a state and symptom characterized by a loss of interest in things or events that usually bring joy or engagement; a reduction or absence of aspirations toward anything; indifference to ongoing events and surrounding people; emotional suppression and lack of motivation to achieve goals. Apathy, as a symptom, may indicate the development of a mental disorder or a neurodegenerative disease. It is more common in adolescents and elderly individuals. Apathy is very similar to depression, and sometimes these conditions are difficult to distinguish, although apathy itself is a symptom of depression. In combination with lack of will, it constitutes an apatho-abulic syndrome; in combination with adynamia, it constitutes an apatho-adynamic syndrome.