Motivation: when the carrot isn't delicious

Motivation: where can we find it in a depressive state? It's a catch-22 sometimes, when the very tool that would help is unavailable due to the conditions one is trying to remedy with the tool that is unavailable... we need our glasses to find our glasses.

What that means is that our tactics for moving through depression need to be incredibly sticky. They need to be simple, safe and so, so easy. This guy decided to make it cool, relying on our built-in desire to do things the accepted and desired way (and I think, the connection between cool and effortless). He identifies that many tools for depression offer brief ways of feeling better but never heal the foundation of the depression. He also notes how vital motivation is (along with strategy). The site is worth visiting just to scroll down and see a picture of him giving you a double thumbs-up.

Here is an article about a study that differentiates between our enjoyment of an activity and the motivation to reach for the experience again. We used to believe that depressed people didn't chase the carrot because we didn't feel as strongly how delicious a crunchy carrot tastes. But now scientists at Vanderbilt University have determined that actually, the decreased desire for pleasurable experiences is due to our inability to crave carrots. Anhedonia (termed laziness by many) is often scribed as the inability to experience pleasure. Symptoms include not doing the things you used to enjoy and boredom. But the article claims that dopamine, while still connected strongly to motivation and reinforcement, isn't necessarily related to enjoyment at all, and that anhedonia, which they related to decreased dopamine levels, is more about not having the connection between enjoyment and the seemingly obvious "play it again, Sam" order one's brain offers up.

Creepily, it's like the positive feedback still happens, but no one is there to hear it. Somewhere, lost in the bureaucracy of our brains, is a stack of memos telling us what's awesome. Down at "What Should We Do?" Central, there are only crickets chirping. Thus, the boredom.

And where does this leave us? Trying to balance out our dopamine levels. Eat ripe bananas and almonds. They're cool and delicious. And easy.