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How do you feel pleasure?

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How do you feel pleasure?

Postby TheMayor » Tue Sep 06, 2016 1:21 am

I wanted to run a quick survey, and I checked the first few pages and didn't see anything matching what I'm looking for. I'm interested in seeing how the anhedonia lines up person to person. If you feel enjoyment in many things, you can just mention that in lieu of answering the questions.

1. Have you always had the same inability to feel pleasure? (If not, when did it start?)

2. Do you desire sex?

3. Do you derive pleasure from "good" or "tasty" food?

4. Do you smoke or drink anything? Why?

5. Are there any exceptions that make you feel like how you expect the general population feels?

6. How do you keep yourself motivated day to day?

And to kick it off, my answers are:
-Yes
-No, except that I eventually want to have a child
-No
-No
-Yes (dogs)
-I'm addicted to challenges and goals, so it's not hard for me to fix myself on an objective and focus myself toward it.
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Re: How do you feel pleasure?

Postby Dazz » Tue Sep 06, 2016 3:26 am

1. Have you always had the same inability to feel pleasure? (If not, when did it start?) The same? No, my feelings of pleasure have been getting less and less all throughout my life...hoping the decrease is halted for many years at the least.

2. Do you desire sex? Yes, but not enough to care.

3. Do you derive pleasure from "good" or "tasty" food? Kind of, I enjoy eating certain stuff e.g. crisps, chocolate, bacon, etc, but eating a whole meal is rarely pleasurable.

4. Do you smoke or drink anything? Not really, I drink if I am out somewhere as it helps to deal with the environment. I used to drink all the time in my teens, but stopped when I was about 19, same with smoking and drugs, but I'll do all if I'm out and they're offered or if I come into contact with someone with psychedelics.

5. Are there any exceptions that make you feel like how you expect the general population feels? How would I know? I would say art in all its forms but I think I derive more pleasure than the general population who are philistines.

6. How do you keep yourself motivated day to day? Day to day I don't, most days are wasted, I work and do certain stuff enough to be able to live alone and survive.
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Re: How do you feel pleasure?

Postby smirks » Tue Sep 06, 2016 4:45 am

1. Have you always had the same inability to feel pleasure? (If not, when did it start?)
i don't know if i would classify myself as having an inability to feel pleasure. i have an ability to appreciate things that many people don't, and I have an inability to appreciate things that many people do. (That makes me sound like a hipster). I feel like i might experience and express pleasure differently (I know that begs the question of whether I feel it at all).

2. Do you desire sex? Not at all.

3. Do you derive pleasure from "good" or "tasty" food? Yes. Less lately though. My taste buds have changed recently, and a lot of proteins like meats and nuts taste different. And coffee. I'm trying to adjust. I love bread and fresh fruit and dairy and vegetables.

4. Do you smoke or drink anything? Why?
I drink occasionally, socially. I used to drink more when I used to socialize more. I find it dehydrating and usually when I am winding down after a tough day I choose tea instead. But I enjoy tasting new beers, wines, scotch, and I have an affection for Pimms during the summer months.

5. Are there any exceptions that make you feel like how you expect the general population feels?
I'm not sure what the general population feels like.

6. How do you keep yourself motivated day to day?
Rent is due on the first of every month. I have bills to pay. In general, I like my line of work, and I like fixing problems. Life is something that can be incrementally better with work and creativity.
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Re: How do you feel pleasure?

Postby wickerwoman » Tue Sep 06, 2016 6:35 am

TheMayor wrote:1. Have you always had the same inability to feel pleasure? (If not, when did it start?)

2. Do you desire sex?

3. Do you derive pleasure from "good" or "tasty" food?

4. Do you smoke or drink anything? Why?

5. Are there any exceptions that make you feel like how you expect the general population feels?

6. How do you keep yourself motivated day to day?


1. I don't have an inability to feel pleasure. I just don't get it from social interactions.
2. No. People touching me creeps me out.
3. Yes if it's really amazing - like Michelin-star amazing.
4. No. I'll have a beer or a glass of wine if dragged to a social event and I can't absolutely get out of it without people asking questions about whether I drink or not. I don't like losing control.
5. I don't really think I'm anhedonic. Maybe I feel pleasure less frequently than average, but I don't think I feel it less intensely, necessarily. I like a good sunrise or sunset and sleeping in on a lazy Saturday. I was dancing around like a schoolkid for each new episode of Game of Thrones last year. I like kittens and puppies and baby hedgehogs, etc.
6. I don't want to die or be dependent on anyone and those are the only alternatives to getting out of bed and going to work.
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Re: How do you feel pleasure?

Postby Ashlar » Tue Sep 06, 2016 2:20 pm

TheMayor wrote:1. Have you always had the same inability to feel pleasure? (If not, when did it start?)


I don't really think I have anhedonia, or if I do I do not realize it. What I can say is that I am less effected by pleasure than others. I also have high pain tolerance and can force myself to do things others don't seem to be able to because physical and emotional feelings are things I consciously treat as noise a lot of the time.

2. Do you desire sex?


Somewhat at times. Having had emotional intimacy but not physical intimacy, I sometimes miss the emotional intimacy. I'm often happy enough just to hang out with a dog or something.

3. Do you derive pleasure from "good" or "tasty" food?


For sure. I also really love the craft and skill and science that goes into making good cheese or something.

4. Do you smoke or drink anything? Why?


I was drinking quite copiously up until two weeks ago. A couple drinks would make me more sociable in "normal" ways, which is how a lot of people "liked" me. Enough drinks would drown out my unceasing anger at the world and eventually knock me out. It gave me a way to pass the time without having to hate everyone and everything constantly. It may have exacerbated my suicidal tendencies outwardly so that they became observable to other people, but I'll admit here that being sober I'm just as ponderously interested in my own death as I am drunk. I'm just less stupid about communicating as much. I apparently also annoyed my roommate because I'd hang around too long and vie for her attention at times, but I also think it had more to do with her hating her alcoholic stepfather and not wanting to deal with someone that was like him in that way.

5. Are there any exceptions that make you feel like how you expect the general population feels?


Being intoxicated numbs me down closer to their level. I don't think I'll ever feel like the "general" population feels. Most of my direct peers have advanced degrees (doctors, lawyers, professors). It would take a massive change in my brain to ever feel like the wal-mart people.

6. How do you keep yourself motivated day to day?


I wake up ready to do things, but my real active day ends at lunch or so. After that I get lethargic, watch entertainment things, get bored of that, then start to lament existence. By the time I'm supposed to sleep I'm deeply concerned with killing myself so the cycle ends. Opioids worked for the month I used them to quell that unrest and just let me sleep, but they have other consequences. Alcohol was hit or miss, but also makes me too visible to people that are around me, specifically living with someone else while intoxicated is dangerous. I might show a chink in the mask.

What works, but is also a ton of work, is to physically exhaust myself. 800-1200 calorie diet. Walk 10 KM a day. Basically, wear the body out and it will sleep. If I'm kept sufficiently exhausted, I don't question every waking moment and how much I hate interacting with humans.

To be fair, I want to try taking care of a dog to see if that would help.
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Re: How do you feel pleasure?

Postby Bewitched65 » Tue Sep 06, 2016 4:21 pm

TheMayor wrote:I wanted to run a quick survey, and I checked the first few pages and didn't see anything matching what I'm looking for. I'm interested in seeing how the anhedonia lines up person to person. If you feel enjoyment in many things, you can just mention that in lieu of answering the questions.

1. Have you always had the same inability to feel pleasure? (If not, when did it start?)

2. Do you desire sex?

3. Do you derive pleasure from "good" or "tasty" food?

4. Do you smoke or drink anything? Why?

5. Are there any exceptions that make you feel like how you expect the general population feels?

6. How do you keep yourself motivated day to day?

And to kick it off, my answers are:
-Yes
-No, except that I eventually want to have a child
-No
-No
-Yes (dogs)
-I'm addicted to challenges and goals, so it's not hard for me to fix myself on an objective and focus myself toward it.


1. Have you always had the same inability to feel pleasure? (If not, when did it start?)
No and I'm not sure. I was pretty ok when I was five- I had little playground boyfriends. My adoptive mother died. It was downhill from then on. By the time I was eight I was completely friendless with a lot of anxiety- I was pulling my hair out of my head. No one actually knew. When I was a teenager I knew I was a defective person. I thought of myself as a non-person.

2. Do you desire sex?
Not with a real person. I am intrigued by my all time favorite literary figure ' bad guy' Hannibal Lecter. What's special about him is that he's very likable, a fascinating conversationalist, an awesome chef, a musician and composer, an artist like myself, a man of the world, and a heartless murderer who kills in the most creative ways. So Yes.

3. Do you derive pleasure from "good" or "tasty" food?
Yes- I prepare tasty meals each night for my husband. But if left to my own devices I will not cook when I'm alone. I will prepare eggs and toast for days on end when my husband is away. And I watch "Breakfast at Tiffany's" for an entire day.

4. Do you smoke or drink anything? Why?
No never have. I lived with an ex who grew pot and simply ignored the weed.

5. Are there any exceptions that make you feel like how you expect the general population feels?
I can't think of any. I am now content to keep my thoughts to myself lest I am ridiculed for not caring about anything. You did say dogs---Ok I love cats and horses!

6. How do you keep yourself motivated day to day?
OMG- good question. I don't. I am an avid Film person and understand the psychology of films. I keep thinking of when I can move and having a home and the future. My husband told me to stop thinking of the future to live now---so I have to keep my longing to leave this city to myself now. He is an executive so he treats me as an employee at times and supervises my lack of motivation. Most days he has no idea I am beyond hope.
I am a Self Diagnosed merely Schizoid

We must try to ignore our fears of being hurt or caught out or humiliated. The only thing people regret is that they didn't live boldly enough, that they didn't invest enough heart, didn't love enough. Nothing else really counts at all.
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Re: How do you feel pleasure?

Postby Nebuz » Tue Sep 06, 2016 7:38 pm

1. Have you always had the same inability to feel pleasure? (If not, when did it start?)
No pleasures in social situations, otherwise it's certainly possible. We'd be dead without.
2. Do you desire sex?
No
3. Do you derive pleasure from "good" or "tasty" food?
I know it's possible to notice pleasure if it's beyond good or tasty.
4. Do you smoke or drink anything? Why?
Used to smoke, not now. The body taught me why.
I do drink, I need to shut off sometimes.
5. Are there any exceptions that make you feel like how you expect the general population feels?
I doubt it. If you feel that others would feel exactly the same, you could get disappointed when santa comes.
6. How do you keep yourself motivated day to day?
Thoughts that I need answers to.
A glow doesn't get anything in return, because it doesn't matter.
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Re: How do you feel pleasure?

Postby naps » Tue Sep 06, 2016 9:11 pm

TheMayor wrote:1. Have you always had the same inability to feel pleasure? (If not, when did it start?)

No. It started in my late twenties and has been getting exponentially worse since. There are isolated times, when the setting and my state of mind align just right, enough for me to appreciate a nice moment for what it is. I do experience pleasure listening to music or watching an especially good movie or TV show, but in those instances I think I'm being manipulated into it.

2. Do you desire sex?

Less and less. And less. Does masturbation count? Even that has gotten boring.

3. Do you derive pleasure from "good" or "tasty" food?

Not really. I hate to eat. It's a chore and a waste of time. Frequently I'll let myself get past the hunger point to where I start feeling weak and have to eat. In these cases, the quenching of my hunger feels satisfying, but I wouldn't call it pleasure. Certain things, like good pizza are pleasurable, but that's fleeting. After a few bites, it becomes a chore like everything else. There's one thing though: chocolate milkshakes. I would say a well-made milkshake does bring me pleasure.

4. Do you smoke or drink anything? Why?

Yes. I've talked that subject to death already.

5. Are there any exceptions that make you feel like how you expect the general population feels?

Good question. I would say yes, but not in the same way.

6. How do you keep yourself motivated day to day?

It's very hard. I look at the future, both near and far, and ask myself what it will be like if I don't make an attempt to deal with stuff, try to better myself, get things done. That motivates me.
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Re: How do you feel pleasure?

Postby Runestone » Tue Sep 06, 2016 10:06 pm

Hep!

1.
My feelings went completly numb in my mid to late 20's. Nothing, just a empty shell. Then I started taking anti depressed pills. I think it has helped a lot. It is better than it used to be.

2.
Not really. Sometimes I find myself thinking, "ok, I seriously need to think about sex right at this moment, otherwise it has been to many days since last time i thourght about it". And then i think about it, and get a little exited for a short moment, and before I know it, I have forgotten all about it.

3.
Yes. I like food. Food is love.

4.
I used to smoke and drink, like 10 years ago. It was really heavy and took alot of effort to keep it up.
One day I just had enough, and I quit. Never went to a AA or anything. I just quit. No big deal. I never miss it. Glad to have it out of my system.

5.
I feel like im feeling like most part of the population right now. Well not like everyone has SPD, but I think most people had abusive childhood, and most people are struggling from it. Sadly enough.

6.
I don't really feel any motivation. I do things in my own tempo, and my to do list is full of things I like to do. Like eating when im hungry, showering when my body itch, washing my clothes when im smelly, walking my dog when he gives me the sad eyes, etc. Im super lazy, but I experience being super motivated from time to time, but it wears of pretty quick. Like with in five minutes. I have no desire for motivation.
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Re: How do you feel pleasure?

Postby TheMayor » Wed Sep 07, 2016 2:24 am

Thanks for all the comments. It's interesting to see how much diversity there is within our population. Even within a narrow subset of the population defined by how we experience the world, it seems that it's incredibly rare that two people experience the world in the same way.

At the same time, no one is unique on any one dimension, so it's good to know that however obscure your experience, you can find at least one person to compare notes with.
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