Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a mental health condition characterised by persistent and excessive worry about everyday life situations. While GAD is often associated with restlessness, breathing difficulties, and muscle tension, it can sometimes be accompanied by anhedonia, or the inability to feel pleasure. Though not a core symptom of GAD, anhedonia can significantly impact one’s quality of life and worsen anxiety symptoms. Let’s explore the relationship between GAD and anhedonia in depth.
What is Anhedonia?
In simple terms, anhedonia is the inability to feel pleasure from activities that a person previously found enjoyable. Anhedonia can impact a person’s social activities, work life and even physical health, as people with anhedonia typically lose interest in friendships, food, hobbies, etc. Anhedonia is one of the most common symptoms of major depressive disorder (MDD) and can sometimes affect people with GAD as well.
The Link Between Anhedonia and GAD
While there isn’t much research to indicate the exact prevalence of anhedonia in GAD, there is certainly an overlap between the two conditions. Let’s see how
- Another study in 2021 examined the relationship between sleep issues, negative thoughts, anhedonia and poor quality of life among 226 people with GAD and found that anhedonia was the most influential symptom among the entire symptom network. This means that anhedonia is interconnected and strongly affects other GAD symptoms such as sleep issues, quality of life and negative thoughts, highlighting the significant and complex relationship between anhedonia and GAD
- An older research study in 2017 examined the relationship between anxiety, anhedonia and depression by analysing three different studies and found that GAD may lead to anhedonia as people may start losing pleasure in activities that they avoid out of anxiety. If these symptoms remain untreated, GAD may first lead to anhedonia and eventually contribute to full-blown depression over 11 months.
- Another study published in 2023 had similar results, where it was found that excessive worry in GAD might contribute to the development of anhedonia among patients with chronic pain, suggesting that these conditions might share similar cognitive pathways.
Thus, although there is limited statistical data on the relationship between GAD and anhedonia, there is sufficient evidence to suggest a strong association between the two conditions.
Can GAD Contribute to Anhedonia?
As discussed earlier, GAD and anhedonia are strongly connected; thus, GAD can contribute to anhedonia in the following ways.
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Avoidance
People with GAD may start avoiding activities that cause anxiety, which leads to reduced motivation and anhedonia.
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Disrupted Dopamine Pathways
GAD can disturb the dopamine sensitivity of the brain, leading to a diminished ability to experience pleasure even in normally enjoyable activities
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Link with Depression
Research suggests that GAD is highly likely to be comorbid with depression. This is because avoidance of anxiety can lead to anhedonia, and when left untreated, anhedonia can act as a bridge between GAD and depression, which can further worsen the lack of pleasure.
Treatment of Anhedonia in GAD
Anhedonia in GAD can be treated in the following ways:
- Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) helps to challenge negative thoughts and replaces them with helpful ones. Behavioral activation, a CBT technique, encourages re-engagement with pleasurable activities despite the absence of initial enjoyment.
- Lifestyle Changes—Regular exercise, social connection, creative hobbies, and mindfulness practices can help reignite the brain’s reward circuitry over time.
- Medications—In severe cases, medications such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) can be recommended to reduce both anxiety and anhedonia.
Conclusion:
While anhedonia is not a core symptom of GAD, the chronic worry and fear-based avoidance behaviour from anxiety can lead to anhedonia. GAD may also disrupt the reward systems of the brain, leading to a loss of interest and eventual depression. Thus, anhedonia might indeed be present in the case of severe GAD. In the end, it is important to remember that both anhedonia and GAD are manageable and can be treated with therapy, lifestyle changes and medications, so do not hesitate to seek help at the earliest.
References:
- Barthel, A. L., Pinaire, M. A., Curtiss, J. E., Baker, A. W., Brown, M. L., Hoeppner, S. S., Bui, E., Simon, N. M., & Hofmann, S. G. (2020). Anhedonia is Central for the Association between Quality of Life, Metacognition, Sleep, and Affective Symptoms in Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A Network Analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 277, 1013–1021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.08.077
- Generalized anxiety disorder—Symptoms and causes. (n.d.). Mayo Clinic. Retrieved August 14, 2025, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/generalized-anxiety-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20360803
- What Is Anhedonia? (n.d.). WebMD. Retrieved August 14, 2025, from https://www.webmd.com/depression/what-is-anhedonia
- Winer, E. S., Bryant, J., Bartoszek, G., Rojas, E., Nadorff, M. R., & Kilgore, J. (2017). Mapping the Relationship between Anxiety, Anhedonia, and Depression. Journal of Affective Disorders, 221, 289–296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2017.06.006
- Zhang, Y., Langlois, L.-P., Mesli, N., Ware, J., Tourian, L., & Martel, M. O. (2023). Interrelations Between Generalized Anxiety Disorder Symptoms And Anhedonia Among Patients With Chronic Pain: Insights From A Network Approach. The Journal of Pain, 24(4, Supplement), 55–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpain.2023.02.168
