Experiential pleasure deficits in different stages of schizophrenia

Prior research has found dampened anticipatory pleasure but relatively intact consummatory pleasure in people with first-episode and more chronic schizophrenia, but no study has examined anticipatory and consummatory pleasure across the schizophrenia spectrum. To confirm the factor structure of the Chinese version of the Temporal Experience Pleasure Scale (TEPS), which measures four components of anhedonia, we recruited 364 people with schizophrenia for confirmatory factor analysis. To examine anhedonia in people across the schizophrenia spectrum, we recruited people with first-episode (n = 76) and chronic schizophrenia (n = 45), people with schizotypal traits (n = 210), first-degree relatives (n = 45) of people with schizophrenia and healthy controls. Deficit in abstract anticipatory pleasure appeared to be most severe in people with chronic schizophrenia, while dampened abstract consummatory pleasure was observed in people with schizotypal personality features and in people with chronic schizophrenia. In addition, both abstract anticipatory and abstract consummatory pleasure were negatively correlated with negative schizotypal personality features and schizophrenia symptoms. Our results suggest that deficits in anticipatory pleasure are present across the schizophrenia spectrum, particularly in the abstract domain.