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Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Oct 2016Depression is associated with social risk factors, social impairments and poor social functioning. This paper gives an overview of these social aspects using the NIMH... (Review)
Review
Depression is associated with social risk factors, social impairments and poor social functioning. This paper gives an overview of these social aspects using the NIMH Research and Domain Criteria 'Systems for Social Processes' as a framework. In particular, it describes the bio-psycho-social interplay regarding impaired affiliation and attachment (social anhedonia, hyper-sensitivity to social rejection, competition avoidance, increased altruistic punishment), impaired social communication (impaired emotion recognition, diminished cooperativeness), impaired social perception (reduced empathy, theory-of-mind deficits) and their impact on social networks and the use of social media. It describes these dysfunctional social processes at the behavioural, neuroanatomical, neurochemical and genetic levels, and with respect to animal models of social stress. We discuss the diagnostic specificity of these social deficit constructs for depression and in relation to depression severity. Since social factors are importantly involved in the pathogenesis and the consequences of depression, such research will likely contribute to better diagnostic assessments and concepts, treatments and preventative strategies both at the diagnostic and transdiagnostic level.
Topics: Anhedonia; Depression; Depressive Disorder, Major; Emotions; Humans; Social Perception
PubMed: 27395342
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.07.002 -
Psychopathology 2020Since the introduction of DSM-III anhedonia has become a core depressive criterion and is defined as the loss of interest or pleasure. Although the origin of the word... (Review)
Review
Since the introduction of DSM-III anhedonia has become a core depressive criterion and is defined as the loss of interest or pleasure. Although the origin of the word goes back to the end of the 19th century and numerous anhedonic symptoms are described in classic texts on depression, this centrality in the diagnosis of depression is only recent. Anhedonia is best described as a symptom complex with unclear boundaries cutting across the tripartite model of the mind (affect, volition, and cognition). Popular concepts of anhedonia pertain to the pleasure cycle and positive affectivity. These concepts partially overlap and are often mixed up, but clearly stem from different theoretical backgrounds: the affective science of reward processing versus more general, dimensional modelling of affect. The former concept seems more suitable to understand anhedonic emotions, the latter more suitable to understand anhedonic mood or trait. This narrative review covers the history of "anhedonia," the different anhedonic phenomena, and psychopathological concepts. An attempt is made to go beyond a merely descriptive psychopathology. Neurobiological and psychological insights shed a light on how symptoms are made and interconnected; these insights possibly call for a new psychopathological language.
Topics: Adult; Anhedonia; Depressive Disorder; Female; Humans; Male
PubMed: 32668436
DOI: 10.1159/000508773 -
Journal of Affective Disorders Mar 2023Anhedonia is an important aspect of adolescent-onset major depressive disorder (MDD) and is associated with increased risk of suicidal behaviors and poor treatment...
BACKGROUND
Anhedonia is an important aspect of adolescent-onset major depressive disorder (MDD) and is associated with increased risk of suicidal behaviors and poor treatment outcomes. However, the neural circuitry underlying this deficit has not been well defined. This study aims to identify the relationships between anhedonia and changes in static and dynamic functional connectivity (FC) in adolescent-onset MDD patients compared with healthy control subjects (HCs) and adult-onset MDD patients.
METHODS
A total of 157 participants completed the Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS) to assess hedonic capacity. Resting-state functional imaging scans were analysed using graph theoretical analysis, network-based statistics (NBS) and sliding window correlation analysis to explore the potential patterns of neural network brain disruptions in adolescent-onset MDD. Pearson correlations and support vector machines regression (SVR) were used to explore correlations and predict network measures with SHAPS scores.
RESULTS
Compared with those with adult-onset MDD, adolescent-onset MDD patients showed decreased FC in 7 nodes and 6 connections, with the right angular gyrus (AG), left AG and left paracentral lobule having the largest number of connected edges (P = 0.0396, NBS-corrected). Their average FC and SHAPS scores were positively correlated (r = 0.309, P = 0.035). Regarding dynamic FC, compared with HCs, adolescent-onset MDD patients showed a tendency towards a decreased frequency in moderate-intensity brain FC states (P = 0.014), which was significantly and positively correlated with SHAPS scores (r = 0.425, P = 0.003). SVR also revealed AG-centred FC and dynamic FC could predict SHAPS scores (MSE = 27.233, P = 0.001).
CONCLUSIONS
These findings provide distinct evidence on the physiological mechanisms of adolescent-onset MDD and anhedonia.
Topics: Adult; Humans; Adolescent; Anhedonia; Depressive Disorder, Major; Depression; Brain; Parietal Lobe; Magnetic Resonance Imaging
PubMed: 36581179
DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2022.12.057 -
Depression and Anxiety May 2018Anhedonia is considered a suicide risk factor in patients with major affective disorders. Here, we wanted to quantify the association between anhedonia and current... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
BACKGROUND
Anhedonia is considered a suicide risk factor in patients with major affective disorders. Here, we wanted to quantify the association between anhedonia and current suicidal ideation according to the absence/presence of between-group differences for depressive scores and psychiatric disorders.
METHODS
We performed a meta-analysis of data on studies retrieved from Medline, Web of Science, and PsycINFO from 1965 to 2016 using, among others, the terms (suicid* or depression) and anhedonia.
RESULTS
We identified 15 observational case-control studies that investigated the anhedonia differences in individuals with and without current (i.e., within the past week, independently of the lifetime suicidality status) suicidal ideation (defined as thoughts of killing oneself). Overall, 657 subjects with and 6,690 subjects without current suicidal ideation could be compared. Anhedonia level was higher in the group with current suicidal ideation than in the group without, with a medium effect size (standardized mean difference = 0.57, z = 5.43, P < 0.001, 95% confidence interval, CI = 0.37-0.79). The association between anhedonia and current suicidal ideation remained significant when controlling for depression and psychiatric disorders. The anhedonia scales used in the selected studies did not allow investigating consummatory and motivational anhedonia separately.
CONCLUSION
Our major finding is the robust association between anhedonia and current suicidal ideation, independently of depression. This is highly relevant for the clinicians' daily practice and might help improving suicidal risk detection and the development of new therapeutic strategies for suicide prevention.
Topics: Adult; Anhedonia; Female; Humans; Male; Suicidal Ideation
PubMed: 29232491
DOI: 10.1002/da.22709 -
Trends in Cognitive Sciences Jun 2024Anhedonia is a reduction in enjoyment, motivation, or interest. It is common across mental health disorders and a harbinger of poor treatment outcomes. The enjoyment... (Review)
Review
Anhedonia is a reduction in enjoyment, motivation, or interest. It is common across mental health disorders and a harbinger of poor treatment outcomes. The enjoyment aspect, termed 'consummatory anhedonia', in particular poses fundamental questions about how the brain constructs rewards: what processes determine how intensely a reward is experienced? Here, we outline limitations of existing computational conceptualisations of consummatory anhedonia. We then suggest a richer reinforcement learning (RL) account of consummatory anhedonia with a reconceptualisation of subjective hedonic experience in terms of goal progress. This accounts qualitatively for the impact of stress, dysfunctional cognitions, and maladaptive beliefs on hedonic experience. The model also offers new views on the treatments for anhedonia.
Topics: Humans; Anhedonia; Reward; Reinforcement, Psychology; Models, Psychological; Brain; Motivation
PubMed: 38423829
DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2024.01.006 -
JAMA Psychiatry Jun 2019
Topics: Anhedonia; Child; Humans; Reward
PubMed: 30865251
DOI: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.4600 -
Brain Imaging and Behavior Sep 2016Anhedonia is a prominent symptom in neuropsychiatric disorders, most markedly in major depressive disorder (MDD) and schizophrenia (SZ). Emerging evidence indicates an... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
Anhedonia is a prominent symptom in neuropsychiatric disorders, most markedly in major depressive disorder (MDD) and schizophrenia (SZ). Emerging evidence indicates an overlap in the neural substrates of anhedonia between MDD and SZ, which supported a transdiagnostic approach. Therefore, we used activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies in MDD and SZ to examine the neural bases of three subdomains of anhedonia: consummatory anhedonia, anticipatory anhedonia and emotional processing. ALE analysis focused specifically on MDD or SZ was used later to dissociate specific anhedonia-related neurobiological impairments from potential disease general impairments. ALE results revealed that consummatory anhedonia was associated with decreased activation in ventral basal ganglia areas, while anticipatory anhedonia was associated with more substrates in frontal-striatal networks except the ventral striatum, which included the dorsal anterior cingulate, middle frontal gyrus and medial frontal gyrus. MDD and SZ patients showed similar neurobiological impairments in anticipatory and consummatory anhedonia, but differences in the emotional experience task, which may also involve affective/mood general processing. These results support that anhedonia is characterized by alterations in reward processing and relies on frontal-striatal brain circuitry. The transdiagnostic approach is a promising way to reveal the overall neurobiological framework that contributes to anhedonia and could help to improve targeted treatment strategies.
Topics: Anhedonia; Brain; Brain Mapping; Depressive Disorder, Major; Humans; Schizophrenia
PubMed: 26487590
DOI: 10.1007/s11682-015-9457-6 -
Current Topics in Behavioral... 2022In order to develop effective treatments for anhedonia we need to understand its underlying neurobiological mechanisms. Anhedonia is conceptually strongly linked to...
In order to develop effective treatments for anhedonia we need to understand its underlying neurobiological mechanisms. Anhedonia is conceptually strongly linked to reward processing, which involves a variety of cognitive and neural operations. This chapter reviews the evidence for impairments in experiencing hedonic response (pleasure), reward valuation and reward learning based on outcomes (commonly conceptualised in terms of "reward prediction error"). Synthesising behavioural and neuroimaging findings, we examine case-control studies of patients with depression and schizophrenia, including those focusing specifically on anhedonia. Overall, there is reliable evidence that depression and schizophrenia are associated with disrupted reward processing. In contrast to the historical definition of anhedonia, there is surprisingly limited evidence for impairment in the ability to experience pleasure in depression and schizophrenia. There is some evidence that learning about reward and reward prediction error signals are impaired in depression and schizophrenia, but the literature is inconsistent. The strongest evidence is for impairments in the representation of reward value and how this is used to guide action. Future studies would benefit from focusing on impairments in reward processing specifically in anhedonic samples, including transdiagnostically, and from using designs separating different components of reward processing, formulating them in computational terms, and moving beyond cross-sectional designs to provide an assessment of causality.
Topics: Anhedonia; Cross-Sectional Studies; Humans; Pleasure; Reward; Schizophrenia
PubMed: 35156187
DOI: 10.1007/7854_2021_295 -
The International Journal of Eating... Mar 2022Anhedonia, a transdiagnostic symptom referring to the loss of ability to experience pleasure, is heightened across eating disorder (ED) diagnoses. This study aimed to...
OBJECTIVE
Anhedonia, a transdiagnostic symptom referring to the loss of ability to experience pleasure, is heightened across eating disorder (ED) diagnoses. This study aimed to assess whether anhedonia changes during ED treatment and explore how changes in anhedonia relate to treatment outcome.
METHOD
Adults and adolescents in a partial hospitalization program for EDs (N = 499) completed the Eating Disorders Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) and the anhedonia subscale of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) at admission and discharge.
RESULTS
Anhedonia scores significantly decreased from admission to discharge. Anhedonia at admission was also significantly different across ED diagnostic groups. To examine how study variables related to discharge EDE-Q scores, a hierarchical linear regression was conducted with demographic, diagnostic, and medication variables in the first step, anhedonia and EDE-Q scores at admission added to the second step, and anhedonia at discharge added to the final step. Greater anhedonia at discharge was related to higher EDE-Q scores at discharge.
DISCUSSION
Our findings suggest that anhedonia changes significantly over the course of intensive treatment and changes in anhedonia relate to ED symptoms at discharge. Future research is needed to determine whether specifically targeting anhedonia in ED treatment may influence treatment outcomes.
PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE
The findings from this study suggest that anhedonia may decrease during eating disorder (ED) treatment, and greater anhedonia may relate to elevated ED symptoms. These results provide support for the continued study of anhedonia in ED samples and indicate that anhedonia should be explored as a potential target for novel ED treatments.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Anhedonia; Feeding and Eating Disorders; Humans; Psychometrics; Surveys and Questionnaires; Treatment Outcome
PubMed: 34997637
DOI: 10.1002/eat.23673 -
Current Topics in Behavioral... 2022Anhedonia is a prevalent symptom across many psychiatric disorders. The contemporary scope of anhedonia across various models includes interest, reward anticipation,...
Anhedonia is a prevalent symptom across many psychiatric disorders. The contemporary scope of anhedonia across various models includes interest, reward anticipation, motivation, effort expenditure, reward valuation, expectation, pleasure, satiation, and learning. In order to further elucidate the impact of anhedonia on treatment outcomes, quality of life, as well as brain function, validated tools to probe the various facets of anhedonia are necessary. This chapter evaluates assessment tools for anhedonia in clinical populations and in animals. Subjective clinical scales have been in use for decades, and as the construct of anhedonia evolved, contemporary scales were developed to integrate these new concepts. Clinical scales are useful for understanding the subjective experience of anhedonia but do not account for objective aspects of anhedonia, including implicit learning. Behavioral tasks that probe responses to rewarding stimuli have been useful to fill this gap and to delineate the specific brain processes underlying facets of anhedonia. Although there have been translational challenges in the assessments of anhedonia and reward deficits from preclinical to clinical (and vice versa), the multifaceted clinical scales and reward tasks provide valuable insights into the conceptualization of anhedonia and its neural basis across psychiatric disorders.
Topics: Anhedonia; Animals; Humans; Mental Disorders; Motivation; Quality of Life; Reward
PubMed: 35435647
DOI: 10.1007/7854_2022_318