Anhedonia News and Research

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Schizophrenia: A major public health problem

Schizophrenia is a major public health problem. Affecting almost 1% of the world's population, it takes an enormous economic and social toll in addition to the distress, dysfunction, disability and mortality for those afflicted with this disease. Elements of the disease are present from birth, other aspects emerge during developmental years, and the illness becomes fully expressed in early adulthood with long-lasting implications for most patients.

14 Sep 2009

New book explores neurobiology of pleasure

A sense of pleasure generated by the brain's hedonic neural systems is fundamental to daily life, and indeed has been essential to the evolution and survival of humans and most animals, say Morten Kringelbach and Kent Berridge, editors of Pleasures of the Brain. The rewards we experience through sensations such as food, sex and social interaction are driving forces necessary to maintain life, they argue.

20 Aug 2009

Depression causes reduced function in the reward center of brain

Clinically depressed individuals are less capable of finding pleasure in activities they previously enjoyed, a recent study has proven. Research featured in the August 26 issue of the NeuroReport shows reduced brain function in the reward center of the brain in depressed individuals, when compared to healthy subjects.

19 Aug 2009

Clinically depressed individuals show reduced brain function

19 Aug 2009

Decreased cravings for pleasure may be at root of a core symptom of major depressive disorder

Decreased motivation to seek and experience pleasurable experiences, known as anhedonia, is a primary symptom of major depressive disorder. Anhedonia is less responsive to many antidepressants and often persists after other symptoms of depression subside. However, understanding the different components of anhedonia - the desire to obtain something pleasurable versus experiencing pleasure - has been difficult for researchers to determine in humans.

12 Aug 2009

Depression is not always manifested in children as dejection and anhedonia

Depending on the age of the child, the dominant features may be weeping, irritability or defiance, as explained by Prof. Claudia Mehler-Wex and Dr. Michael Kölch of Ulm University in the new edition of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2008; 105(9): 149-55).

17 Mar 2008

Link between insomnia and depression in children

According to a study published in the journal SLEEP, sleep-disturbed children are more severely depressed and have more depressive symptoms and comorbid anxiety disorders compared with children without sleep disturbance.

2 Jan 2007

Electrical deep brain stimulation can dramatically alleviate depression

Electrical deep brain stimulation can dramatically alleviate depression that is resistant to other treatments, researchers have found in an initial study on six patients.

28 Feb 2005