Posted by fachad on February 9, 2003, at 21:48:09
In reply to Re: The above post was supposed to go to Social » fachad, posted by LAURA777 on February 9, 2003, at 19:48:15
>hey Fachad , what i meant by incompleteness was the incompleteness of the full range of emotions , i can feel all the unpleasant feelings really well , but when it comes to the pleasant ones , ????
Ok, so you are describing anhedonia as if it were a defect of perception, like color blindness. You can experience the full range of negative emotions, but not the positive ones. And you are hopeful that this defect is based in and remediable by chemical processes.
I was just suggesting an alternate perspective.
I think I mentioned in an earlier post that MAOIs have shown the most effectiveness for anhedonia, and the best solid scientific research I've seen to date is in a collection of articles edited by Fawcett and Clark, titled "Anhedonia and Affect Deficit States". It's now out of print, but you can find a copy thru abebooks.com or amazon.com used. It's in depth research and theory in anhedonia., and well worth the price.
You know that SSRI and stimulants don't help. As far as things to try, there are TCAs, MAOIs, and lithium and the newer anticonvulsants. Some have even reported success with the newer antipsychotics, citing similarities between anhedonia and the "negative symptoms" of schizophrenia. If you can find a special pdoc, you may be able to get a BUPRENORPHINE trial.
Using these meds for anhedonia is really a trial and error process. It’s not nearly as well researched as treating conventional depression or anxiety. I also share the desire to understand the underlying physiological mechanisms that produce anhedonia, but I would caution you that in my personal experience, the correlation between theoretical considerations and the practical effects of these meds is not always there.
poster:fachad
thread:138954
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030208/msgs/140375.html