The characterization of social anhedonia and its correlates in schizophrenia and schizoaffective patients

Ritsner, Michael S.; Ratner, Yaël; Mendyk, Nina; Gooding, Diane C.

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2018.11.003

Cited by 26 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Importantly, these findings also challenge the common assumption that people with psychotic disorders are socially uninterested (Andersson, Denhov, Bülow, & Topor, 2014). Although social anhedonia is common in schizophrenia and related disorders (Ritsner, Ratner, Mendyk, & Gooding, 2018), the frequent experience of loneliness suggests that the desire for social connection is not entirely absent (Barkus & Badcock, 2019). Furthermore, loneliness is not just a problem for people with chronic psychotic illness; feeling lonely is common in the first episode of illness (Sundermann, Onwumere, Kane, Morgan, & Kuipers, 2014), during the prodromal period preceding full-blown psychosis (Robustelli, Newberry, Whisman, & Mittal, 2017), and in healthy young adults at increased risk of psychosis (Badcock, Barkus, Cohen, Bucks, & Badcock, 2016; Benson & Park, 2019; Michael & Park, 2016).…”

Section: | Evidence-based Practice (Knowledge)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Loneliness in psychosis: A practical review and critique for clinicians.

Badcock

Adery

Park

2020

Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice

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Accumulating evidence shows that loneliness in psychosis is a major concern for patients, is associated with poorer mental and physical health, and is a significant barrier to recovery. Although psychologists play a major role in treating the cognitive, emotional, and social difficulties of people with psychosis, loneliness is rarely addressed. This article presents a structured review and critique of the evidence base on loneliness in youth and adults with psychosis, framed around the knowledge, attitudes, and skills comprising clinical competencies as a foundation for clinical practice.

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Section: | Evidence-based Practice (Knowledge)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Loneliness in psychosis: A practical review and critique for clinicians.

Badcock

Adery

Park

2020

Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice

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“…Conversely, in treatment-resistant patients with schizophrenia, lower levels of anhedonia–asociality predicted a longer time living in the community between admissions (48). Patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder who had high levels of social anhedonia had higher levels of symptomatology and lower levels of self-esteem, self-efficacy, subjective recovery, social support, and poorer quality of life compared to patients with intact hedonic responses and an intermediary group (49). Collectively, these studies suggest that increased social anhedonia and related constructs diminish social functioning and willingness to engage in social interactions in those at risk for or diagnosed with psychosis.…”

Section: Psychosis Continuummentioning

confidence: 99%

A Transdiagnostic Perspective on Social Anhedonia

2019

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Humans are highly social beings, yet people with social anhedonia experience reduced interest in or reward from social situations. Social anhedonia is a key facet of schizotypal personality, an important symptom of schizophrenia, and increasingly recognized as an important feature in a range of other psychological disorders. However, to date, there has been little examination of the similarities and differences in social anhedonia across diagnostic borders. Here, our goal was to conduct a selective review of social anhedonia in different psychological and life course contexts, including the psychosis continuum, depressive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, eating disorders, and autism spectrum disorders, along with developmental and neurobiological factors. Current evidence suggests that the nature and expression of social anhedonia vary across psychological disorders with some groups showing deficient learning about, enjoyment from, and anticipation of the pleasurable aspects of social interactions, while for others, some of these components appear to remain intact. However, study designs and methodologies are diverse, the roles of developmental and neurobiological factors are not routinely considered, and direct comparisons between diagnostic groups are rare—which prevents a more nuanced understanding of the underlying mechanisms involved. Future studies, parsing the wanting, liking, and learning components of social reward, will help to fill gaps in the current knowledge base. Consistent across disorders is diminished pleasure from social situations, subsequent withdrawal, and poorer social functioning in those who express social anhedonia. Nonetheless, feelings of loneliness often remain, which suggests the need for social connection is not entirely absent. Adolescence is a particularly important period of social and neural development and may provide a valuable window on the developmental origins of social anhedonia. Adaptive social functioning is key to recovery from mental health disorders; therefore, understanding the intricacies of social anhedonia will help to inform treatment and prevention strategies for a range of diagnostic categories.

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“…Convergent findings in both human and animal models suggests that early social adversity weakens the impact of social inputs on the developing brain (Gunnar et al, 2015 ; Callaghan et al, 2019 ; Pratt et al, 2019 ; Opendak et al, 2020 ). This effect may provide an early risk factor for the clinical phenomenon of social anhedonia , a disinterest and inability to find pleasure in social interactions (Ritsner et al, 2018 ). In humans, social anhedonia is found in many diagnoses including schizophrenia and MDD and can result in lack of social support (Weeks et al, 1980 ; Llerena et al, 2012 ; Eglit et al, 2018 ).…”

Section: Early Adversity Social Behavior and Psychopathologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Rodent models of early adversity: Impacts on developing social behavior circuitry and clinical implications

Packard

Opendak

2022

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

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Flexible and context-appropriate social functioning is key for survival across species. This flexibility also renders social behavior highly plastic, particularly during early development when attachment to caregiver can provide a template for future social processing. As a result, early caregiving adversity can have unique and lasting impacts on social behavior and even confer vulnerability to psychiatric disorders. However, the neural circuit mechanisms translating experience to outcome remain poorly understood. Here, we consider social behavior scaffolding through the lens of reward and threat processing. We begin by surveying several complementary rodent models of early adversity, which together have highlighted impacts on neural circuits processing social cues. We next explore these circuits underlying perturbed social functioning with focus on dopamine (DA) and its role in regions implicated in social and threat processing such as the prefrontal cortex (PFC), basolateral amygdala (BLA) and the lateral habenula (LHb). Finally, we turn to human populations once more to examine how altered DA signaling and LHb dysfunction may play a role in social anhedonia, a common feature in diagnoses such as schizophrenia and major depressive disorder (MDD). We argue that this translational focus is critical for identifying specific features of adversity that confer heightened vulnerability for clinical outcomes involving social cue processing.

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The characterization of social anhedonia and its correlates in schizophrenia and schizoaffective patients

Cited by 26 publications

References 37 publications

Loneliness in psychosis: A practical review and critique for clinicians.

Loneliness in psychosis: A practical review and critique for clinicians.

A Transdiagnostic Perspective on Social Anhedonia

Rodent models of early adversity: Impacts on developing social behavior circuitry and clinical implications

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