Anhedonia in depression and schizophrenia: a reexamination

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to utilize factor analysis to help determine whether anhedonia is a symptom of both depression and schizophrenia. Measures of depression, positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia, and anhedonia were administered to a group of schizophrenic patients (N = 54) and to a group of patients with major depressive disorder (N = 27). The correlation matrix among the various scales was subjected to an oblique exploratory factor analysis. Three factors were extracted, accounting for three quarters of the variance. The first measured depression, the second measured positive symptoms, and the third measured negative symptoms. Anhedonia loaded significantly on the first factor but not on the third, suggesting that it is a symptom of depression rather than schizophrenia. These results were corroborated by means of confirmatory factor analysis. We conclude that anhedonia is a symptom of depression and that it only appears to be a symptom of schizophrenia because it is a component of emotional blunting which is indeed a negative symptom of schizophrenia.