“Anhedonia” is a symptom which means reduced interest or pleasure in usual activities (where “hedonia” means “pleasure” and “an” means “no/without”). Anhedonia often occurs with depression (and is one of its core symptoms), and it often occurs with some anxiety disorders or related conditions, such as social anxiety, generalized anxiety, or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Poor “reward processing” is strongly associated with anhedonia. “Reward processing” is how our minds think about and respond to positive experiences in life (i.e., rewards). For example, having a nice time with friends/family is rewarding, tasting good food is rewarding, and accomplishing a meaningful task is rewarding. People with anhedonia have difficulty pursuing rewarding aspects of life and experiencing the positive emotions that often come with rewards (e.g., positive emotions like happiness, excitement, curiosity, pride, interest, tranquility, satisfaction, enthusiasm) .

Reward processing has many components, but one way to think of the major components are “future,” “present”, and “past.” “Future” reward processing is the anticipation of reward, motivation to pursue reward, and engaging in effort to acquire reward. All of these are future-oriented because they are what a person is feeling/thinking right now with regards to potentially obtaining a reward in the future. To what degree does a person expect reward and engage in effort to obtain reward in the future? “Present” reward processing is how a person responds to and savors a reward they received. To what degree does a person feel deeply positive when a good outcome occurs? How long does the positive feeling last? How many positive emotions are experienced? “Past” reward processing means learning about reward: which situations led to reward and rightfully appreciating one’s contributions for the reward’s occurrence. Greater engagement in reward processing is associated with greater experience of positive emotions in individuals with anhedonia, anxiety, and depression (see here).

Positive Affect Treatment (PAT; a primary treatment I conduct) involves targeting reward processing to increase positive experiences in life. By doing so, PAT increases positive emotions, and it decreases anxiety, depression, and stress. It is one of the very few treatments that reliably increases positive emotions, and not many therapists know how to conduct it (it is a relatively new, cutting-edge, and effective treatment).

Major Components of Reward Processing