Cited by 30Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum DisordersAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive ProcessesNeural and Behavioral Psychology Studies

Contrasting contributions of anhedonia to obsessive-compulsive, hoarding, and post-traumatic stress disorders

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Pushkarskaya, Helen, Sobowale, Kunmi, Henick, Daniel, Tolin, David F., Anticevic, Alan, Pearlson, Godfrey D., Levy, Ifat, Harpaz-Rotem, Ilan +1 more·2019·Journal of Psychiatric Research

Abstract

Anhedonia is a transdiagnostic construct that can occur independent of other symptoms of depression; its role in neuropsychiatric disorders that are not primarily affective, such as obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), hoarding disorder (HD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has received limited attention. This paper addresses this gap. First, the data revealed a positive contribution of anhedonia, beyond the effects of general depression, to symptom severity in OCD but not in HD or PTSD. Second, anhedonia was operationalized as a reduced sensitivity to rewards, which allowed employing the value based decision making framework to investigate effects of anhedonia on reward-related behavioral outcomes, such as increased risk aversion and increased difficulty of making value-based choices. Both self-report and behavior-based measures were used to characterize individual risk aversion: risk perception and risk-taking propensities (measured using the Domain Specific Risk Taking scale) and risk attitudes evaluated using a gambling task. Data revealed the positive theoretically predicted correlation between anhedonia and risk perception in OCD; effects on self-reported risk taking and behavior-based risk aversion were non-significant. The same relations were weaker in HD and absent in PTSD. Response time during a gambling task, an index of difficulty of making value-based choices, significantly correlated with anhedonia in individuals with OCD and individuals with HD, even after controlling for general depression, but not in individuals with PTSD. The results suggest a unique contribution of one aspect of anhedonia in obsessive-compulsive disorder and confirm the importance of investigating the role of anhedonia transdiagnostically beyond affective and psychotic disorders.

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  • Clinically significant anhedonia in OCD patients predicts OCD symptom severity independently of depression symptoms.

    “previous studies have reported clinically significant levels of anhedonia, conceptualized as the inability to experience pleasure and reduced sensitivity to rewards, in OCD patients, which predicted OCD symptom severity independently of depression symptoms [138–139].”

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  1. Kaufman A, 1979. Intelligent Testing, W/SC-R. Wiley-Interscience, New York.

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Authors
Pushkarskaya, H., Sobowale, K., Henick, D., Tolin, D. F., Anticevic, A., Pearlson, G. D., Levy, I., Harpaz-Rotem, I., & Pittenger, C.
Affiliations
  • Yale University (US)
  • Hartford Hospital (US)
Corresponding author
Pushkarskaya, Helen
Venue
Journal of Psychiatric Research
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2019-02
Volume
109
Pages
202-213
ISSN
0022-3956 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2903150236
Cited by
30
References
75
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 2
FWCI
4.11
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Psychiatric Research (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institutes of Mental Health Grants (K01 MH101326-01, R01MH095790, R21MH102634)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
Keywords
anhedonia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, hoarding disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, transdiagnostic constructs, reward sensitivity, risk aversion, risk perception, value-based decision making, gambling task, symptom severity, depression
MeSH terms
Hoarding Disorder, Adult, Female, Humans, Male, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Anhedonia

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