Avolition

Overview
Avolition is a psychological state characterized by general lack of desire, motivation, and persistence. Commonly seen in patients with schizophrenia, those suffering from avolition will not start or complete any major tasks. This differs from anhedonia, where patients generally find task completion pleasureless.

It is the reduction, difficulty, or inability to initiate and/or persist in goal-directed behavior; it is quite often mistaken for apparent disinterest.

Avolition refers to the lack of initiative, or loss in drive and motivation to pursue realistic goals. Avolition is one of the four (affective flattening, alogia, anhedronia) main 'negative' symptoms of Schizophrenia.

DSM IV criteria for schizophrenia or schizo-affective disorder:

Characteristic symptoms are two (or more) of the following, each present for a significant portion of time during a 1-month period: delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech (e.g., frequent derailment or incoherence), grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior, negative symptoms, i.e., affective flattening, alogia, or avolition.