Temporal discounting in major depressive disorder.

E Pulcu, P D Trotter, E J Thomas, M McFarquhar, G Juhasz, B J Sahakian, J F W Deakin, R Zahn, I M Anderson, R Elliott, Beverley Haggis

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    BACKGROUND: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with abnormalities in financial reward processing. Previous research suggests that patients with MDD show reduced sensitivity to frequency of financial rewards. However, there is a lack of conclusive evidence from studies investigating the evaluation of financial rewards over time, an important aspect of reward processing that influences the way people plan long-term investments. Beck's cognitive model posits that patients with MDD hold a negative view of the future that may influence the amount of resources patients are willing to invest into their future selves. METHOD: We administered a delay discounting task to 82 participants: 29 healthy controls, 29 unmedicated participants with fully remitted MDD (rMDD) and 24 participants with current MDD (11 on medication). RESULTS: Patients with current MDD, relative to remitted patients and healthy subjects, discounted large-sized future rewards at a significantly higher rate and were insensitive to changes in reward size from medium to large. There was a main effect of clinical group on discounting rates for large-sized rewards, and discounting rates for large-sized rewards correlated with severity of depressive symptoms, particularly hopelessness. CONCLUSIONS: Higher discounting of delayed rewards in MDD seems to be state dependent and may be a reflection of depressive symptoms, specifically hopelessness. Discounting distant rewards at a higher rate means that patients are more likely to choose immediate financial options. Such impairments related to long-term investment planning may be important for understanding value-based decision making in MDD, and contribute to ongoing functional impairment.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1825-1834
    Number of pages9
    JournalPsychological Medicine
    Volume44
    Issue number9
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jul 2014

    Keywords

    • hopelessness
    • Key words Delay discounting
    • major depressive disorder
    • reward processing

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