The following is a summary of “A transdiagnostic network analysis of motivation and pleasure, expressivity and social functioning,” published in the July 2023 issue of Psychiatry by Hu et al. 

In schizophrenia (SCZ), critical symptoms involving motivation and pleasure (MAP) and expressivity (EXP) significantly influence social functioning. There is uncertainty about whether these factors have distinct effects on social functioning across major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD). 

Researchers performed a retrospective study utilizing network analysis to explore how the MAP and EXP factors relate to social functioning and other clinical traits. The study included 192 patients with SCZ, 67 with BD, and 92 with MDD.

The results indicated MAP as the most important factor in the transdiagnostic network of critical symptoms, both at the symptom domain and symptom item levels. MAP was closely associated with social functioning and impacted social functioning more than other factors.

These findings confirmed MAP is a core symptom closely associated with social functioning in different psychiatric disorders.

Source: nature.com/articles/s44220-023-00102-3