Concurrent Reduction in Anhedonia Severity and Self-Reported Stress Following Psychotherapy Treatment for Transdiagnostic Anhedonia

Abstract

An ongoing clinical trial for anhedonia is evaluating the effectiveness of Behavioral Activation Treatment for Anhedonia (BATA) compared to Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) in a transdiagnostic anhedonic sample (NCT04036136). The purpose of this study was to evaluate relations between treatment-related changes in anhedonia, measured by the Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS), and changes in concurrent self-reported stress, measured by the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5). Given evidence that stress alters reward sensitivity and contributes to the emergence of anhedonia, we hypothesize that participants reporting decreased anhedonia will also report reduced stress following treatment.