Medical Definition of avolition
: a lack of interest or engagement in goal-directed behavior
Many people with schizophrenia experience avolition, or apathy, feeling drained of energy and of interest in normal goals and unable to start or follow through on a course of action.—Ronald J. Comer, Abnormal Psychology, 7th edition, 2010
avolitional (ˈ)ā-ˌvō-ˈlish-nəl, -ˈli-shə-nəl, -və-\ play adjective
In studies at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, we have found that schizophrenia patients with avolitional pathology are a minority and that the presence of that pathology helps define a separate putative disease entity within the schizophrenia syndrome …—William T. Carpenter, The American Journal of Psychiatry, September 2010