Background. The term and concept of 'anhedonia' refer to a group of clinical
phenomena whose common denominator is the complaint of a putative
incapacity to 'experience pleasure'. Linked to disorders such as schizophrenia
and depression, anhedonia remains difficult to define and measure.
Method. This paper explores the historical frames in which anhedonia was
originally constructed; and is fully based on primary sources. It makes use of the
'conceptual method', i.e. it differentiates the history of the word from that of the
behaviours and concepts involved.
Results. Historical analysis shows that the boundaries of 'anhedonia' have
been fuzzy since the time of Ribot, and that this has made it conceptually
unstable. One reason for this instability pertains to the fact that from the start its
definition has been parasitical upon the (itself evolving) concept of 'pleasure'.
Another that it is defined negatively, i.e. as a reduction or abolition in a
putative unitary function. Yet another, that there is little evidence that
anhedonia itself is a unitary phenomenon.
Conclusions. It is concluded that at this stage it might be advisable to refer to
the concept in the plural (the anhedonias); that a definition should be
formulated that it is less dependent upon the ongoing concept of pleasure; and
that far more empirical research is needed to find out whether anhedonia is more
than a final common pathway.
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