Hi, so here’s some recovery stories I had saved on my computer…
https://www.reddit.c...cured_me_of_my/
https://www.dpselfhe...d-from-reality/
https://www.survivin...rek-i-had-pssd/ 2 recovery stories in the same link, maybe can count a third in the end of the comments
https://www.depressi...ling-fantastic/
https://www.reddit.c...hedonia_report/
https://www.dpselfhe...-now-your-turn/
https://www.reddit.c...ional_numbness/
https://www.depressi...ling-fantastic/
https://www.dpselfhe...56-i-feel-well/
Here’s a few from NoFap… abstaining from any form of addiction will be beneficial, but it won’t always be sufficient to feel normal. Like I said before, the more good habits you participate in, the faster you’ll heal. I’d say staying away from any addictive behavior is first step, and you can snowball from there.
https://www.nofap.co...-induced.29826/
https://www.reddit.c...e_have_noticed/
http://www.yourbrain...numbness.17560/
https://www.reddit.c...it_will_almost/
https://www.nofap.co...ns-again.58878/
https://www.nofap.co...h-nofap.158620/
Then there’s others that recovered naturally on the anhedonia facebook group: Boris, Ouji, Ryan, Jigna, Mighty JOE XXY, Kim (fell back into it after a weed induced psychotic episode), some guy eating almonds focusing his mind on playing sudoku all day forgot his name, another dude that said he quit all internet usage for a couple days and just like that his emotions returned. You can message them if you want and ask what they did to get better, but likely the answer will lie near somewhere around that they stayed off drugs, did things which helped in lessening unproductive mind chatter and connect them to reality/the present. Or at least that’s what they did that helped them without realizing it.
I had a bunch of other saved testimonies with good advice in the form of screenshots, but I deleted them all a while ago sorry. I could find them again, but my plane is departing tomorrow, no time.
Well… you know itstrevor? The guy that had made the hundred pages anhedonia thread, he did it staying off anything as well, you can read his last comments he made before he left.
Anyway you can find some more yourself... there's quite a few mentionining anhedonia on dpselfhelp. Depersonalization asperghers, ocd, anhedonia, depression, anxiety they all kind of have the same roots. It's all about reducing unproductive mind chatter.
Anhedonia is a result of chronic overthinking/ not being immersed in reality, there’s no question about it. I’m really not surprised that you say you have ocd over your anhedonia, I had the same, it was terrible. A lot of people with anhedonia have that, and the irony is that by obsessing over how you can feel better, you are making yourself worst. Try to view yourself as perfectly fine, stay away from addictions, find yourself hobbies you can immerse yourself in. If you can teach yourself to put your full focus in activities again, you will quickly feel better I guarantee you. Honestly… my advice for anyone with anhedonia is you need to do things, it’s very hard to rationalize yourself to stop ruminating just by knowing you should…
Try not to let any place for rumination, be busy! When you feel like crap, your rumination is very bad… then it’s very hard to pull yourself out of it, but it goes the other way too. The better you feel, the easier it becomes to do things that make you feel even better.
I’m sorry but you have no excuses to say you can’t do it. I’ve done it, others have done it… and they had it just as intense for years as well. No, it doesn’t take years to feel better, only so long to realize what you are doing wrong. Then you can feel much better very quickly when you work on yourself.
So here are my tips:
-Limit music (not completely), it is sensory overload for your brain, forces it to numb itself to outside stimuli, so more prone to overthinking.
-Outside walks, walking out just an hour everyday, focusing on what you see, smell, hear, or how the sun or wind feels on your skin while trying to feel a positive vibe. Doing that will help in calming your mind, letting go off worries and is a very easy form of meditation to do so no excuses. I understand how hard it can be to do real meditation, the more your mind is racing, the harder it is to calm it down (that’s why I said do things that make you busy). If you can enter a deep state of meditation, you’ll feel intense emotions on the very first day of trying for a couple hours by the way, but it may take more effort or time if your symptoms are at their worst.
-Stop obsessing over symptoms, and aim to focus your attention on positive events, your body, or on outside stimuli. It will not come naturally at first, but you can teach yourself to do that, it’s more anti-anhedonic than any drug can give you long term. I keep saying it, but working on relaxing your mind is a must. Things like massages, or acupuncture can make it easier for you. If you are getting a session, and not making any effort to be in the present moment and feel your senses, you will not get any lasting benefits.
-Don’t chase highs (this will make you more lazy than you should be).
-Socializing, I’m sorry but nothing better than a girlfriend to keep you busy, calm your mind back to reality and feel positive. I understand if you still don’t feel like socializing at all because it feels painful, or because nobody interests you, don’t force it if you can’t force it. Although isolation, and not being busy will kill you, so at least be busy with doing something else, but NOT with something like watching a youtube video with 50% of your attention on the video, and 50% on everything going wrong with your life.
-Instant cold shower or very hot bath if you’re feeling at your worst. It’s intense stimuli for your body, forces your mind to redirect its attention on your sensations for a moment which helps put some brakes on the overthinking and feel better for a bit. Don’t abuse this because it can be shocking for your brain when it doesn’t expect it, and make you feel more brain fogged or very tired after (good when you want to sleep), just do this once in a while only when necessary.
-Exercise, if you do a sport focus on being good at it, if you go to the gym, focus on the pain in the muscles. Try not to think too much (of course at first you can’t help it, but as you go on your mind can more easily calm down). If all you do while working out is keep on feeding your obsessions or whatever, you’ll be more lazy and feel less good than you should.
Edited by Deaden, 27 July 2018 - 12:16 AM.