Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2020;00:1–9. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/sltb | 1 © 2020 The American Association of Suicidology INTRODUCTION Anhedonia, the difficulty in experiencing pleasure from plea- surable experiences, affects many areas of life. It includes physical anhedonia (PA), an inability to feel physical pleasure, and social anhedonia (SA), a diminished capacity for plea- sure in social activities (Chapman et al., 1976). Anhedonia may occur in any population, but it is far more common in Received: 21 February 2020 | Revised: 4 August 2020 | Accepted: 5 August 2020 DOI: 10.1111/sltb.12724 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Physical and social anhedonia are associated with suicidality in major depression, but not in schizophrenia Marina Sagud MD, PHD 1,2 | Lucija Tudor MSc 3 | Lucija Šimunić MD 2 | Dejana Jezernik MD 2 | Zoran Madžarac MD 2 | Nenad Jakšić MSc 2 | Alma Mihaljević Peleš MD, PhD 1,2 | Bjanka Vuksan-Ćusa MD, PhD 2 | Ivona Šimunović Filipčić MD, PhD 2 | Ivana Stefanović MD 4 | Biljana Kosanović Rajačić MD 2 | Suzan Kudlek Mikulić MD, PhD 2 | Nela Pivac DVM, PhD 3 *Equally contributing authors. 1 School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia 2 Department of Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine, University Hospital Centre Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia 3 Laboratory for Molecular Neuropsychiatry, Division of Molecular Medicine, Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Zagreb, Croatia 4 General Hospital "Dr. Josip Benčević", Slavonski Brod, Croatia Correspondence Nela Pivac, Laboratory for Molecular Neuropsychiatry, Division of Molecular Medicine, Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Zagreb, Croatia. Email: npivac@irb.hr Funding information Medicinski Fakultet, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Grant/Award Number: Biomarkers of therapeutic response in schizophreni; University of Zagreb, Grant/Award Number: BM106 Abstract Objective: This cross-sectional study investigated the association of physical and social anhedonia with suicidality in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), schizophrenia, and in non-psychiatric controls. Method: All participants completed the revised Physical Anhedonia Scale (RPAS) and the revised Social Anhedonia Scale (RSAS) and were subdivided according to positive life-time suicide attempt history. MDD patients were evaluated with the Montgomery-Ãsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), healthy respondents with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and schizophrenia patients with the Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS). Results: In 683 study participants, the prevalence of each anhedonia was the highest in MDD, followed by schizophrenia, and lowest in the control group. Among MDD patients, those with physical and social anhedonia had greater rates of recent suicidal ideation, while a higher frequency of individuals with life-time suicide attempts was detected in those with only social anhedonia. In contrast, no association between ei- ther anhedonia and life-time suicide attempts or recent suicidal ideation was found in patients with schizophrenia. Conclusions: Assessing social and physical anhedonia might be important in MDD patients, given its association with both life-time suicide attempts and recent suicidal ideation. Suicidality in schizophrenia, while unrelated to anhedonia, might include other risk factors. KEYWORDS anhedonia, depression, suicide