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Examining The Interaction Between Stress Exposure And Stress Reactivity As Predictors Of Reward Sensitivity And Anhedonia Symptoms, Joshua Ahles

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

There is a well-documented relationship between stress and depression, although only recently has the field begun to articulate clear models regarding how stress exerts this effect. One prominent model highlights the disruptive impact of stress on reward processing, which relates to anhedonia – a cardinal symptom of depression. Vulnerability-stress models also play an important role in depression research and hold that individual differences in responses to stress may exacerbate the relationship between stress and depression. Pre-ejection period (PEP) reactivity to reward has been posited as an index of reward sensitivity and approach motivation and has been increasingly linked to depression. …