the relationship between anhedonia, affectivity, and poor social functioning exhibited by schizophrenic patients
Anhedonia is defined as the lack of
vitality commonly felt in patients suffering with unremitting depression. Anhedonia
has been associated with low positive affect which is another trait that researchers
have found to be associated with depression. In the study “Low Positive Affect
is Associated with Reduced Prefrontal Cortical Activity in Remitted Depression,”
Rebecca Silton explores the relationship between low positive affect and
prefrontal brain activity to examine differences in subjects with depression and normal control subjects. In the study “Anhedonia,Positive and Negative Affect, and Social Functioning in Schizophrenia,” Jack
Blanchard, Kim Mueser, and Alan Bellack proposed that anhedonia and low
positive affect are also related to emotional functioning in schizophrenia, such
as the underlying social isolation evident in patients with schizophrenia. Instead
of studying the association between anhedonia and psychosis proneness which has
already been done or focusing on the relationship between affectivity and
prefrontal alpha like Silton, Blanchard, Mueser, and Bellack focused on anhedonia’s
relationship to specific features of schizophrenia in affected patients.
They chose to focus on trait affect
correlates of anhedonia because they are more reliable, less-restrictive when
assessing trait affectivity, and will allow the researchers to better understand how anhedonia is related to positive and negative
affect. The trait measures of effect were completed using the Multidimensional
Personality Questionnaire, a self-report survey that has been used in several
other studies in psychopathology. The first part of the study tested whether
anhedonia, positive affect, and negative affect reflected individual
differences in patients with schizophrenia. Then, the relationship between anhedonia
and trait dimensions of positive and negative affect was evaluated. The final
goal of the study was to elucidate the relationship, if any, between anhedonia
and social functioning schizophrenia since social dysfunction is a key feature
of the disorder. It was hypothesized that anhedonia underlies social withdrawal
and impairment in individuals with schizophrenia. Poor social functioning
characteristics included in the study were fewer friends, less social
activities, and less involvement in romance.
To examine the relationship between
anhedonia and poor social functioning, the researchers assessed schizophrenia
outpatients and normal controls twice in 90 days to test the following: the stability of trait
indices of anhedonia and affectivity, whether schizophrenia subjects reported
greater anhedonia, whether anhedonia is associated with less trait positive
affect and greater trait negative affect, and if the poor social functioning
exhibited by schizophrenia subjects (if this is the case) is correlated with
greater anhedonia and less positive affect. After the final correlational analyses were completed in order to evaluate relationships between anhedonia, affectivity,
anxiety, and social functioning within the schizophrenia subjects, it was
concluded that schizophrenic subjects reported greater physical and emotional
anhedonia and less trait positive affect than normal control subjects did, but
they also reported greater trait negative affect and greater social anxiety
than control subjects did. This result, along with other calculations, allowed
the researchers to conclude that anhedonia can be used as a marker for low
positive affect and high negative affect. Also, the poor social functioning
exhibited by schizophrenic subjects was significantly correlated with greater
levels of anhedonia. The evident correlation between positive affect and social
functioning was less understood; increased positive affect may increase tendencies
to engage in social activity or participation in social activities may result
in increased positive affect. However, lower positive affect was evident in
schizophrenic subjects with poorer social functioning.
In synopsis, schizophrenic patients in
this study were characterized by high physical and emotional anhedonia, low
positive affect, and high negative affect. The relationship between affectivity
and anhedonia can be a key insight into the mechanisms behind disorders like
schizophrenia and depression. A better understanding of these relationships has
significant implications for the development of new and integrative positive-emotion-interventions
in treatment for these disorders.
References:
Rebecca Silton, Kelly Polnaszek, Daniel Dickson, Wendy Heller, Gregory Miller, "Low Positive Affect is Associated with Reduced Prefrontal Cortical Activity in Remitted Depression"
Jack J. Blanchard, Kim T. Mueser, Alan S. Bellack, "Anhedonia, Positive and Negative Affect, and Social Functioning in Schizophrenia"
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