Evidence that anhedonia is a symptom of opioid dependence associated with recent use

Abstract

Background Anhedonia is prevalent among substance-dependent populations. The hedonic allostasis model suggests this is due to the effects of addictive substances on neural substrates of reward processing. However, previous research may have been confounded by other factors likely to influence anhedonia, including tobacco use, psychopathology, and history of trauma and other stressors. Thus it remains unclear whether elevated anhedonia in substance-dependent populations is caused by substance use itself, or is due to other correlates of substance dependence. Methods Multivariate analysis of covariance was conducted to test whether opioid-dependent participants’ anhedonia scores were elevated,..