A word to describe a person who prefers to be sad


I know a person who keeps saying that he likes to be sad and just live his life without any enthusiasm or motivation. He prefers to be alone and he doesn't want to engage in activities that are fun-filled. Is there a word which can capture this description?



Answer



I don't think there is a single word for this. Melancholic is close, but doesn't really imply a desire to remain so. Calling him a loner is also close but doesn't fully denote a lack of enthusiasm or motivation for anything he keeps to himself.


However, it does sound a lot like self-defeating personality disorder:



The person may often avoid or undermine pleasurable experiences [...]


[and] rejects opportunities for pleasure, or is reluctant to acknowledge enjoying themself



There's more to it than that, but since this is not an appropriate place to practise amateur psychology I will leave it there.


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