1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,360 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio, Hey 2 00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:10,480 Speaker 1: brain Stuff Lauren bog Obam here. Even as the general 3 00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:13,600 Speaker 1: public has gained a better understanding of mental health issues 4 00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:18,120 Speaker 1: like depression and anxiety over recent years, some psychological symptoms 5 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:22,720 Speaker 1: remain a mystery to many. For today's example, and hadonia. 6 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:26,480 Speaker 1: This is a condition in which a person finds themselves 7 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:30,280 Speaker 1: unable to experience pleasure from acts that are generally pleasurable 8 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:34,320 Speaker 1: or that they once enjoyed. That can include the absence 9 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:37,680 Speaker 1: of good feelings someone might expect from things and activities 10 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:42,200 Speaker 1: like friendship, food, sex, or music. The term was originally 11 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:46,280 Speaker 1: coined in by a French psychologist, stemming from the Greek 12 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:51,600 Speaker 1: words and meaning without an heat own, meaning pleasure. We 13 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:55,120 Speaker 1: spoke via email with Los Angeles based psychotherapist Alyssa Mass 14 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: m f T. She said, an adonia is the lack 15 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:02,160 Speaker 1: of experiencing joy or pleasure. It's typically thought of as 16 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:05,280 Speaker 1: a symptom of depression, though it can also exist separately. 17 00:01:06,600 --> 00:01:09,880 Speaker 1: In addition to depression, antadonia can accompany other mental health 18 00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:13,840 Speaker 1: issues like schizophrenia and orexia nervosa and substance use disorders. 19 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:18,240 Speaker 1: You can also signal issues like Parkinson's disease. For some people, 20 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:21,600 Speaker 1: antadonia can be social or emotional, meaning that they no 21 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:25,000 Speaker 1: longer feel joy being around people, or it can be physical, 22 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:28,759 Speaker 1: meaning sensations like touch can feel empty or food can 23 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:33,440 Speaker 1: taste bland. The causes of antidonia can vary, and while 24 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:36,760 Speaker 1: it's associated with depression, a person doesn't necessarily have to 25 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:41,440 Speaker 1: have depression to have antadonia. Experts believed antadonia may be 26 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:44,600 Speaker 1: linked to changes in brain activity and an inability to 27 00:01:44,720 --> 00:01:49,480 Speaker 1: produce or respond to the feel good hormone dopamine. Some 28 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:53,440 Speaker 1: preliminary research that's been performed on rats indicates that antadonia 29 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:57,480 Speaker 1: may be tied to an overactive prefrontal cortex, impacting the 30 00:01:57,560 --> 00:02:00,720 Speaker 1: dopamine neurons and interfering with the path is the control 31 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 1: how and why we seek out and experience desire and rewards. 32 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:09,079 Speaker 1: Other research indicates that other brain areas and structures could 33 00:02:09,080 --> 00:02:12,720 Speaker 1: also be involved, like the amygdala, which processes emotion, the 34 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:17,320 Speaker 1: striatum associated with the reward system, and the insula, connected 35 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:22,880 Speaker 1: to self awareness and consciousness. While there's no single way 36 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:26,680 Speaker 1: to treat antadonia, many mental health experts lean on strategies 37 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:30,840 Speaker 1: prescribed for depression, including talk therapy, and in some cases, 38 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:36,840 Speaker 1: medications like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSR eyes. There is, however, 39 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:40,000 Speaker 1: evidence to suggest that while s SR eyes can work 40 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:43,239 Speaker 1: great with some symptoms of depression, they may not help 41 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:46,200 Speaker 1: much with the lack of motivation and deficits and reward 42 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:49,880 Speaker 1: processing that often accompany depression, which means they may not 43 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:54,960 Speaker 1: help much with antadonia. For now, mental health experts are 44 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:58,600 Speaker 1: continuing to incorporate antidonia assessment into their work with clients 45 00:02:58,919 --> 00:03:03,679 Speaker 1: and working with them to help find coping strategies. Mass said, 46 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:07,560 Speaker 1: in cases of depression long or short term, I always 47 00:03:07,639 --> 00:03:11,079 Speaker 1: screen for antadonia. If a client screens positive for it, 48 00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 1: then it's really about looking at everything that's going on 49 00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:17,720 Speaker 1: and treating the depression as a whole until there's relief 50 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:20,679 Speaker 1: from that. It's impossible to tell if the antidonia is 51 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:23,600 Speaker 1: part of the depression or something that exists on its own. 52 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:27,440 Speaker 1: If someone's case history tells me they never had antidonia 53 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:30,400 Speaker 1: until the depression hit, in that case, it's likely more 54 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:33,080 Speaker 1: treatable than if it had always existed and is more 55 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:40,760 Speaker 1: of a baseline. Today's episode was written by Michelle Constant 56 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:43,360 Speaker 1: Anoski and produced by Tyler Klang. For more on this 57 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:46,080 Speaker 1: and lots of other curious topics, visit how stuffworks dot com. 58 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:49,120 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is a production of iHeart Radio. Or more 59 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:51,640 Speaker 1: podcasts in my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, 60 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:54,480 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.