View clinical trials related to Anhedonia.
Filter by:Anhedonia, characterized as (a) the diminished motivation to participate in activities, and/or (b) diminished enjoyment of a pleasurable activity are common symptoms among women diagnosed with mood disorders. This trial aims to test three treatments adapted to reduce anhedonia. The investigators will compare three treatment groups, specifically, two doses of Behavioral Activation treatment for anhedonia (i.e., 12 weeks vs. 8 weeks of BA) with an active comparator treatment, Bipolar Disorder Collaborative Care (12 weeks of BDCC). BA is a psychotherapy approach that helps participants to identify and modify environmental sources of their depression. BDCC is a supportive care approach that educates participants to optimize their medication initiation or their existing medication regimen. The time frame for this study will be between 12-14 weeks. Specifically, participants will be evaluated and enrolled within one week, then received up to 12 weeks of treatment (tracked through this time) and then complete two evaluations (one at week 8) and another at the end of treatment (an expected average of 12-14 weeks after enrolling into treatment). Primary analyses aim to compare the dose-mechanism change in BA relative to a standard medication optimizing protocol, BDCC. The secondary analyses are to evaluate individual differences in stated patient preferences for treatment, and group differences in treatment effect on anhedonia, side effects, and quality of life.
The purpose of this study is to use positron emission tomography (PET) imaging to measure the activity of the kappa opioid receptor (KOR) in the brains of depressed and non-depressed individuals.
The purpose of this research study is to investigate how the brain processes emotions, and the way these processes affect behavior. Specifically, we hypothesize that individual differences in reward responsiveness will correlate with differential activation in mesolimbic regions of the brain and predict future wellbeing in follow-up interviews.
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is often characterized by anhedonia and impaired ability to modulate behavior as a function of rewards. However, the neurobiology of anhedonia and reduced reward responsiveness remains largely unknown. Because dopamine (DA) plays a critical role in goal-directed behavior and reinforcement learning, DA dysregulation might play an important role. In fact, several lines of evidence suggest that down-regulation of DA transmission might characterize depression vulnerability and the emergence of depressive symptoms. The current study seeks to elucidate the role of DA dysfunction in MDD. We hypothesize that MDD subjects will show reduced DAT binding potential, reduced reward learning in the probabilistic reward task, and abnormal functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activation in dorsal and ventral striatal regions during an instrumental learning task. This study will include three sessions. The first will take place at Massachusetts General Hospital or at McLean Hospital's Center for Depression, Anxiety and Stress Research. The aims of this session will be to (a) explain the study; (b) collect written informed consent, and (c) assess the subject's eligibility. Following this, another session (either second or third in order) will take place at the MGH PET Imaging Laboratory. Participants will complete a PET scan and a probabilistic reward task designed to measure reward learning and sensitivity to reward. The radioactive tracer utilized is 11C-altropane. Another session (either second or third in order) will take place at the McLean Hospital Neuroimaging Center. Participants will complete an instrumental learning task while in the fMRI, followed by a social reinforcement learning task and an implicit learning serial reaction time task upon completion of the scan. In the instrumental learning task, participants have the opportunity to earn money but need to learn, by trial and error, stimulus-outcome associations. The social reinforcement learning task is designed to investigate whether learning deficits in MDD are specific to learning from monetary incentives or whether the learning deficits are more global and are affected when learning from social rewards and punishments. Participants will also complete an implicit learning serial reaction time task, designed to exclude the possibility of global learning deficits in MDD.
The overall aim of this study is to utilize an integrative research model in order to dynamically assess reward-related dopamine (DA) transmission in major depressive disorder (MDD) and test the role of dysfunctional DA release in depression and anhedonia. The first arm of this line of research (PET scan) aims to investigate phasic DA release in MDD during incentive motivation. The investigators will utilize an established molecular imaging technique to measure striatal DA release dynamically during performance of testing and control versions of a monetary incentive delay task, which involves anticipation and receipt of monetary rewards. In doing so, this experiment will link together independent lines of research that have associated depression with decreased hedonic responsiveness, impaired reinforcement learning and dysfunctional DA transmission. We hypothesize that, relative to matched controls, unmedicated MDD subjects will show reduced reward-related ligand (11C-raclopride) displacement. Reduced ligand displacement will be interpreted as indicating reduced task-induced release of endogenous striatal DA in response to reward-predicting cues and unpredictable reward in MDD subjects. In the second arm of this research (EEG recording), the investigators aim to probe the spatio-temporal dynamics of brain mechanisms underlying positive and negative reinforcement learning in MDD and their relations to phasic DA. Participants will perform the probabilistic stimulus selection task (PSST) while event-related potentials (ERPs) are collected. The investigators expect that, relative to matched controls, unmedicated MDD subjects will show reduced positive reinforcement learning, potentiated negative reinforcement learning, and larger (i.e., more negative) feedback-related negativity (FRN) in response to positive reinforcement (indicative of reduced DA transmission). Moreover, the investigators hypothesize that a more negative FRN in response to positive reinforcement will be associated with decreased striatal raclopride displacement (i.e., lower release of endogenous DA) as measured by PET in the first part of the study. This experiment will investigate the effects of blunted DA transmission on behavioral and ERP markers of both positive and negative reinforcement learning.
The investigators purpose is to study how CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy)-based weight loss program affects on eating behavior, weight loss and risk factors for CHD (coronary heart diseases)and type 2 diabetes. Moreover, the investigators aim is to recognize subjects suffering from anhedonia (one of the core symptoms of depression, lack of pleasure) and follow how they benefit from the program in order to achieve maintained weight loss. Also, the associations between weight loss, physical activity and musculoskeletal disorders are studied.
This study will use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to examine how the brain regulates emotions in healthy people and in patients who have major depression and anhedonia (loss of feeling of pleasure in things that normally give pleasure). Healthy normal volunteers and patients between 18 and 50 years of age with major depression, with or without significant anhedonia, are eligible for this study. Candidates will be screened with a psychiatric interview, a physical examination that will include blood and urine samples, and an electrocardiogram, and a questionnaire about their emotions. Participants will perform a monetary reward task while lying in an MRI scanner. The task is similar to playing a computer video game with the possibility of winning cash. The amount of cash is largely dependent on the subject's performance. The accumulated amount of cash earned in a session will fluctuate depending on the subject's continuing performance level. That is, during a single session, a subject could lose money earned early in the session if his or her performance later in the session is not as good as earlier. MRI pictures will be taken during performance of the task. MRI uses a magnetic field and radio waves to produce images of body tissues and organs. The patient lies on a table that is moved into the scanner (a narrow cylinder) and wears earplugs to muffle loud knocking and thumping sounds that occur during the scanning process. The procedure will last about 1 to 1-1/2 hours.