I was wondering if people here feel the same way I do in terms of not enjoying things that I used to (like music, reading, movies, etc)? If you have also when did it start and what do you think caused it? For me I feel like the meds contributed significantly to this though it could also be the underlying illness contributing to a certain extent.
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I’m the same I don’t get much pleasure from anything. I think it’s mostly the illness but meds made it worse.
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I think you might be experiencing anhedonia. It is considered one of the negative symptoms of sz and can still be affecting our lives even with our meds. I have it too. I have to force myself to watch tv or read a funny book. Anything, just to fight it.
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Withdrawal from interests is a symptom of sciz.
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For me , it’s the illness. When I came off meds (Abilify) for a while, I actually felt worse.
Meds can’t really help negative symptoms.
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Yeah for a long time I thought it was my meds too until for a short while in 2016 I wasn’t on meds and my negative symptoms sky rocketed
I couldn’t do a thing
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I feel mostly too distracted, to read as much as I would like. I don’t know what that means.
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It’s probably a combination of negative symptoms and depression/anhedonia.
I think it can help to live an as healthy lifestyle as possible.
In my case Wellbutrin (an AD) helped as well.
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I recommend reporting your med side effects to the Food and Drug Administration. We need to get the word out that people are getting serious emotional side effects from these meds so that they can find something to treat it.
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I try to watch TV but I usually get nothing out of it, whether its sports or music videos or news.
Is it the meds or the illness in your opinion?
I experience no pleasure from TV and if I try to watch a movie I can’t get through the 2 hours anymore. I sort of zone out and forget what happened in the movie. Same thing with books, but with a book I can read slowly, and read a page over again (which I have to do frequently)
I, personally, don’t think the meds help with this, but I could be wrong. I have been using the ketogenic diet for over 6 years now to control my symptoms of sz and so far this diet has done nothing for the negative symptoms of my sz.
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I also felt the same way about the meds being solely responsible for the anhedonia, but I feel it’s also the illness now. My pleasure for music and watching films is greatly reduced. Used to be ecstatic when a cool moment happens in a film or in a song.
Its horrible. Does it go away?
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No, it doesn’t go away but as I have lived with this for so many decades, it gets easier to fight it.
how do you fight it? I have a hard time believing things will get better if anhedonia is permanent.
I force myself to have simple hobbies - reading, walking, listening to music, cooking healthy, gardening, and have a social support system in place such as friends, family, church or other social club. Some of it is our attitude. I always say that since life gave me lemons I will make lemonade. I also have a joyful daughter and trying to keep up with her social life that keeps me going, so some of it is feeling like I have a strong purpose in life.
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It’s gotten better for me. I can watch a movie or even tv.
I can’t read large chunks of text though, which is annoying. It would be lovely to read a book.
The depression/anhedonia and negs are hard to treat, and meds worsen negs. But the symptom do get better.
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That’s fair. I guess it’s hard for me to change my outlook on it when I can’t concentrate for very long on anything. Listening to music feels less pleasurable, reading feels so much harder than it used to be, so I’ve stopped reading books. I’m just living life being unable to do the things I like and when I do them, I don’t feel anything from them. Maybe if I had something keeping me going I would feel better. I live with my Mum and she is a source of wholesomeness and peace but I feel like it’s not enough.
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You might want to consider a social group, whether that be a religious group, or a walking/excercise class or club, or do volunteering somewhere. Having 1 thing to do a few times a week that is not inherently stressful can help you view life from a different perspective.
I was doing a 10 week video production course which just ended yesterday. It was nice to interact with different people and working with them, even though I struggled a lot. It was nice for it’s time.