Two patients each seem to have withdrawn from activities they used to care about. Before revealing the answer, decide what question would tell anhedonia apart from apathy.

Ask specifically about pleasure during and after an activity, not just willingness to start it. Anhedonia is a loss of pleasure itself — the person may still engage in the activity but gets nothing out of it once they do. Apathy is a broader lack of interest and motivation, often affecting whether the person is drawn to begin an activity at all, regardless of whether pleasure would follow. The two often overlap, but asking about the experience of doing the activity, not just the desire to do it, helps separate them.