Central Institute of Psychiatry - 9 July 2022
Mental Health Nursing
Easy

A person is unable to enjoy pleasurable events in life is termed as?

Appeared in: Central Institute of Psychiatry - 9 July 2022

Explanation

  • Anhedonia is the clinical term for the state of being unable to experience pleasure from activities that were previously found enjoyable.
  • The term is derived from Greek: 'an-' meaning 'without' and 'hēdonē' meaning 'pleasure'.
  • It is recognized as a core symptom of major depressive disorder and is also a key negative symptom associated with schizophrenia.
  • According to DSM-5, anhedonia involves a lack of enjoyment, engagement, or energy for life's experiences and a deficit in the capacity to feel pleasure.

Why Other Options Were Wrong

  • Option B: Ataxia is a neurological sign characterized by a lack of voluntary coordination of muscle movements, which can affect gait, speech, and eye movements. It is a motor disorder, not an emotional one.
  • Option C: Alexithymia is a personality trait characterized by the subclinical inability to identify and describe one's own emotions. A person with alexithymia struggles to verbalize feelings, which is different from being unable to experience pleasure.
  • Option D: Aphonia is the medical term for the inability to produce voiced sound, essentially the loss of one's voice. It is a physical condition related to the larynx or its neurological control, not an emotional state.

Related Visual

Visual explanation — Related Visual
Clinical Relevance
  • Nursing practice connection: This is primarily an exam-oriented knowledge point with limited direct bedside application, so retain Definition of Anhedonia and related psychiatric terms as background academic context rather than a clinical decision trigger.
  • Screening for anhedonia is a fundamental component of any mental health assessment, particularly for depression. Nurses should ask direct questions like, 'Have you lost interest or pleasure in activities you used to enjoy?'.
  • The presence of significant anhedonia is a red flag for severe depression and is associated with an increased risk for suicide, as it contributes to feelings of hopelessness. It warrants a thorough and immediate risk assessment.
  • Nursing interventions for anhedonia often involve behavioral activation, which encourages patients to schedule and engage in small, achievable, and potentially pleasant activities to gradually rebuild a sense of reward and interest.
How to Approach the Question
  • First, identify the key phrase in the question stem: 'unable to enjoy pleasurable events'. This points to a problem with the experience of pleasure.
  • Recognize this as a definition-based question. Your goal is to match the definition in the stem to the correct medical term among the options.
  • Systematically evaluate each option's definition. Anhedonia comes from 'an-' (without) and 'hedone' (pleasure), which directly matches the stem's description.
  • Rule out the other options by recalling their distinct meanings: Ataxia relates to motor coordination, Alexithymia to identifying feelings, and Aphonia to voice loss.
  • Confirm that Anhedonia is the only term related to the capacity for pleasure to confidently select it as the correct answer.
Concept Tested & Keywords
  • Concept Tested: Definition of Anhedonia and related psychiatric terms
  • Stem keywords: unable to enjoy, pleasurable events, inability to feel pleasure
  • Lead-in keywords: termed as

Question ID

QBZ5KgDMz_GB7sHM4LUIjC

Reference Book

E6 Robert Boland, Marcia L. Verduin - Kaplan and Sadock's Comprehensive Text of Psychiatry-Wolters Kluwer Health (2024) (pp 1-16525 of 16525) pp. 15282-15284, 4730-4732, 1680-1682

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