The use of daily diaries to assess the relations among mood state, overt behavior, and reward value of activities

Recent data has sparked renewed interest in behavioral treatments for depression; however several fundamental questions remain regarding the mechanisms of such approaches. To this end, the current study directly tested the assumption that non-clinical mildly depressed individuals receive less response-contingent positive reinforcement than non-depressed individuals, indicated by less engagement in behaviors perceived as rewarding in terms of both immediate pleasure and potential for these behaviors to result in more distal rewards. The data presented support this assumption and provide support for the role of reinforcement-based strategies such as behavioral activation in the treatment of depression.