Anhedonia and negative symptomatology in chronic schizophrenia

The relationships between negative symptomatology and anhedonia have been studied on 61 subjects who had Research Diagnostic Criteria for chronic schizophrenia. Negative symptomatology was rated by the negative subscales of the Kay Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). Anhedonia was rated by the Physical Anhedonia Scale of Chapman (PAS), the Fawcett-Clark Pleasure Capacity Scale-Physical Pleasure (FCPCS-PP), and the social interest subscale (SIS) of the Nurse Observation Scale for Inpatients (NOSIE-30). Pearson correlations were calculated between negative and anhedonia scales. Schizophrenics were dichotomized first into negatives and positives using the composite score of the PANSS, and second into low and high negatives using the negative subscale of the PANSS. For each dichotomy, the corresponding subgroups were compared on anhedonia scales using Student's test. The results have shown no significant correlations between negative and anhedonia scales (PAS and FCPCS-PP). There were no significant differences concerning the PAS and the FCPCS-PP between negative and positive subgroups of schizophrenics and between low- and high-negative subgroups. Anhedonia is not a negative symptom. Our results confirm the reported studies on subjective experiences in schizophrenia. A search for more restricted forms of schizophrenia characterized by severe anhedonia is needed.