The prediction of outcome from anhedonia and process-reactive scales.

Earlier researchers have suggested that the ability of process-reactive measures to predict future adjustment may result from their relationships to the anhedonia dimension. In the present study the abilities of process-reactive and anhedonia measures, independent of one another, to predict rehospitalization data were compared. After anhedonia scores had been partialed out, schizophrenics' process-reactive scores were correlated modestly with length of the patients' next hospitalization and reclassification as nonschizophrenic. No such significant correlations appeared between anhedonia and adjustment measures after process-reactive scores had been partialed out. Among nonschizophrenics, a sizeable correlation between anhedonia and the probability of later diagnosis of schizophrenia appeared, which suggests that anhedonia may be a useful prodromal marker for schizophrenia.