A Possible Link between Anxiety and Schizophrenia and a Possible Role of Anhedonia

Grillo, Luigi

doi:https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/5917475

Schizophrenia Research and Treatment

On this page

Abstract Introduction Conclusions Conflicts of Interest References Copyright Related Articles

Review Article | Open Access

Volume 2018 | Article ID 5917475 | https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/5917475

A Possible Link between Anxiety and Schizophrenia and a Possible Role of Anhedonia

Luigi Grillo¹

Academic Editor: Markus Jäger

Received23 May 2017

Revised24 Aug 2017

Accepted10 Dec 2017

Published17 Jan 2018

Abstract

In the prodromal phase of schizophrenia, severe alterations of the visual appearance of the environment have been found, accompanied by a state of intense anxiety. The present study considers the possibility that these alterations really exist in the appearance of objects, but that healthy people do not see them. The image of the world that we see is continuously deformed and fragmented by foreshortenings, partial overlapping, and so on and must be constantly reassembled and interpreted; otherwise, it could change so much that we would hardly recognize it. Since pleasure has been found to be involved in visual and cognitive information processing, the possibility is considered that anhedonia (the reduction of the ability to feel pleasure) might interfere with the correct reconstruction and interpretation of the image of the environment and alter its appearance. The possibility is also considered that these alterations might make the environment hostile, might at times evoke the sensation of being trapped by a predator, and might be the cause of the anxiety that accompanies them. According to some authors, they might also induce delusional ideas, in an attempt to restore meaning in a world that has become chaotic and frightening.

1. Introduction

The prodromal phase of schizophrenia refers to the early signs and symptoms that precede the clear manifestation of the illness. It begins when the first alterations of the mood or behavior are noticed and ends with the onset of frank psychotic symptoms [1]. This period, which can last days, months, or years, is characterized by heterogeneous and nonspecific symptoms which may include, among others, depressive and anxious symptoms as well as attenuated psychotic symptoms [1].

Towards the middle of the last century Conrad, director of the University Psychiatric Hospital in Göttingen, found that in the prodromal phase of schizophrenia severe alterations in the perception and organization of sensory information are present, accompanied by intense anxiety, and he expounded the theory that schizophrenia may be caused by a perceptual disorder and that the delusional ideas may be an attempt to give meaning to a world that has become incomprehensible on account of the perceptual disorder [2]. Cutting and Dunne confirmed the frequency and the severity of disturbances of visual perception in the prodromal phase of schizophrenia. All the patients interviewed reported that at the beginning of the illness the shapes of objects appeared profoundly changed: “there is an undoubted and dramatic change in the way they [the patients] perceive the world” [3, p. 230]. Their accounts agree with those supplied by Conrad’s patients, for whom “familiar things, whose authenticity would never have been doubted, are not recognized, they are rejected as something extraneous or, at least, they appear to be singularly modified” [2, p. 100]. According to Cutting and Dunne, the most plausible psychological theory concerning the cause of schizophrenia is a “break-down in Gestalt” [3, p. 230]. (Gestalt in German means shape, form, but also, as in this case, the percept of something as a hole beyond its individual parts: a “minimum cohesive pattern” according to the definition of Muth et al. [4, p. 1].)

Cutting sums up Conrad’s thought as follows: “In the first phase, which he [Conrad] called the trema, because of the accompanying mood of terror, the ability to form a Gestalt is disintegrated” and in the next phase the patient “attaches new meanings to the change, and these new beliefs are what the observer calls delusions. Delusions, for Conrad, are not therefore abnormal in themselves, which is the traditional view of schizophrenia, from Jaspers onward. They are the normal responses of anyone whose perceptual world has been degraded in this dramatic way” [5, p. 430].

2. Anxiety as Possible Consequence of Visual Alterations

In a research in 1966, Chapman confirmed Conrad’s observations, both on the alterations of the appearance of the environment and on the presence of intense anxiety in the initial phase of schizophrenia, and considered anxiety a consequence of the visual alterations. The visual alterations that Chapman found consisted initially of changes of colour and contrast (contrast: difference in brightness or colour between various shapes), which could also be pleasant, but “as the breakdown in visual perception progresses, and as other disturbances in perceptions and cognitions develop, this early reaction changed to one of intense anxiety” [6, p. 240].

The presence of anxiety at the beginning of schizophrenia, pointed out by Conrad and by Chapman, has been verified by other researchers [7]. There is a close relationship between anxiety and schizophrenia. Anxiety often precedes [7–12] and accompanies [13, 14] schizophrenia and is one of its risk factors [9, 15]. Longitudinal studies have shown that anxiety precedes paranoia, and this seems to exclude the possibility that paranoid ideas can be the cause of the anxiety that accompanies schizophrenia [7, 16].

A possible relationship between disturbances in the perception of the aspect of the environment and anxiety seems understandable, since an unexplainable alteration of forms such as that found at the beginning of schizophrenia could render the environment different and unknown, and this might justify the onset of an anxious state. For example, an unknown environment is used as a stimulus to cause anxiety in experiments on animals [17, 18], and it is sufficient to provoke a dramatic [19] increase of anxiety. Moreover, distortions of the visual aspect of objects could make the environment not only new, but also inexplicably deformed, and for that reason all the more dangerous and frightening.

The visual deformations could be caused by visual defects, and many visual defects, the best known of which is a reduced sensitivity to contrast, have been found in schizophrenia [20]. However it is not clear whether these defects, identifiable only through particular tests of the eyesight and present also in patients with only depressive disturbances [21, 22], can go so far as to cause the serious deformations of the form of objects reported by the patients of Conrad, Chapman, and Cutting and Dunne (for a recent review of the literature on perceptive alterations in schizophrenia and in its prodromal phase, see Silverstein 2016 [23]).

However, perhaps it is not necessary for the visual deformations to be caused exclusively by visual problems: perhaps the images we see are in reality already deformed; only we do not normally notice it. In fact, the image of the world we receive through what we see has to be continuously reassembled and reorganized; otherwise it could become distorted and fragmented and could change so much that we would hardly recognize it. According to Muth et al., for example, “our perceptual impressions of an object and its context are in permanent flux as we move or as the object moves or transforms itself: the (perceived) world is not static but permanently physically changing” [24, p. 2]. We must immediately realize that foreshortening is not a real deformation, that an object that is partially hidden is not cut off but extends under the cover, that a cloud seen through the branches of a tree is not part of the tree, and so on. For example, every time we look at a three-dimensional object from a different angle: “the observer should be expected to see an object of changing shape. The cube should undergo constant amoebic transformations … Fortunately, but surprisingly enough, this does not happen.” [25, p. 71]. However, perhaps this might happen if something interferes with the mechanism of the indispensable continuous reorganization and interpretation of an “amoebic” reality. In this case, the alterations might become evident, objects might seem deformed and frightening, sky and clouds might seem head-spinningly close to the observer, making the surrounding world flat and oppressive, and so on.

Even in a person without psychiatric pathologies, the sudden awareness of a deformation of the appearance of the environment, deformation that had always been present but had previously been ignored, may give rise to intense anxiety. An example of this can be found in Art and Visual Perception, a book by Arnheim, former president of the Division on Psychology and the Arts of the American Psychological Association, where the author describes the distressed reaction of a student when, following a suggestion by the teacher, she became aware of the deformations assumed by the appearance of an object according to the viewpoint from which it was observed, deformations which she had always corrected automatically without realizing it. “It is very difficult for many persons to visualize the working of perspective, even when it is demonstrated to them with a yardstick. Recently an intelligent and sensitive young college student, to whom I tried to show the oblique shape of a box on the table, finally hid her face in sudden terror and exclaimed, ‘It is true - how horrible!’” [25, p. 160]. And in the case reported by Arnheim it was only a completely explainable alteration of the appearance of a single small object.

3. Anhedonia, Schizophrenia, and Anxiety

One of the possible factors that might interfere with the indispensable and continuous reconstruction of the world could be anhedonia. Anhedonia has been considered a core symptom of schizophrenia [26, 27] and often precedes [28–30] and predicts [11] the disorder. Anhedonia is also present in persons with a high risk of schizophrenia [11, 31].

Pleasure has recently been subdivided into pleasure felt in the moment, or consummatory pleasure, and future or anticipatory pleasure [32–34]. Numerous studies indicate that in schizophrenia anhedonia concerns especially, or only, future pleasures [35–37]. Consummatory and anticipatory pleasure are, respectively, connected to the liking and wanting of the reward model suggested by Berridge and Robinson [38] and it has been proposed that dopamine is more involved in the wanting process, while opioids are more involved in the liking process [38]. However, the action of dopamine and that of opioids are closely interwoven and overlapped, since dopamine releases endogenous opioids [39, 40], while the opioids in turn release dopamine in the nucleus accumbens [41, 42]. In this chain of interconnections between dopamine and endogenous opioids, some authors believe that dopamine could be the “basic link” [43]. Besides, anhedonia regarding in-the-moment pleasures has also been found in schizophrenia, both for pleasures in general [34, 44, 45] and for only some of them such as unexpected pleasures [46], social pleasures [47–49], and the pleasure of odours [26, 50]. It has also been proposed that, in schizophrenia, anhedonia for in-the-moment pleasures may vary according to the type of pleasant sensation involved [51].

Anhedonia is also present in anxiety [52–55]. Its presence in both schizophrenia and anxiety could be because both the former [56–60] and the latter [61, 62] are induced by stress, and stress is regularly accompanied and followed by anhedonia in both man [63–68] and animals [65, 66].

Anhedonia might possibly accompany stress because the loss of the pleasure of aiming for a goal and achieving it (including defending oneself and escaping from a danger) could lead to immobility, and immobility offers the extreme chance of safety when an animal is facing the worst possible stressful situation—being seized by a predator—as in this case any movement can further stimulate the predator’s aggressiveness. It also might discourage devouring, since many predators are reluctant to eat the flesh of animals that have been dead for some time [69], and the immobility that occurs when at the mercy of a predator is tonic (hence the term tonic immobility, or playing dead), that is, as rigid as an animal a few hours after death. Also rigidity might be influenced or caused by anhedonia, since the relaxation of the antagonist muscles coinciding with the action of the agonist muscles (a relaxation indispensable for each fluid movement whether active or passive) is linked to the ability to feel the pleasure connected to the movement [70]. Tonic immobility might be connected to catatonia [71], the inability to move and speak sometimes seen in serious depression and schizophrenia [71, 72], but that can even happen to mentally sane people when they realize that death (the predator they can no longer evade) is imminent and inevitable [71].

4. Stress, Dynorphin, Anhedonia, and Anxiety

Some hormones are released during intense or repeated stress: adrenalin and noradrenaline which help to combat stress by increasing the flow of blood and glucose to the muscles and the brain; corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) which provokes the release of cortisone, the action of which accompanies and reinforces that of adrenalin and noradrenaline. The CRH also releases another hormone, dynorphin [73–75], which activates opioid receptors (KORs) in the central and peripheral nervous system. Dynorphin reduces the release of dopamine [DA] in the nucleus accumbens [76, 77]. The dopamine released in the nucleus accumbens is the basis for generating pleasure [78, 79], so that stress can reduce the ability to perceive pleasure by reducing dopamine through the action of dynorphin. On account of its ability to cause anhedonia, dynorphin has been considered to be responsible for depression due to stress [80].

Dynorphin also causes anxiety [75]. Its anxiogenic effect has not been considered in relation to anhedonia but has been considered a consequence of a direct action of dynorphin on the anxiogenic centres (in particular on the amygdala, through opioid receptors present in the amygdala) [73]. However, some authors leave the possibility open that anhedonia could intervene in the pathogenesis of anxiety: “Given the high comorbidity of depressive and anxiety disorders, KOR signalling and control of DA function may underlie the pathogenesis of both” [81, p. 442]. Besides, “recently, two lines of mice with mutations in the κ opioid receptor system were generated. One is a constitutive κ opioid receptor knockout (KOR^−/−), the other is a conditional knockout (DAT-KO) in which κ opioid receptors are lacking in DA-containing neurons. Behavioral characterization demonstrated that DAT-KO mice displayed reduced anxiety-like behaviors in the open field and light/dark box tests. These findings suggest that the activation of κ opioid receptors in the mesocorticolimbic DA system plays a key role in anxiety” [82, p. 785-786]. It is perhaps worth considering the possibility that a possible direct action of dynorphin on the anxiogenic centres may be accompanied by an indirect anxiogenic action mediated by the anhedonic effect of dynorphin. However, how could anhedonia arouse anxiety, that is, arouse an inexplicable fear of a grave imminent and unknown danger?

5. Anhedonia as a Possible Cause of Alterations of the Appearance of the Environment

According to many researchers, our capacity to feel pleasure can influence our ability to perceive and link sensory information and the ability to learn. For example, in animals, when two separate stimuli, which individually do not provoke pleasure, are mentally connected to each other, the formation of this new bond causes pleasure, and this is considered important for learning in general [83, 84]. In man, satisfying a curiosity is pleasant [85], just as it is pleasant to grasp an inner meaning [86], and the pleasure connected to awaiting a novelty (novelties are pleasant [87]) facilitates learning [88].

As regards the visual aspect in particular, recognizing an expected image gives pleasure, and if the image is unexpected the pleasure is even greater [89]. Recognizing a shape in an ambiguous context gives pleasure [86], and this stimulates us to look for other ambiguous shapes to discover their correct shape [24]. Getting rid of visual ambiguity gives pleasure in the same way as escaping a danger [90], and visual learning is also facilitated by a simultaneous pleasure, even if this pleasure is completely extraneous to vision [91].

Anhedonia, both consummatory and anticipatory, could reduce these pleasures and therefore interfere with the correct processing of visual sensations. According to Der-Avakian et al., “if an individual is unable to derive pleasure from a normally rewarding activity or from anticipation of that activity, then it is unlikely that the individual will be motivated to pursue that activity” [92, p. 245]. It therefore seems possible that, in the case of anhedonia, the spur to perceive, link, and interpret all the unceasing new and different aspects of what we see (e.g., understanding that foreshortening does not imply deformation of the whole object but just depends on the viewer’s angle) might be weaker, or be lacking. In this case, the usual appearance of objects may change, and various degrees of alteration of the aspect of the environment might result.

If this happens, then perhaps even just a very brief, but unexpected and inexplicable, deformation of some aspect of the environment might give in some cases the sensation that the apparent normality of the objects is only a fragile veil, which could be torn and reveal inexplicable and frightening deformities. Even just the vague feeling that this might happen might induce indefinable, inexpressible fear of imminent catastrophe, generating a state of anxiety, the cause of which cannot be explained to other people because the sufferers cannot explain it to themselves. Moreover, to provoke a reaction of fear or anxiety it is not necessary to be aware that one has seen a danger: the danger can influence behaviour also if seen only subliminally, unconsciously [93–95]; indeed, if a stimulus has been perceived unconsciously, the subsequent defence reactions may be stronger than when it is perceived consciously [96, 97].

6. Alterations in the Appearance of the Environment and a Possible Predator

Close correspondences have been found between anxious reactions in anxiety disorders and the reactions of defence against a predator [98–100]. However, in anxiety disorders, since the predator does not exist, these defensive reactions would be unjustified and aberrant [99, 100]. However, perhaps it is possible that, even in the absence of a real predator and excluding hallucinations, if certain facilitating external circumstances occur (e.g., stressful experiences with consequent serious anhedonia) a healthy person could in any time and unexpectedly feel faced with a predator. In fact, in man it is sufficient to feel cornered and with no possibility of escape for extreme defence reflexes to be triggered that occur when one is seized by a predator [69], and a deformed environment not only can be felt hostile but takes away any possibility of finding a refuge; in addition any loss of the ability to see depth would prevent seeing an escape route. In this case, inexplicable environmental deformations could be equivalent to a very close and inescapable predator and the apparently aberrant defensive reactions of people with anxiety disorders could be justified.

7. Delusional Ideas as an Attempt to Restore Meaning

Recently, concepts similar to Conrad’s concerning delusional ideas (i.e., that they are an attempt to restore meaning in a chaotic, frightening word) have been expressed by various authors. According to Freeman et al., for example, “it is hypothesized that individuals prone to paranoid ideation are trying to make sense of feelings of oddness caused by internal anomalies (e.g. hallucinations, perceptual anomalies, arousal).” [101, p. 1122], and according to Marwaha et al., in forms of psychosis: “the world comes to seem persistently unsafe. The sense that emotional experiences are out of one’s personal control may prompt a search for meaning that may find explanations in terms of external influence.” [102, p. 274].

On this point, it might be interesting to recall the observation of Owens that “anxiety phenomena may partially remit as psychotic features escalate” [9, p. 390], that is, perhaps, when the classic symptoms of schizophrenia appear, including delusional ideas. This could suggest the possibility that delusional ideas might reduce anxiety because, as Conrad proposes, they allow a reorganization of reality with a new meaning, which does not correspond to the truth and is able to create serious problems in relationships with persons and things—for example, believing that the environment is artificially built in order to test the patient or to deceive him and so on [2, p. 101]—but which is nevertheless not as frightening as the incomprehensible chaos that preceded. This might explain the relief with which schizophrenic patients seem to welcome the delusional reorganization of the environment, a relief which is very effectively expressed by Uhlhaas and Mishara in their discussion of the anomalies of perceptual processing in schizophrenia: “In beginning schizophrenia, the patient may have an agitated mood with the feeling that something very special or terrible is about to happen but is unable to say what this might be... Suddenly, from out of the fragments, the patient has an aha erlebnis, a sudden insight into the situation. This relieves the increasing distress due to the fragmentariness or gaps in the natural successive organization of this experience in time. The seeming “insight” of the delusion imposes a retroactive organization on the collected, non-temporalized fragments.” [103, pp 147-148]. Fragments may refer to the inability to connect the various objects composing a scene, but also to individual objects, since in certain cases “not only the organization or the context between objects is loosened but also the objects themselves appear disintegrated” [103, p 144].

This interpretation of the anxiety and of the delusional ideas present in schizophrenia could perhaps also help to propose a hypothesis to explain a fact that is still unexplained: blindness at birth seems to eliminate the risk of schizophrenia [104, 105]. According to Silverstein et al., for example, in the United States there should be about 620 cases of people blind from birth who present schizophrenia, whereas in more than 60 years not a single case has been reported [104]. One reason could be that those who are blind since birth cannot have had any deformed vision of their environment, and so they do not suffer any of the possible consequences, for example, the need for delusional ideas to interpret any deformations.

8. Conclusions

Taking into consideration the possibility that anhedonia could interfere with the correct reconstruction and interpretation of a world that continuously changes its appearance could perhaps help to explain the presence of alterations of the visual appearance of the environment found in the initial phase of schizophrenia. These alterations might be the cause of the anxious state that accompanies them, might sometimes provoke the sensation of being trapped by a predator, and according to some authors might induce delusional ideas.

Conflicts of Interest

The author declares that there are no conflicts of interest.

References

A. R. Yung and P. O. McGorry, “The prodromal phase of first-episode psychosis: Past and current conceptualizations,” Schizophrenia Bulletin, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 353–370, 1996.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
K. Conrad, La Schizofrenia Incipiente, Giovanni Fioriti Editore, Roma, Italy, 2012, Die Beginnende Schizophrenie, Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart, Germany, 1958.
J. Cutting and F. Dunne, “Subjective experience of schizophrenia,” Schizophrenia Bulletin, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 217–231, 1989.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
C. Muth, M. H. Raab, and C.-C. Carbon, “Semantic stability is more pleasurable in unstable episodic contexts. On the relevance of perceptual challenge in art appreciation,” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, vol. 10, no. 2016, article no. 43, 2016.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
J. Cutting, “Gestalt theory and psychiatry: discussion paper,” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, vol. 82, no. 7, pp. 429–31, 1989.
View at: Google Scholar
J. Chapman, “The early symptoms of schizophrenia,” British Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 112, no. 484, pp. 225–251, 1966.
View at: Google Scholar
S. Hartley, C. Barrowclough, and G. Haddock, “Anxiety and depression in psychosis: A systematic review of associations with positive psychotic symptoms,” Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, vol. 128, no. 5, pp. 327–346, 2013.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
D. Freeman and D. Fowler, “Routes to psychotic symptoms: trauma, anxiety and psychosis-like experiences,” Psychiatry Research, vol. 169, no. 2, pp. 107–112, 2009.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
D. G. C. Owens, P. Miller, S. M. Lawrie, and E. C. Johnstone, “Pathogenesis of schizophrenia: A psychopathological perspective,” The British Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 186, no. MAY, pp. 386–393, 2005.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
L. McAusland, L. Buchy, and K. S. Cadenhead, “Anxiety in youth at clinical high risk for psychosis,” Early Intervention in Psychiatry, 2015.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
V. L. Cressman, S. A. Schobel, S. Steinfeld et al., “Anhedonia in the psychosis risk syndrome: associations with social impairment and basal orbitofrontal cortical activity,” npj Schizophrenia, vol. 1, article 15020, no. 1, 2015.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
A. Cocchi, G. Cerati, A. Lora et al., “Patients with first-episode psychosis are not a homogeneous population: Implications for treatment,” Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health, vol. 10, pp. 1–8, 2014.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
A. M. Achim, M. Maziade, É. Raymond, D. Olivier, C. Mérette, and M.-A. Roy, “How prevalent are anxiety disorders in schizophrenia? A meta-analysis and critical review on a significant association,” Schizophrenia Bulletin, vol. 37, no. 4, pp. 811–821, 2011.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
M. Makara-Studzińska, M. Wołyniak, and K. Kryś, “Influence of anxiety and depression on quality of life of people with schizophrenia in the eastern region of Poland,” ISRN Psychiatry, vol. 2012, Article ID 839324, 6 pages, 2012.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
E. C. Johnstone, K. P. Ebmeier, P. Miller, D. G. C. Owens, and S. M. Lawrie, “Predicting schizophrenia: Findings from the Edinburgh high-risk study,” The British Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 186, pp. 18–25, 2005.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
D. Freeman, G. Dunn, D. Fowler et al., “Current paranoid thinking in patients with delusions: The presence of cognitive-affective biases,” Schizophrenia Bulletin, vol. 39, no. 6, pp. 1281–1287, 2013.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
A. Michalski, “Novel environment as a stress-inducing factor. An event-related potentials study,” Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis, vol. 58, no. 3, pp. 199–205, 1998.
View at: Google Scholar
P. Cagni, M. Komorowski, G. C. Melo, T. Lima, and M. Barros, “Diazepam-induced decrease in anxiety-like behaviors of marmoset monkeys exposed to a novel open-field,” Pharmacology Biochemistry & Behavior, vol. 100, no. 3, pp. 518–521, 2012.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
R. Richardson, M. A. Siegel, and B. A. Campbell, “Effect of maternal presence on the fear response to an unfamiliar environment as measured by heart rate in rats as a function of age,” Developmental Psychobiology, vol. 21, no. 7, pp. 613–633, 1988.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
I. Koychev, W. El-Deredy, and J. F. William Deakin, “New visual information processing abnormality biomarkers for the diagnosis of schizophrenia,” Expert Opinion on Medical Diagnostics, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 357–368, 2011.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
E. Bubl, L. Tebartz Van Elst, M. Gondan, D. Ebert, and M. W. Greenlee, “Vision in depressive disorder,” The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 377–384, 2009.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
J. Fam, A. J. Rush, B. Haaland, S. Barbier, and C. Luu, “Visual contrast sensitivity in major depressive disorder,” Journal of Psychosomatic Research, vol. 75, no. 1, pp. 83–86, 2013.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
S. M. Silverstein, “Visual perception disturbances in schizophrenia: a unified model,” Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, vol. 63, pp. 77–132, 2016.
View at: Google Scholar
C. Muth, M. H. Raab, and C. C. Carbon, “The stream of experience when watching artistic movies. Dynamic aesthetic effects revealed by the Continuous Evaluation Procedure (CEP),” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 6, article 365, 2015.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
R. Arnheim, Art and Visual Perception: A Psychology of the Creative Eye, University of California Press, 1954.
B. Crespo-Facorro, S. Paradiso, N. C. Andreasen et al., “Neural mechanisms of anhedonia in schizophrenia: A PET study of response to unpleasant and pleasant odors,” Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 286, no. 4, pp. 427–435, 2001.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
E. S. Herbener, M. Harrow, and S. K. Hill, “Change in the relationship between anhedonia and functional deficits over a 20-year period in individuals with schizophrenia,” Schizophrenia Research, vol. 75, no. 1, pp. 97–105, 2005.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
V. P. Kontaxakis, C. T. Kollias, B. J. Havaki-Kontaxaki et al., “Physical anhedonia in the acute phase of schizophrenia,” Annals of General Psychiatry, vol. 5, article 1, 2006.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
T. R. Kwapil, “Social anhedonia as a predictor of the development of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders,” Journal of Abnormal Psychology, vol. 107, no. 4, pp. 558–565, 1998.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
E. Velthorst, C. Meijer, R. S. Kahn et al., “The association between social anhedonia, withdrawal and psychotic experiences in general and high-risk populations,” Schizophrenia Research, vol. 138, no. 2-3, pp. 290–294, 2012.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
D. A. Schlosser, M. Fisher, D. Gard, D. Fulford, R. L. Loewy, and S. Vinogradov, “Motivational deficits in individuals at-risk for psychosis and across the course of schizophrenia,” Schizophrenia Research, vol. 158, no. 1-3, pp. 52–57, 2014.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
J. Lee, S. Jung, I. Park, and J. Kim, “Neural Basis of Anhedonia and Amotivation in Patients with Schizophrenia: The Role of Reward System,” Current Neuropharmacology, vol. 13, no. 6, pp. 750–759, 2015.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
D. E. Gard, M. G. Gard, A. M. Kring, and O. P. John, “Anticipatory and consummatory components of the experience of pleasure: A scale development study,” Journal of Research in Personality, vol. 40, no. 6, pp. 1086–1102, 2006.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
I. F. Tso, T. B. Grove, and S. F. Taylor, “Differential hedonic experience and behavioral activation in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder,” Psychiatry Research, vol. 219, no. 3, pp. 470–476, 2014.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
D. E. Gard, A. M. Kring, M. G. Gard, W. P. Horan, and M. F. Green, “Anhedonia in schizophrenia: Distinctions between anticipatory and consummatory pleasure,” Schizophrenia Research, vol. 93, no. 1-3, pp. 253–260, 2007.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
W. P. Horan, M. F. Green, A. M. Kring, and K. H. Nuechterlein, “Does anhedonia in schizophrenia reflect faulty memory for subjectively experienced emotions?” Journal of Abnormal Psychology, vol. 115, no. 3, pp. 496–508, 2006.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
D. A. Pizzagalli, “The "Anhedonia Paradox" in Schizophrenia: Insights from Affective Neuroscience,” Biological Psychiatry, vol. 67, no. 10, pp. 899–901, 2010.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
K. C. Berridge and T. E. Robinson, “Parsing reward,” Trends in Neurosciences, vol. 26, article 9, pp. 507–513, 2003, Erratum in Trends in Neurosciences, vol. 26, article 11, p. 581, 2003.
View at: Google Scholar
A. R. Soderman and E. M. Unterwald, “Cocaine-induced mu opioid receptor occupancy within the striatum is mediated by dopamine D2 receptors,” Brain Research, vol. 1296, pp. 63–71, 2009.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
R. Doron, L. Fridman, and G. Yadid, “Dopamine-2 receptors in the arcuate nucleus modulate cocaine-seeking behavior,” NeuroReport, vol. 17, no. 15, pp. 1633–1636, 2006.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
S. W. Johnson and R. A. North, “Opioids excite dopamine neurons by hyperpolarization of local interneurons,” The Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 483–488, 1992.
View at: Google Scholar
P. Leone, D. Pocock, and R. A. Wise, “Morphine-dopamine interaction: Ventral tegmental morphine increases nucleus accumbens dopamine release,” Pharmacology Biochemistry & Behavior, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 469–472, 1991.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
G. B. Stefano, E. Bianchi, M. Guarna et al., “Nicotine, alcohol and cocaine coupling to reward processes via endogenous morphine signaling: the dopamine-morphine hypothesis,” Medical Science Monitor, vol. 13, no. 6, pp. RA91–RA102, 2007.
View at: Google Scholar
Y. Li, X. Mou, W. Jiang et al., “A comparative study of anhedonia components between major depression and schizophrenia in Chinese populations,” Annals of General Psychiatry, vol. 4, article 24, no. 1, 2015.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
G. P. Strauss, R. C. Wilbur, K. R. Warren, S. M. August, and J. M. Gold, “Anticipatory vs. consummatory pleasure: What is the nature of hedonic deficits in schizophrenia?” Psychiatry Research, vol. 187, no. 1-2, pp. 36–41, 2011.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
N. Segarra, A. Metastasio, H. Ziauddeen et al., “Abnormal Frontostriatal Activity During Unexpected Reward Receipt in Depression and Schizophrenia: Relationship to Anhedonia,” Neuropsychopharmacology, vol. 41, no. 8, pp. 2001–2010, 2016.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
J. J. Blanchard, W. P. Horan, and S. A. Brown, “Diagnostic differences in social anhedonia: A longitudinal study of schizophrenia and major depressive disorder,” Journal of Abnormal Psychology, vol. 110, no. 3, pp. 363–371, 2001.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
P.-O. Harvey, M. Bodnar, K. Sergerie, J. Armony, and M. Lepage, “Relation between emotional face memory and social anhedonia in schizophrenia,” Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 102–110, 2009.
View at: Google Scholar
D. Dodell-Feder, L. M. Tully, S. H. Lincoln, and C. I. Hooker, “The neural basis of theory of mind and its relationship to social functioning and social anhedonia in individuals with schizophrenia,” NeuroImage: Clinical, vol. 4, pp. 154–163, 2014.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
V. Kamath, P. J. Moberg, C. G. Kohler, R. E. Gur, and B. I. Turetsky, “Odor hedonic capacity and anhedonia in schizophrenia and unaffected first-degree relatives of schizophrenia patients,” Schizophrenia Bulletin, vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 59–67, 2013.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
W. P. Horan, A. M. Kring, and J. J. Blanchard, “Anhedonia in schizophrenia: a review of assessment strategies,” Schizophrenia Bulletin, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 259–273, 2006.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
P. A. Frewen, D. J. Dozois, and R. A. Lanius, “Assessment of anhedonia in psychological trauma: psychometric and neuroimaging perspectives,” European Journal of Psychotraumatology, vol. 3, article 8587, 2012.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
J. Dorfman, D. Rosen, D. Pine, and M. Ernst, “Anxiety and Gender Influence Reward-Related Processes in Children and Adolescents,” Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 380–390, 2016.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
H. G. Bosley, A. J. Fisher, and C. B. Taylor, “Differential responses of positive affect, negative affect, and worry in CBT for generalized anxiety disorder: A person-specific analysis of symptom course during therapy,” Psychotherapy Research, pp. 1–13, 2016.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
L. R. Eisner, S. L. Johnson, and C. S. Carver, “Positive affect regulation in anxiety disorders,” Journal of Anxiety Disorders, vol. 23, no. 5, pp. 645–649, 2009.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
S. A. Stilo, C. Gayer-Anderson, S. Beards et al., “Further evidence of a cumulative effect of social disadvantage on risk of psychosis,” Psychological Medicine, vol. 47, no. 5, pp. 913–924, 2017.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
A. Frissen, R. Lieverse, and M. Drukker, “Childhood trauma and childhood urbanicity in relation to psychotic disorder,” Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 2015.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
H. Liang, J. Olsen, W. Yuan et al., “Early life bereavement and schizophrenia: A nationwide cohort study in Denmark and Sweden,” Medicine (United States), vol. 95, no. 3, Article ID e2434, 2016.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
M. van Nierop, W. Viechtbauer, N. Gunther et al., “Childhood trauma is associated with a specific admixture of affective, anxiety, and psychosis symptoms cutting across traditional diagnostic boundaries,” Psychological Medicine, vol. 45, no. 6, pp. 1277–1288, 2015.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
P. Bebbington, “Unravelling psychosis: psychosocial epidemiology, mechanism, and meaning,” Shanghai Archives of Psychiatry, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 70–81, 2015.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
T. Ayazi, L. Lien, A. Eide, L. Swartz, and E. Hauff, “Association between exposure to traumatic events and anxiety disorders in a post-conflict setting: a cross-sectional community study in South Sudan,” BMC Psychiatry, vol. 14, article 6, 2014.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
D. Freeman, R. Emsley, G. Dunn et al., “The Stress of the Street for Patients with Persecutory Delusions: A Test of the Symptomatic and Psychological Effects of Going Outside into a Busy Urban Area,” Schizophrenia Bulletin, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 971–979, 2015.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
H. Berenbaum and J. Connelly, “The effect of stress on hedonic capacity,” Journal of Abnormal Psychology, vol. 102, no. 3, pp. 474–481, 1993.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
P. Gilbert, S. Allan, S. Brough, S. Melley, and J. N. V. Miles, “Relationship of anhedonia and anxiety to social rank, defeat and entrapment,” Journal of Affective Disorders, vol. 71, no. 1–3, pp. 141–151, 2002.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
D. A. Pizzagalli, “Depression, stress, and anhedonia: Toward a synthesis and integrated model,” Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, vol. 10, pp. 393–423, 2014.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
Y. Nikolova, R. Bogdan, and D. A. Pizzagalli, “Perception of a naturalistic stressor interacts with 5-HTTLPR/rs25531 genotype and gender to impact reward responsiveness,” Neuropsychobiology, vol. 65, no. 1, pp. 45–54, 2012.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
L. H. Berghorst, R. Bogdan, M. J. Frank, and D. A. Pizzagalli, “Acute stress selectively reduces reward sensitivity,” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, vol. 7, article 133, 2013.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
D. G. Dillon, A. J. Holmes, J. L. Birk, N. Brooks, K. Lyons-Ruth, and D. A. Pizzagalli, “Childhood adversity is associated with left basal ganglia dysfunction during reward anticipation in adulthood,” Biological Psychiatry, vol. 66, no. 3, pp. 206–213, 2009.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
K. Kozlowska, P. Walker, L. McLean, and P. Carrive, “Fear and the Defense Cascade: Clinical Implications and Management,” Harvard Review of Psychiatry, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 263–287, 2015.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
M. Suzuki, H. Kirimoto, K. Sugawara et al., “Motor cortex-evoked activity in reciprocal muscles is modulated by reward probability,” PLoS ONE, vol. 9, no. 3, Article ID e90773, 2014.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
A. K. Moskowitz, “"Scared stiff": Catatonia as an evolutionary-based fear response,” Psychological Review, vol. 111, no. 4, pp. 984–1002, 2004.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
K. Kleinhaus, S. Harlap, M. C. Perrin et al., “Catatonic schizophrenia: A cohort prospective study,” Schizophrenia Bulletin, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 331–337, 2012.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
A. T. Knoll and W. A. Carlezon Jr., “Dynorphin, stress, and depression,” Brain Research, vol. 1314, pp. 56–73, 2010.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
B. B. Land, M. R. Bruchas, J. C. Lemos, M. Xu, E. J. Melief, and C. Chavkin, “The dysphoric component of stress is encoded by activation of the dynorphin κ-opioid system,” The Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 407–414, 2008.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
M. R. Bruchas, B. B. Land, J. C. Lemos, and C. Chavkin, “CRF1-R Activation of the Dynorphin/K Opioid System in the Mouse Basolateral Amigdala Mediates Anxiety-Like Behavior,” PLoS ONE, vol. 4, no. 2, Article ID e8528, 2009.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
A. W. Bruijnzeel, “Kappa-opioid receptor signaling and brain reward function,” Brain Research Reviews, vol. 62, no. 1, pp. 127–146, 2009.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
V. I. Chefer, T. Czyzyk, E. A. Bolan, J. Moron, J. E. Pintar, and T. S. Shippenberg, “Endogenous κ-opioid receptor systems regulate mesoaccumbal dopamine dynamics and vulnerability to cocaine,” The Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 25, no. 20, pp. 5029–5037, 2005.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
S. Ikemoto, C. Yang, and A. Tan, “Basal ganglia circuit loops, dopamine and motivation: A review and enquiry,” Behavioural Brain Research, vol. 290, pp. 17–31, 2015.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
N. D. Volkow, G.-J. Wang, J. S. Fowler, D. Tomasi, F. Telang, and R. Baler, “Addiction: decreased reward sensitivity and increased expectation sensitivity conspire to overwhelm the brain's control circuit,” BioEssays, vol. 32, no. 9, pp. 748–755, 2010.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
W. A. Carlezon Jr., C. Béguin, A. T. Knoll, and B. M. Cohen, “Kappa-opioid ligands in the study and treatment of mood disorders,” Pharmacology & Therapeutics, vol. 123, no. 3, pp. 334–343, 2009.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
A. Van'T Veer and W. A. Carlezon Jr., “Role of kappa-opioid receptors in stress and anxiety-related behavior,” Psychopharmacology, vol. 229, no. 3, pp. 435–452, 2013.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
A. Hang, Y.-J. Wang, L. He, and J.-G. Liu, “The role of the dynorphin/κ opioid receptor system in anxiety,” Acta Pharmacologica Sinica, vol. 36, no. 7, pp. 783–790, 2015.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
A. M. J. Young, R. G. Ahier, R. L. Upton, M. H. Joseph, and J. A. Gray, “Increased extracellular dopamine in the nucleus accumbens of the rat during associative learning of neutral stimuli,” Neuroscience, vol. 83, no. 4, pp. 1175–1183, 1998.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
M. H. Joseph, K. Datla, and A. M. J. Young, “The interpretation of the measurement of nucleus accumbens dopamine by in vivo dialysis: the kick, the craving or the cognition?” Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, vol. 27, no. 6, pp. 527–541, 2003.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
M. Jepma, R. G. Verdonschot, H. van Steenbergen, S. A. R. B. Rombouts, and S. Nieuwenhuis, “Neural mechanisms underlying the induction and relief of perceptual curiosity,” Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, vol. 6, article 5, 2012.
View at: Google Scholar
C. Muth and C.-C. Carbon, “The Aesthetic Aha: On the pleasure of having insights into Gestalt,” Acta Psychologica, vol. 144, no. 1, pp. 25–30, 2013.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
B. C. Wittmann, N. Bunzeck, R. J. Dolan, and E. Düzel, “Anticipation of novelty recruits reward system and hippocampus while promoting recollection,” NeuroImage, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 194–202, 2007.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
N. Bunzeck and E. Düzel, “Absolute coding of stimulus novelty in the human substantia nigra/VTA,” Neuron, vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 369–379, 2006.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
S. Van de Cruys and J. Wagemans, “Putting reward in art: a tentative prediction error account of visual art,” i-Perception, vol. 2, no. 9, pp. 1035–1062, 2011.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
M. Jakesch, H. Leder, and M. Forster, “Image ambiguity and fluency,” PLoS ONE, vol. 8, no. 9, Article ID e74084, 2013.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
A. R. Seitz, D. Kim, and T. Watanabe, “Rewards evoke learning of unconsciously processed visual stimuli in adult humans,” Neuron, vol. 61, no. 5, pp. 700–707, 2009.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
A. Der-Avakian, S. A. Barnes, A. Markou, and D. A. Pizzagalli, “Translational assessment of reward and motivational deficits in psychiatric disorders,” Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences, vol. 28, pp. 231–262, 2016.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
T.-F. Yuan and H. Su, “Fear learning through the two visual systems, a commentary on: “A parvalbumin-positive excitatory visual pathway to trigger fear responses in mice”,” Frontiers in Neural Circuits, vol. 9, article no. 56, 2015.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
T.-H. Lee, S.-L. Lim, K.-Y. Lee, and J.-S. Choi, “Facilitation of visual processing by masked presentation of a conditioned facial stimulus,” NeuroReport, vol. 20, no. 8, pp. 750–754, 2009.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
R. C. Lapate, B. Rokers, T. Li, and R. J. Davidson, “Nonconscious emotional activation colors first impressions: a regulatory role for conscious awareness,” Psychological Science, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 349–357, 2014.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
M. Tamietto, F. Cauda, A. Celeghin et al., “Once you feel it, you see it: Insula and sensory-motor contribution to visual awareness for fearful bodies in parietal neglect,” Cortex, vol. 62, pp. 56–72, 2015.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
M. Diano, A. Celeghin, A. Bagnis, and M. Tamietto, “Amygdala response to emotional stimuli without awareness: Facts and interpretations,” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 7, article no. 2029, 2017.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
R. Shuhama, C. M. Del-Ben, S. R. Loureiro, and F. G. Graeff, “Animal defense strategies and anxiety disorders,” Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências, vol. 79, no. 1, pp. 97–109, 2007.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
J. N. Perusini and M. S. Fanselow, “Neurobehavioral perspectives on the distinction between fear and anxiety,” Learning & Memory, vol. 22, no. 9, pp. 417–425, 2015.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
L. M. Mcteague, “Reconciling RDoC and DSM approaches in clinical psychophysiology and neuroscience,” Psychophysiology, vol. 53, no. 3, pp. 323–327, 2016.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
D. Freeman, M. Gittins, K. Pugh, A. Antley, M. Slater, and G. Dunn, “What makes one person paranoid and another person anxious? The differential prediction of social anxiety and persecutory ideation in an experimental situation,” Psychological Medicine, vol. 38, no. 8, pp. 1121–1132, 2008.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
S. Marwaha, M. R. Broome, P. E. Bebbington, E. Kuipers, and D. Freeman, “Mood instability and psychosis: Analyses of British national survey data,” Schizophrenia Bulletin, vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 269–277, 2014.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
P. J. Uhlhaas and A. L. Mishara, “Perceptual anomalies in schizophrenia: Integrating phenomenology and cognitive neuroscience,” Schizophrenia Bulletin, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 142–156, 2007.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
S. M. Silverstein, Y. Wang, and M. W. Roché, “Base rates, blindness, and schizophrenia,” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 4, article 157, 2013.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
S. Landgraf and M. Osterheider, “"To see or not to see: That is the question." The "Protection-Against-Schizophrenia" (PaSZ) model: Evidence from congenital blindness and visuo-cognitive aberrations,” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 4, article 352, 2013.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar

Copyright

Copyright © 2018 Luigi Grillo. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

PDF Download Citation

Download other formats

Order printed copies

Views

29371

Downloads

1981

Citations