Using the experience sampling methodology to measure anhedonia and its correlates in mental health research: A systematic review

Abstract

Anhedonia is a lack or loss of pleasure in daily life. This is the first systematic review to investigate anhedonia in mental health research with a focus on experience sampling methodology (ESM). The review aimed to identify how anhedonia is conceptualized and measured in ESM research, how it is experienced during daily life, and the quality of reporting in the published literature. To generate a comprehensive picture of anhedonia, we also examined associations between time-invariant measures of anhedonia and other affective, cognitive, and behavioral processes assessed via ESM. We searched PsychARTICLES, MEDLINE, Psychology Databases, EMBASE, Web of Science Core Collection, and Europe PMC (last search 6th January 2025). We identified 113 relevant articles. Anhedonia was typically conceptualized as diminished pleasure, enjoyment, or liking, with emphasis on consummatory rather than anticipatory experiences. Anticipatory and consummatory anhedonia were present in samples that experienced different mental health conditions or symptoms (between-person) and varied across daily contexts and time (within-person). Daily life correlates of anhedonia included increased negative affect, decreased positive affect, affect prediction biases, and social processes. Most studies explored anhedonia in depression or psychotic disorders, although measurement was heterogeneous, and compliance with a reporting quality assessment tool for ESM studies was generally low. This review demonstrates that using ESM to measure anhedonia in mental health research is critical to identify how and when it is experienced in daily life. Future anhedonia research would benefit from using a transdiagnostic perspective, standardized and validated ESM items, exploration of moment-to-moment changes over shorter time-scales, and increased transparency in methodological reporting.