate into physical etc).
Sorry for waffling. I'm basically trying to put across that even if someone says 'no that's not a sign of depression' it might be for you. Don't worry, but be aware. Know yourself and recognise when you're not you anymore.