Here I am, with my free time at the end of the day to relax and enjoy myself…and I have no motivation to do anything…nothing sounds fun, all of those things I normally love are just unappealing to me…I’m not depressed or anything at all right now so I know it’s my negative symptoms…how do you deal with this? This absolute lack of motivation to do anything? Even if I try to start something like watch a show or play a videogame it only lasts like 5 minutes. I never do anything fun anymore.
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Ugh. I’m right there with you. This is my biggest complaint with sz. I can take meds and help the positives, but wanting to do nothing but stare at walls is killer. Sorry I don’t have any solutions. I’ve tried forcing myself, but it never works. I just get tired so quickly when I don’t actually care about it.
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I have serious anhedonia too. But I also have abulia (aboulia?) which means I never get anything done. It literally means “the lack of willpower” I had two weeks early in the course of my illness where the anhedonia was super strong. It really didn’t start getting better until like 8 months out. That was with a med change. If you have justanhedonia consider yourself lucky you don’t have abulia.
I have that as well. Literally all I do all day is refresh FB.
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I have the lack of will to get hard work done. I drag myself through life basically failing at everything I try now. People get tired of hearing me complain about my crazy problems. They think I’m just a whiner because they can’t feel it themselves. They want me to pretend it doesn’t exist and act like everything is just fine. If only they knew.
You have to force yourself to do things. You keep it regular and you start small and you cross off the little things!
I like an activity tracker. It tells you what your doing and it gives you goals. It’s all about goals. You don’t want to do fitness then fine…what works for you. Put some time into something regular and keep it going every day. You beat the negatives only by exertion.
Yeah I realise that is the hardest thing to do. I know I’ve been there…but you’ve got to start somewhere. Simple plans. Always keep it simple but regular!
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Fortunately my bouts of anhedonia don’t last long but when I do get it i turn to music. And company of hubby. Then when I get stronger I read a little or watch a movie or write. Yesterday I even managed to paint again 
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Find some duties, if rewards can’t shake us we are left with moral obligations: ‘I will do it because it MUST be done’
Yeah that’s how my life is now. I do what must be done because it must be done. It creates a very bland existence and one that ends up making me feel angry because I feel trapped by obligation.
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I’m sleepwalking through life 
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I honestly feel dead. It used to be at least when my kids were here I’d be able to muster up some energy but even that is almost impossible. The Zoloft seems to be helping ever so slightly but not enough yet.
Mm, I have a “duty” to do this weekend and I don’t wanna. But once I start it’ll be OK.
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I was on adderall ever since Highschool. The adderall actually made me more psychotic when it came to the point that I was 24 and starting to hear voices etc. adderall always gave me the feeling of contentness where I would enjoy doing things and I even had hobbies. Now that they took me off it, I have no motivation and it’s the Invega that leaves me with no pleasure- not even in personal hygiene. It’s weird bc I’ve been taking a friends’ vyvanse the past few days and I’m not psychotic in the least. Maybe all I needed was to add an AP to my regimen, but once I’m off my court order I’ll have a doc prescribe me what I want. In the mean time I need music and small stimulations to make me feel like I’m not so anehedonic. Maybe we all need a med change
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Aren’t vyvanse and adderall similar though? Hope you’re doing okay and get on the right medications!
Yea vyvanse just doesn’t have the d-amphetamine which in my experience just makes vyvanse a little easier on the body. It works for me with no psychosis. And bc I’m leaning towards sz as my diagnosis I feel like they won’t allow me to be on it. That’s why I don’t mind that my doc says I present as bipolar. Lots of bipolar people are on an AP and a stimulant.
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