FPG Faculty Fellow Aysenil Belger, PhD, a professor in the UNC Department of Psychiatry and Director of the Clinical Translational Core in the UNC Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center, and Danielle Roubinov, PhD, an associate professor in the UNC Department of Psychiatry and Director of the Child and Adolescent Anxiety and Mood Disorders Program, will lead an innovative study of the predictors of anhedonia — a common symptom of mental health conditions — in young people.

Anhedonia, the inability to anticipate or experience pleasure, can emerge during adolescence and often precedes the onset of more severe psychopathology such as mood disorders and psychosis. The condition is difficult to treat, but Belger and Roubinov hope that by examining the physiological and neural response mechanisms associated with acute stress preceding anhedonia, they can inform the development of prevention and treatment options.

Atypical stress response and related dysregulation of neurobiological mechanisms have been proposed as key contributors to this mental health symptom. The Stress Trajectories and Anhedonia in Adolescents Research Study (STAARS), a five-year project funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, will examine the biological stress response patterns that place adolescents at risk for the onset and worsening of the condition.

“It’s not just one biologic system that is engaged to mount a stress response, but rather a complex co-activation of physiological, neural, and endocrine systems,” says co-principal investigator Danielle Roubinov. “Looking comprehensively across these systems will give us a clearer picture of why some people develop anhedonia, why some experience increases of it over time, or why some will go on to develop other mental health problems.”

The research team will recruit 200 adolescents aged 13-15 who experience varying levels of anhedonia. Over two years, participants will be monitored through multi-method and multi-modal assessments that include questionnaires, brain imaging, and physiological stress responses.

“This symptom is very common across disorders, especially in depression and schizophrenia,” says co-principal investigator Belger. “Many of our subjects are going to be too young yet to have a firm diagnosis of a mental health disorder but may have symptoms that worsen to become a significant disorder later on.”

The goal of this innovative, longitudinal study is to understand the biological and individual differences among adolescents with and without anhedonia so that better prevention and intervention programs can be developed.

“We can identify over time with repeated measures, worsening symptoms that transition to depression and suicidality, then fine-tune early identifiers for those at greater risk,” Belger says. “Finding interventions is one of the more immediate implications, as we can look at trajectories, and identify solutions that may best target those outcomes.”

This story was originally published by the UNC School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry. Read the full story.