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1037594 tn?1258562179

Lack of interest in anything?

I am 34 years old and always knew I had depression but did not realize until 2007, that I was in fact Bipolar with Major depression and anxiety?  I have been on so many different medications and yet I have not achieved the results I was hoping for or expecting.  I knew I would not be cured but thought that my life would improve and it has a little thanks to my meds, especially xanex!  My question is how do you become interested in activities that you once enjoyed?  For example I always liked the outdoors and many other things including including a very high sex drive, but now sex is not even important to me. I believe I  once remarked as a teen that I would never give up sex and I pratically have as well as all the little things more important than sex that once brought me a feeling of pleasure and relaxation.
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585414 tn?1288941302
"Loss of sex drive" can be caused both by medication as a side effect and the depressive aspect of bipolar itself so it depends. Ask your psychiatrist what is the cause of it. As for interests in life that you may have lost try to find something that interests and engages you as medication although neccessary is not going to solve everything. Although talk therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy can be helpful some active engagement in personal interests are good too and I've often found helped bring me out of a depressive state.
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Avatar universal
Telling someone who doesn't have interest anymore to "find something something that interests you" doesn't work here, and is the most circular of arguments. It's like telling someone who doesn't have eyes "find something that can help you see."

I've been suffering from a death of interest/anhedonia for the past 2 years now following a psychotic episode. I can tell you that persistent anhedonia -- if it is not caused by medications, illicit drugs, clinical depression, or a recent traumatic event -- is incurable and is most likely a result of some permanent loss of brain functioning.

Anhedonia and lack of interest are two key negative symptoms of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.
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