Anhedonia
Etymology
Coined in 1886 by the French psychologist Théodule-Armand Ribot in "La psychologie des sentiments," from Greek "an-" (without) and "hēdonē" (pleasure). It was built as the deliberate opposite of hedonism. Its clinical use grew through 20th-century psychiatry as a marker of mood disorders.
noun · /an-hee-DOH-nee-uh/
The loss of the capacity to feel pleasure or interest in things that were once enjoyable.
What it names
Reach for it to name the specific flatness — not sadness but the absence of reward — that is a core symptom of depression and burnout, distinct from simply feeling down.
Example
His depression showed less as tears than as anhedonia — food, music, and friends all went grey and pointless.
Related idea
Distinct from apathy, which is a lack of motivation or caring; anhedonia is specifically the failure of pleasure itself, so you can still want to enjoy something yet feel nothing when you do.
See also