Anhedonia and its relationship to Persistent Depressive Disorder among University students

Authors

  • Saif Najih Alsultani Department of Psychology/ College of Arts/ University of Baghdad
  • Prof. Ibrahim Alaarjy Department of Psychology/ College of Arts/ University of Baghdad

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31973/xrvr3b96

Keywords:

Persistent Depressive Disorder, University Students, Anhedonia

Abstract

Mood disorders in adolescents have drawn growing attention in research recently. Cases of sadness and mood disorder in adolescents are particularly attributed to the sensitivity of this segment of society towards the severe social pressures, such as disturbance in familial relationships, abuse, neglect, and academic failure. The vast majority of adolescents have been observed to suffer from neglect and/or abuse. Depressive disorder patients have some form of abuse and neglect. Over the past twenty years, health care professionals have made a intensive efforts to identify and better understand mood disorders in adolescents. Researchers used to believe that teenagers did not have enough of mental maturity to suffer from depression, but they found that depression is common among teenagers, and they are susceptible to the same types of depression as adults. Certainly, the response to depression has roots in feeling of loss of pleasure, whether real or assumed, the output anger turns into input loss. This indicates that the original loss had been repressed, and the consequent loss raises feelings related to it, regardless of its nature, whether this loss is of a person, of status, or moral support of friends. The researcher adopted Watson et al.’s (2021) scale for anhedonia. The Anhedonia Scale for Adolescents (ASA) consists of (14) and five-point alternatives (always, often, sometimes, rarely, never). Likewise, the Mason et al (1993) scale for persistent depressive disorder was adopted, which consists of 20 items and five alternatives (rarely, mild, moderate, above moderate, severe). The results showed that university students have average Anhedonia. In regards with the significance of difference according to the gender variable (male/female), it was in favor of female university students.

On the other hand, the prevalence of persistent depressive disorder reached (23.91%), with regard to identifying the significance of the difference according to the gender variable (male/female) among university students. Likewise, the significance of difference according to the gender variable (male/female), it was in favor of female university students.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

جاسم، صفاء حسين محمد علي (2005): اعراض الاكتئاب لدى المراهقين في دور الدولة مقارنة بأقرانهم من طلبة المدارس في مدينة بغداد، رسالة ماجستير غير منشورة، كلية الآداب، الجامعة المستنصرية.

صالح، قاسم حسين (2015): الاضطرابات النفسية والعقلية "نظرياتها، أسبابها، طرائق علاجها"، الطبعة الأولى، دار دجلة، عمان، الأردن.

American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. (FIFTH EDITION), (TEXT REVISON). Washington, DC.

Asadollahi. F. Doost. H.N, Abedi. M.R. & Zanjani. H.A. (2021). Exploring Interpersonal Relationship of Female Patients with Persistent Depressive Disorder: A Qualitative Study with a Phenomenological Approach. Iran J Psychiatry Behave Sci.Freden, Iars (1982). Psychosocial Aspects of depression, New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Beck, A., et al. (1979). Cognitive therapy and emotional Disorder. International Universities Press, New York.

Ebel, R.L. (1972): Essentials of Educational Measurement. New Jersey: Prentice – Hall, Inc.

Freud, S (1940). An online of psych analysis. Norton co. New York.

---------- (1953). Thoughts for the times on war and death. The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud. Vol.4, Hogarth press, London.

Gallagher, D.E. Breckenridge, J.N. Thompson. L.W & Peterson. J.A (1983). Effects of bereavement on indicators of mental health in elder windows and windrowers, Journal of Gerontology, 83.

Hilgard, Ernest R. Athinson, Rita. Atkinson, Richard C. Smith, Edward E & Bem, Dary J. (1990). Introduction to psychology. 10th – ed. Harcourt Brace Jovanorich publishers, printed in the U.S.A.

Huffman, K. Very, M.X. & Veynoy, J. (2000). Psychology in Action, New York, John wiley and son Inc.

Jordan. D.G. Winer. E.S. Salem. T. & Kilgore. J.(2018). Longitudinal Evaluation of Anhedonia as a Mediator of Fear of Positive Evaluation and Other Depressive Symptoms. Nov; 32(7): (pp.1437–1447).

Mason, B.J, Kocsis, J.H, Leon, A.C, Thompson, M. S, Frances, A.J, Roberto O Morgan, R.O. & Parides. M. K. (1993). Measurement of Severity and Treatment Response in Dysthymia. Psychiatric Annals, 23(11). (pp. 625–631).

Moreau. J. (2002). Simulating the anhedonia symptom of depression in animals. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience. V4. (pp. 315-360).

Rush, A. J. & Beck. A. (2000). Cognitive- therapy – therapy in Kaplan & Sa: Dok's comprehensive? Textbook of paychiatry- lippicott William's & Williams Washington, (pp. 2176-2178) & (pp. 2122).

Şahin E. Topkaya N. & Gençoğlu. C (2022). Severity and Correlates of the Symptoms of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress in a Nationally Representative Sample of Turkish Secondary Boarding School Counselors. Department of Child and Youth Services. Health Services Vocational School, Amasya University.

Song. X. & Vilares. I. (2021). Assessing the relationship between the human learned helplessness depression model and anhedonia. Plos ONE 16(3).

Watson, R., McCabe, C., Harvey, K. & Reynolds, S. (2021). Development and validation of a new adolescent self-report scale to measure loss of interest and pleasure: the Anhedonia scale for adolescents (ASA). Central Archive at the University of Reading.

Wu. Q. Jiayue He, Shulin Fang, Panwen Zhang, Xingwei Luo, Jianghua Zhang, Yan Xiong, Fusheng Luo, Xiaosheng Wang, Shuqiao Yao& Xiang Wang (2020). A novel construct of anhedonia revealed in a Chinese sample via the Revised Physical and Social Anhedonia Scales. Medical Psychological Center, the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.

Downloads

Published

2024-09-15

Issue

Section

Educational and psychological sciences

How to Cite

Alsultani, S. ., & Alaarjy, I. (2024). Anhedonia and its relationship to Persistent Depressive Disorder among University students. Al-Adab Journal, 150, 237-252. https://doi.org/10.31973/xrvr3b96

Publication Dates

Received

2023-10-08

Revised

2023-10-30

Accepted

2023-10-31

Published Online First

2024-09-15

Similar Articles

21-30 of 1566

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.