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Journal of Affective Disorders Feb 2022Anhedonia has long been theorized to be a multidimensional construct, focusing on domains of reward stimuli and temporal relationship to reward. However, little...
BACKGROUND
Anhedonia has long been theorized to be a multidimensional construct, focusing on domains of reward stimuli and temporal relationship to reward. However, little empirical work has directly examined whether there is support for this assertion.
METHODS
The study used data from young adults from four independent samples (n = 2098). Participants completed multiple measures of anhedonia.
RESULTS
We used rigorous conducted exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses on items from six commonly used anhedonia measures to examine dimensions underlying anhedonia. Results suggested a four-factor solution with factors reflecting social reward, social disinterest, status/achievement, and physical/natural reward. The identified factors reflected broad content domains of pleasure, but not specific reward processes. The four factors were modestly associated with one another, suggesting a weak common underlying anhedonia trait that manifests across multiple dimensions. Factor scores were associated with personality measures, reward-related indices, and depression symptoms, supporting the validity of the factors.
LIMITATIONS
Participants were all young adults and we assessed anhedonia only at the level of self-report.
CONCLUSION
Anhedonia is a multidimensional construct. However, the dimensions of anhedonia only distinguish domains of, but not temporal processes of anhedonia. Future work should continue to refine the structures underlying the construct of anhedonia through iterative theory- and data-driven research and examine associations between anhedonia and clinical outcomes.
Topics: Anhedonia; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Humans; Pleasure; Reward; Self Report; Young Adult
PubMed: 34864118
DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2021.11.069 -
Experimental and Clinical... Oct 2021Anhedonia-diminished interest and pleasure in response to rewards-may be a symptom of tobacco withdrawal that is understudied in priority populations. This experiment...
Anhedonia-diminished interest and pleasure in response to rewards-may be a symptom of tobacco withdrawal that is understudied in priority populations. This experiment investigated the magnitude and correlates of various dimensions of anhedonia during tobacco withdrawal among African-American (AA) smokers-a population subject to health disparities. AA smokers ( = 607; ≥ 10 cigarettes/day, 37.8% female, [SD] age = 50.0[10.6] years) completed self-report measures assessing expected pleasure from (i.e., consummatory anhedonia) and desire to engage in (i.e., anticipatory anhedonia) various types of hypothetically experienced rewards at counterbalanced 16-hr tobacco deprived and nondeprived lab visits. Other tobacco withdrawal symptom measures (e.g., craving, negative affect, hunger) were also assessed. Tobacco deprivation most robustly increased scores on a composite measure of consummatory anhedonia directed toward various reward domains (i.e., hobbies, sensory experiences, social activities; = .32, < .001). Deprivation modestly increased consummatory and anticipatory anhedonia directed toward sexual rewards (s = .09-.12, s < .02), did not significantly change anhedonia toward food rewards, and decreased anhedonia directed toward psychoactive drug rewards (i.e., increased desire for and pleasure from drugs; s = -.21 to -.19, s < .001). Deprivation-induced changes in anhedonia were modestly correlated with other withdrawal symptoms (average ||s = .04-.23) and were amplified among participants with higher nicotine dependence and lower positive affect-related traits (|β|s = .10-.12, s < .01). Some dimensions of anhedonia may be genuine expressions of acute tobacco withdrawal in AA smokers. Applying multi-dimensional anhedonia conceptualizations might advance basic knowledge and treatment of tobacco use disorder, improve smoking cessation outcomes, and address tobacco-related health disparities facing AA smokers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Black or African American; Anhedonia; Humans; Middle Aged; Smokers; Substance Withdrawal Syndrome; Nicotiana; Tobacco Use Disorder
PubMed: 34110886
DOI: 10.1037/pha0000474 -
The International Journal of Eating... Mar 2021Low positive affect has been identified as an antecedent of binge-eating episodes among individuals with binge-eating disorder (BED), yet positive affect has received...
Low positive affect has been identified as an antecedent of binge-eating episodes among individuals with binge-eating disorder (BED), yet positive affect has received far less attention in eating disorders research than its counterpart, negative affect. In this article, we argue that the low levels of positive affect which occur with anhedonia (i.e., loss of interest or pleasure in activities) may contribute to the onset and maintenance of BED. We introduce a theoretical model in which anhedonia increases the risk for BED through its interrelationships with dysregulated eating and weight gain, and we describe potential direct (e.g., reward-related processes) as well as indirect (e.g., influences on depressive symptoms and physical activity) pathways by which anhedonia may lead to adverse eating- and weight-related outcomes. We also propose a momentary maintenance model in which low positive affect and positive affect dysregulation occurring with anhedonia maintain binge eating directly and indirectly through maladaptive health behaviors, such as decreased physical activity, less healthy eating, and fewer social interactions, which in turn maintain anhedonia. We draw upon outside literature to present evidence that aligns with the proposed risk and maintenance models and conclude by outlining avenues for future research-including methodological/measurement, theoretical, and clinical research directions.
Topics: Anhedonia; Binge-Eating Disorder; Bulimia; Humans
PubMed: 33295671
DOI: 10.1002/eat.23433 -
Journal of Personality Oct 2023Social anhedonia is associated with disinterest in social interactions and poor relationship functioning, yet little is known about the specific mechanisms underlying...
OBJECTIVE
Social anhedonia is associated with disinterest in social interactions and poor relationship functioning, yet little is known about the specific mechanisms underlying associations between social anhedonia and romantic relationship behaviors and satisfaction. We examined the links between social anhedonia, perceptions of conflict communication patterns, and marital satisfaction.
METHOD
The current research examined the role of social anhedonia on marital quality and functioning longitudinally across a year in a sample of 100 newlywed couples using an actor-partner interdependence framework.
RESULTS
Social anhedonia was negatively associated with own and partner's marital satisfaction. It was also negatively associated with constructive communication and positively associated with destructive communication. Furthermore, cross-sectional mediation analyses showed that communication patterns mediated the social anhedonia-satisfaction link.
CONCLUSIONS
Taken together, these findings suggest that social anhedonia is likely to lead to lower marital satisfaction, partly through its effect on communication between partners.
Topics: Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Anhedonia; Cross-Sectional Studies; Marriage; Communication; Personal Satisfaction; Spouses
PubMed: 36477834
DOI: 10.1111/jopy.12798 -
Current Topics in Behavioral... 2022Anhedonia, characterized by a lack of motivation, interest, or ability to experience pleasure, is a prominent symptom of depression and other psychiatric disorders and... (Review)
Review
Anhedonia, characterized by a lack of motivation, interest, or ability to experience pleasure, is a prominent symptom of depression and other psychiatric disorders and has been associated with poor response to standard therapies. One pathophysiologic pathway receiving increased attention for its potential role in anhedonia is inflammation and its effects on the brain. Exogenous administration of inflammatory stimuli to humans and laboratory animals has reliably been found to affect neurotransmitters and neurocircuits involved in reward processing, including the ventral striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, in association with reduced motivation. Moreover, a rich literature including meta-analyses describes increased inflammation in a significant proportion of patients with depression and other psychiatric illnesses involving anhedonia, as evident by elevated inflammatory cytokines, acute phase proteins, chemokines, and adhesion molecules in both the periphery and central nervous system. This endogenous inflammation may arise from numerous sources including stress, obesity or metabolic dysfunction, genetics, and lifestyle factors, many of which are also risk factors for psychiatric illness. Consistent with laboratory studies involving exogenous administration of peripheral inflammatory stimuli, neuroimaging studies have further confirmed that increased endogenous inflammation in depression is associated with decreased activation of and reduced functional connectivity within reward circuits involving ventral striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex in association with anhedonia. Here, we review recent evidence of relationships between inflammation and anhedonia, while highlighting translational and mechanistic work describing the impact of inflammation on synthesis, release, and reuptake of neurotransmitters like dopamine and glutamate that affects circuits to drive motivational deficits. We will then present insight into novel pharmacological strategies that target either inflammation or its downstream effects on the brain and behavior. The meaningful translation of these concepts through appropriately designed trials targeting therapies for psychiatric patients with high inflammation and transdiagnostic symptoms of anhedonia is also discussed.
Topics: Anhedonia; Animals; Brain; Humans; Inflammation; Prefrontal Cortex; Reward
PubMed: 34971449
DOI: 10.1007/7854_2021_294 -
Scientific Reports May 2023Individuals are different in a relatively constant pattern of thoughts, feeling, and behaviors, which are called personality traits. Mental health is a condition of...
Individuals are different in a relatively constant pattern of thoughts, feeling, and behaviors, which are called personality traits. Mental health is a condition of well-being in which people may reach their full potential and deal effectively with stress, work efficiently, and contribute to their communities. Indeed, the link between personality and mental health as indicated by the 12-item version of the general health questionnaires (GHQ-12) has been well-established according to evidence found by decades of research. However, the GHQ-12 comprises many questions asking about different dimensions of mental health. It is unclear how personality traits relate to these dimensions of mental health. In this paper, we try to address this question. We analyzed data from 12,007 participants from the British Household Panel Study (BHPS) using a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and generalized linear models. We replicated the factor structure of GHQ-12 labeled as GHQ-12A (social dysfunction & anhedonia; 6 items), GHQ-12B (depression & anxiety; 4 items), and GHQ-12C (loss of confidence; 2 items). Moreover, Neuroticism was positively related to all dimensions of mental health issues, Extraversion was negatively related to GHQ-12A (social dysfunction & anhedonia) and GHQ-12B (depression & anxiety), Agreeableness and Conscientiousness were negatively related to GHQ-12A (social dysfunction & anhedonia) and GHQ-12C (loss of confidence), and Openness was negatively related to GHQ-12B (depression & anxiety). These results contribute to theories including the predisposition/vulnerability model, complication/scar model, pathoplasty/exacerbation model, and the spectrum model, which propose that personality traits are linked to mental health and explained possible reasons. Psychologists may use results from this study to identify individuals who may be at high risk of developing various non-psychiatric mental health issues and intervene to avoid negative outcomes.
Topics: Humans; Mental Health; Anhedonia; Personality; Personality Disorders; Neuroticism
PubMed: 37127723
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-33996-1 -
Schizophrenia Bulletin Mar 2022Anhedonia, the reduced capacity to experience pleasure, has long been considered a prominent feature of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Many domain-specific... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
Anhedonia, the reduced capacity to experience pleasure, has long been considered a prominent feature of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Many domain-specific conceptualizations of anhedonia and pleasure capacity have been developed, and there currently exist a variety of self-report assessment tools that purport to assess these various domains. The current systematic review and meta-analysis (PROSPERO: CRD42020156169) aimed to quantify overall and domain-specific self-reported anhedonia in people with schizophrenia compared to nonpsychiatric controls. We performed a literature search of PsycINFO, MEDLINE, and Embase databases for dissertations and peer-reviewed articles published in English prior to June 2021. Studies employing a psychometrically validated self-report measure of anhedonia, pleasure experience or affect in people with schizophrenia, schizoaffective, or schizophreniform disorders; studies utilizing at least one clearly defined healthy or community control group for comparison; and studies providing sufficient data to calculate effect sizes were included in this review. Random and mixed effects meta-analyses, meta-regressions, and subgroup comparisons were run across domains of anhedonia to explore weighted mean effect sizes and their associated moderators. In total, 146 studies met inclusion criteria, yielding 390 Hedges' g effect sizes from the included comparisons. People with schizophrenia reported moderate-to-large elevations in overall and domain-specific anhedonia. A sensitivity analysis accounting for high risk of bias studies did not significantly impact results. Lastly, patient sex, education, negative symptom severity, antipsychotic class, and trait negative affect differentially moderated effect sizes across domains of anhedonia. Despite the heterogeneity inherent in schizophrenia spectrum disorders, self-reported anhedonia is ubiquitously reported across self-report measures in this population.
Topics: Adult; Anhedonia; Female; Humans; Male; Psychometrics; Schizophrenia; Self Report
PubMed: 34891171
DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbab136 -
Social Cognitive and Affective... Nov 2020Trauma exposure is associated with increased inflammatory biomarkers (e.g. C-reactive protein [CRP] and cytokines), and inflammation has been shown to impact...
Trauma exposure is associated with increased inflammatory biomarkers (e.g. C-reactive protein [CRP] and cytokines), and inflammation has been shown to impact corticostriatal reward circuitry and increase anhedonia-related symptoms. We examined resting-state functional MRI in a high-trauma inner-city population of African-American women (n = 56), who reported on average five different types of trauma exposures, to investigate whether inflammation correlated with functional connectivity (FC) in corticostriatal reward circuitry in association with symptoms of anhedonia and PTSD. Plasma CRP negatively correlated with bilateral ventral striatum (VS) to ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) FC (P < 0.01). In participants where plasma was available to also measure cytokines and their soluble receptors, left (L)VS-vmPFC FC negatively correlated with an inflammatory composite score (previously shown to be increased in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid of depressed patients with high CRP) only in women with significant PTSD symptoms (n = 14; r = -0.582, P = 0.029) and those who experienced moderate-severe childhood trauma (r = -0.595, P = 0.009). Exploratory analyses indicated that LVS-vmPFC FC correlated with anhedonia-related subscales from the Beck Depression Inventory (r = -0.691, P = 0.004) and PTSD Symptom Scale (avoidance/numbness; r = -0.514, P = 0.042) in participants with an inflammatory score over the median (n = 16). Results suggest that inflammation contributes to compromised reward circuitry and symptoms of anhedonia and PTSD in trauma-exposed women.
Topics: Adult; Aged; Anhedonia; C-Reactive Protein; Female; Humans; Inflammation; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Middle Aged; Reward; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic; Young Adult
PubMed: 32291455
DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsz100 -
Journal of Affective Disorders Jun 2023From a behavioural perspective anhedonia is defined as diminished interest in the engagement of pleasurable activities. Despite its presence across a range of...
BACKGROUND
From a behavioural perspective anhedonia is defined as diminished interest in the engagement of pleasurable activities. Despite its presence across a range of psychiatric disorders, the cognitive processes that give rise to anhedonia remain unclear.
METHODS
Here we examine whether anhedonia is associated with learning from positive and negative outcomes in patients diagnosed with major depression, schizophrenia and opiate use disorder alongside a healthy control group. Responses in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test - a task associated with healthy prefrontal cortex function - were fitted to the Attentional Learning Model (ALM) which separates learning from positive and negative feedback.
RESULTS
Learning from punishment, but not from reward, was negatively associated with anhedonia beyond other socio-demographic, cognitive and clinical variables. This impairment in punishment sensitivity was also associated with faster responses following negative feedback, independently of the degree of surprise.
LIMITATIONS
Future studies should test the longitudinal association between punishment sensitivity and anhedonia also in other clinical populations controlling for the effect of specific medications.
CONCLUSIONS
Together the results reveal that anhedonic subjects, because of their negative expectations, are less sensitive to negative feedbacks; this might lead them to persist in actions leading to negative outcomes.
Topics: Humans; Schizophrenia; Punishment; Anhedonia; Depression; Opiate Alkaloids; Reward
PubMed: 36889442
DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2023.02.120 -
Journal of Affective Disorders Sep 2022Although anhedonia is a key symptom of major depressive disorder (MDD), there is neither a concise nor effective method to distinguish and define anhedonia in MDD. The...
BACKGROUND
Although anhedonia is a key symptom of major depressive disorder (MDD), there is neither a concise nor effective method to distinguish and define anhedonia in MDD. The current study attempts to answer two questions based on validating the Dimensional Anhedonia Rating Scale (DARS) in Chinese MDD patients: 1) whether anhedonia subgroup can be identified? 2) whether patients with anhedonia display unique psychosocial and clinical features?
METHODS
In the discovery sample, 533 MDD patients and 124 healthy controls were recruited into a multicenter study. For replication, a further 112 first-episode, drug-naïve MDD patients were recruited. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to identify the latent subgroups based on their hedonic function measured by the DARS. According to the categorization, ROC curves were applied to find the cut-off value. Lasso regression was performed to characterize psychological and clinical features linked to anhedonia.
RESULTS
The data-driven approach identified and validated the anhedonia subgroup, and proposed that the cut-off value for distinguishing anhedonia was 28.5 based on the total score of DARS. Lasso regression demonstrated that melancholia, lower levels of positive affect and education, more severe depressive symptoms, older age were associated with anhedonia in MDD patients.
CONCLUSION
This study used a data-driven approach to propose a new and convenient method for distinguishing the anhedonia of MDD patients with unique psychological and clinical features. Identifying the subtype may contribute to pinpointing more specific biomarkers in shedding light on the mechanisms of anhedonia in MDD.
TRIAL REGISTRATION
TNDTAD study, NCT03294525; TOSD study, NCT03148522.
Topics: Anhedonia; Depressive Disorder, Major; Humans
PubMed: 35788366
DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2022.06.082