Amotivational syndrome

Amotivational syndrome is a psychiatric condition marked by a lasting loss of motivation, with detachment, blunted emotions and drives, passivity, apathy and deficits in executive functions such as working memory and attention. It is described in two forms: a cannabis-related form tied to long-term cannabis use or dependence, and an antidepressant-related form, also called SSRI-induced apathy, reported in people taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. The frontal lobe is suspected to be involved in both. Management follows the cause: for cannabis use it resembles the treatment of cannabis dependence, with monitoring, education and group, family or individual therapy, and for the antidepressant form it can mean lowering or changing the drug. Whether cannabis causes the syndrome is still debated, since an existing depression may account for much of the picture.