Stress Awareness Month: Apathy & Anhedonia

April is Stress Awareness Month, an annual event to raise awareness of the causes and for stress, and open up conversations about the impact it’s had on our lives. Stress poses a huge risk to our health; it can lead to a number of physical problems, including heart disease, digestive issues and insomnia, in addition to serious mental disorders such as anxiety and depression. So this month, we’re going to be talking about stress, how to spot it, and what measures you can take to avoid it.

The Key Signs Of Burnout
But this month I also want to discuss some of the key signs: apathy and anhedonia.

Apathy
What should you do if you notice yourself feeling perhaps more apathetic than usual? Apathy refers to a lack of motivation or simply not caring as much as you probably should. This often manifests through phrases such as, “I can’t be bothered,” or “I’ll do it tomorrow.” And this might be uncharacteristic for you or another person.

Anhedonia
Anhedonia is a particularly interesting one; it means being unable to derive pleasure from something you once enjoyed. Say you used to love a game of squash after work, and now it doesn’t interest you at all. That’s anhedonia: a loss of pleasure in something you’d ordinarily find enjoyable.