Neurobiological mechanisms of anhedonia
by
Gorwood P.
INSERM U675, Institut Fédératif de Recherche (IFR 02),
Faculty Xavier Bichat, Paris, France.
philip.gorwood@lmr.aphp.fr
Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2008;10(3):291-9.

ABSTRACT

Anhedonia refers to the reduced ability to experience pleasure, and has been studied in different neuropsychiatric disorders. Anhedonia is nevertheless considered as a core feature of major depressive disorder, according to DSM-IV criteria for major depression and the definition of melancholic subtype, and regarding its capacity to predict antidepressant response. Behavioral, electrophysiological, hemodynamic, and interview-based measures and self-reports have been used to assess anhedonia, but the most interesting findings concern neuropharmacological and neuroanatomical studies. The analyses of anhedonic non-clinical subjects, nonanhedonic depressed patients, and depressed patients with various levels ofanhedonia seem to favor the hypothesis that the severity of anhedonia is associated with a deficit of activity of the ventral striatum (including the nucleus accumbens) and an excess of activity of ventral region of the prefrontal cortex (including the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the orbitofrontal cortex), with a pivotal, but not exclusive, role of dopamine.

Anhedonia
Amineptine
Melancholy
SSRIs v NARIs
Mood disorders
Antidepressants
Drugs and reward
Retarded depression
Stress and anhedonia
An individualised approach
Depression without sadness
Stress, depression and the rat
Novelty, reward and anhedonia
The reward system in depression
Depression and the mesolimbic dopamine system

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