In the search for the neural substrates of depression, some recent work has suggested
that the disruption of reward processing occurs as part of the essential pathophysiology
of the disorder. Depression has long been conceptualized as a disorder of dysregulated
positive affect and unusual reward processing (
1
), and affective neuroscience findings have begun to support this perspective. Research
on reward represents a shift away from a focus primarily on aspects of depression
related to negative affect and threat processing. More important, this research direction
could offer the potential to develop treatments that target reward-related circuits
and thereby offer hope to those who exhibit dysfunction in those circuits.To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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References
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
May 5,
2009
Received:
May 4,
2009
Identification
Copyright
© 2009 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
