ArticleJournal of affective disorders2017
Mapping the relationship between anxiety, anhedonia, and depression.
Article in Journal of affective disorders, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 64 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
64 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 119 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Psychological Well-Being of University Students amidst COVID-19 Pandemic: Scoping review, systematic review and meta-analysis.Sultan Qaboos University medical journal · 2022Pooled it
- Diminished reward responsiveness is associated with lower reward network GluCEST: an ultra-high field glutamate imaging study.Molecular psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Positive Affect Treatment for Depression, Anxiety, and Low Positive Affect: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2026Trial
- Reward Deficits in Co-Occurring Social Anxiety and Depression: The Roles of Anhedonia, Boredom, Loneliness, and COVID-19 Social Restriction.Journal of clinical psychology · 2026Article
- Adjunctive Pharmacotherapy for Major Depressive Disorder with Anxiety Symptoms: from Monoamines to Recent Clinical Evidence.CNS drugs · 2026Review
- Anxiety and Depression Traits Are Moderated by a Sex-Dependent Genetic Interaction Between 5-HTTLPR and BDNF.Brain sciences · 2026Article
- Link Between Anhedonia, Reward Dysfunction, and Eating Behavior Across Mental and Physical Health Conditions: A Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Performance of the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4) in four latin American countries: rethinking the dimensionality of the scale from the perspective of network psychometry.Psicologia, reflexao e critica : revista semestral do Departamento de Psicologia da UFRGS · 2026Article
- Moderate pre-stroke physical activity has a protective effect on symptoms of depression in the post-acute phase after stroke.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Network Structure of Perinatal Depressive Symptoms Among Women in Rural Bihar.Indian journal of psychological medicine · 2026Article
- Exploratory assessment of the correlates of lifestyle medicine among Spanish university students: UNILIFE-M study.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Anhedonia and its sub-component processes predict clinically significant symptoms of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and loneliness in young people.The British journal of clinical psychology · 2026Article
- The mediating role of anxiety in the association between childhood trauma and suicidal ideation in depression.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Recent Change in Anhedonia, Major Depression and Low-Grade Inflammation: Dangerous Liaisons? A Study Based on a Cohort Referred for Polysomnography.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Article
- Anhedonia is associated with computational impairments in reward and effort learning in young people with depression symptoms.Psychological medicine · 2025Article
- Temporal Predictions from Anhedonia To Anxiety in Adolescents with Major Depressive Disorder.Research on child and adolescent psychopathology · 2025Article
- Association between anhedonia severity and clinical, humanistic, and economic outcomes among US adults with major depressive disorder.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Effectiveness and Cost-Effectiveness of a Mobile Psychoeducation Program (OkeyMind) for Social Anxiety Symptoms Among Youths: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- The network and interactive pattern of social adjustment and psychological symptoms in patients with spinal cord injury: a network analysis.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- From anxiety to depression: A longitudinal investigation into the role of anhedonia.Journal of affective disorders · 2025Article
4 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
introductionAnxiety and depression are often comorbid conditions, but there is uncertainty as to how this comorbidity develops. Thus, in three studies, we attempted to discern whether anhedonia may be a key linking factor between anxiety and depression.
methodsThree studies asked participants about their symptoms of anxiety and depression: in Study 1, 109 participants completed measures of anxiety, depression, activity avoidance, and perceived enjoyability and importance of avoided activities; in Study 2, 747 participants completed measures of anhedonia, anxiety, depression, and defensiveness; in Study 3, 216 participants completed measures assessing the same constructs as in Study 2 at four time-points (ranging 11 months in span).
resultsIn Study 1, symptoms of anxiety and depression were positively related only in individuals who relinquished potential enjoyment due to their anxiety-related avoidance; in Study 2, the indirect effect of anhedonia helped explained how anxiety symptoms imparted risk onto depressive symptoms; and in Study 3, anxiety led to anhedonia and then depression over time and anhedonia led to anxiety and then depression at both 5 and 11 months. LIMITATIONS: The manuscript is limited by the use of a student sample in study 2, cross-sectional methods in studies 1 and 2, and reliance on self-ratings.
conclusionsAnxiety may devolve into depression through anhedonia, such that anxious individuals begin to lose pleasure in anxiety-provoking activities, which results in the development of other depressive symptoms.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.