Functional neuroimaging biomarkers of anhedonia response to escitalopram plus adjunct aripiprazole treatment for major depressive disorder.

Eight weeks of aripiprazole, adjunct to escitalopram, was associated with improved anhedonia symptoms. Changes in functional connectivity between key reward regions were associated with anhedonia improvement, suggesting aripiprazole may be an effective treatment for individuals experiencing reward-related deficits. Future studies are required to replicate our findings and explore their generalisability, using other agents with partial dopamine (D2) agonism and/or serotonin (5-HT2A) antagonism.