PhronesisWe apply the Displacement Framework to Anhedonia, formalizing it as W_anhedonia — a reward-circuit wrong attractor in which dopaminergic reward-prediction error (RPE) blunting generates the paradox of intact desire (cognitive knowledge of what 'should' be pleasurable) without felt pleasure. The hedonic ground state S⁰_reward is defined as functional capacity for anticipatory reward (mesolimbic dopamine/NAc core wanting) and consummatory reward (opioid hedonic hotspots in NAc shell and ventral pallidum liking), maintained by intact Schultz-type RPE dopamine signaling that drives motivational engagement.
W_anhedonia is characterized by blunted RPE signals eliminating the motivational pull of anticipated rewards — nothing calls to the anhedonic person because the dopamine update that normally encodes future reward value fails to fire. Nine formal propositions cover: S⁰_reward definition with neural substrate (P1), W_anhedonia RPE blunting architecture (P2), the wanting/liking dissociation — anticipatory anhedonia (dopamine impairment) and consummatory anhedonia (opioid hotspot impairment) as distinct and doubly dissociable attractor components (P3), RPE blunting as motivational collapse mechanism (P4), transdiagnostic profile across MDD, schizophrenia negative symptoms, bipolar depression, and substance withdrawal (P5), cumulative Φ_anhedonia through social withdrawal and occupational disengagement (P6), SSRI treatment resistance in anhedonia specifically (P7), ketamine/esketamine as rapid anhedonia return path through AMPA potentiation with 72h relief (P8), and behavioral activation as RPE re-training through scheduled pleasant activity (P9).
Social anhedonia, measurement instruments (SHAPS, DARS, EEfRT), and anhedonia as suicidality predictor are analyzed.