Welcome back to Reading the Research! I trawl the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects to share with you. Along the way I discuss the findings with bits from my own life, research, and observations.
Today’s article is paywalled, but the highlights and abstract tell all you need to know: depression reduces motivation. Depression is a common issue for autistic and other neurodiverse people. Also, I read those sections and immediately said, “Oh look, it’s me.” So here we go.
This article is the results of a research review. In this case, the researchers looked over 43 studies done by others in the past. The hope of these research reviews is to find an overall pattern in the results. If they do find one, they can then say “this thing is (probably) true.” So they did in fact find a pattern. According to the results, people with depression, especially the specific symptom of anhedonia, were less interested in working toward rewards. Or more succinctly, depression reduces motivation.
Anhedonia is a complicated medical word that basically means “the inability (or reduced ability) to feel pleasure.” It’s a common side effect with some forms of depression, and it’s something that typically describes me. Imagine something you love doing. Maybe it’s eating a favorite food, or reading a favorite book, or rock climbing, or writing fanfiction. Now imagine being excited to do that thing, getting everything ready to do it, looking forward to how good you’ll feel while you do it… and feeling nothing as you do this thing you love. It’s still the same delicious food, or the same wonderful book, the rock wall is just as high and challenging as it always is, and the characters are still exactly as you remember them. You just feel… nothing.
Imagine feeling nothing every time you do that favorite activity. Or feeling sad because nothing’s stopping you from doing the activity, it’s just not fun anymore. You’d stop caring so much about that activity, right? Because the enjoyment isn’t there, it’s just not as important to you. Kind of sad, isn’t it?
Now imagine that’s how you feel whenever you do things you love. Or used to love. That’s anhedonia. It’s also my life.
Understanding that, it’s probably easier to see why depressed people are less likely to try new things, or work towards rewards or positive changes in their lives. The intrinsic (internal) motivation just isn’t there. The accomplishment you feel on completing a task isn’t there. So why try? Why sacrifice your already limited energy for an outcome you know won’t make you happy?
That’s the reality for people like me. Depression reduces motivation. The specifics may vary. A person might experience pleasure while eating sweets, but not when biking (despite that they used to love biking). Or some days biking might make them happy, and other days it doesn’t. It’s different for every person.
This is, by the way, why I’m overweight. Food is still pleasurable, but most other things are not. Therefore, snacks! And typically junk food, unfortunately. I’m doing a lot better about it now, and I feel better as a result, but the anhedonia is still a reality I live with.
It can be hard to want to try a new organizational system, or put up with changes to my routine, or simply handle daily life when everything is so joyless. This is part of why. I hope this makes sense to you.
(Pst! If you like seeing the latest autism-relevant research, visit my Twitter! There are links and comments on studies that were interesting, but didn’t get a whole Reading the Research article about them.)
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