>>68052And yet lots of people use their hobbies precisely to distract themselves from their depression. I don't think it's as simple as you say. No hobby is inherently enjoyable, it depends on what it does for you and what purpose it serves for you. For example, take the hobby of reading books and compare the experience of reading for the sake of reading (because you heard that it's good thing from somewhere) and reading because you care about a specific question or problem or conundrum and the book in your hands has the potential to answer it. Obviously you'd feel more compelled to do it in the second scenario - same activity, different context around it. By making progress through the book you are also making progress towards a valued state in which you remove the tension in your mind (curiosity) or remove the consequences of the problem you are trying to solve - this is a basic psychological reward mechanism. Now, imagine you're stuck in the wilderness and I throw you a "how to survive guide", the book would immediately be compelling and feel like a priority to you and you would savor every page of it, simply because of the context.
In cases of anhedonia, I don't believe there is anything wrong with your sense of pleasure, it is not some deadening of nerves or anything biological, but rather, the context surrounding various activities simply changes in a way that makes them uncompelling. Why read books when everyone thinks you're an idiot, why take a shower when your body is disgusting and unattractive, why brush your teeth when you'll likely commit suicide soon… Whether you find a particular action compelling and even rewarding, emerges entirely from the environment and its relation to the person.
So finding a hobby is about two things, in my opinion:
(1) waiting for a purpose to become salient in your environment then matching it with an activity that promises to fulfil it i.e. you start reading books because that's the best way to inform yourself and gain some specific knowledge to solve a specific problem you have or settle your burning curiosity.
(2) discovering a concrete path from A to B that "works" (demonstrably through lived experience, not mere hearsay) i.e. just because you anticipate that you can use a pen and paper to potentially draw anime tiddies (highly desirable valued state), doesn't mean that you know HOW to do it, you have to discover it through trial and error. you brain rewards you every time you make them sort of come out right, because you bumped into the "right" way and it wants you remember it.