Altered social hedonic processing in eating disorders.
OBJECTIVE
Exploring social anhedonia in eating disorders (ED) was the main objective of this study. Social anhedonia relates to a reduced feeling of pleasure from social stimulation. Researching the exact nature of problems in interpersonal relationships is an important topic for clinicians and researchers in the field.


METHODS
The revised social anhedonia scale was completed by 148 participants: anorexia nervosa (AN) n = 72; bulimia nervosa (BN) n = 19; recovered AN n = 14; healthy controls (HC) n = 43. Participants also completed mood related measures and the Toronto Alexythimia scale.


RESULTS
People with AN and BN had higher self-reported social anhedonia than people without ED. Recovered AN had an intermediate profile in between AN and HC. Clinical severity and alexithymia were strongly associated with social anhedonia scores.


CONCLUSIONS
Difficulty identifying and expressing feelings could be related to this diminished drive for social pleasure. Tackling these interpersonal maintaining factors in treatment is likely to be a worthwhile endeavor.
Section of Eating Disorders, King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychological Medicine, London, United Kingdom. kate.tchanturia@kcl.ac.uk
Kate
K
Tchanturia
Helen
H
Davies
Amy
A
Harrison
John R E
JR
Fox
Janet
J
Treasure
Ulrike
U
Schmidt
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D059445:Anhedonia; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D052018:Bulimia Nervosa / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D015897:Comorbidity; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results