Anhedonia—the reduced ability or complete inability to feel positive emotions—affects nearly 90% of people with major depression and is linked to longer, more severe illness and suicidal behavior. Unlike conventional therapies that focus on reducing negative emotions, a new study suggests directly targeting positive emotions may be a more effective treatment strategy.
Positive Affect Treatment
Researchers at SMU and UCLA have published findings on Positive Affect Treatment (PAT), a 15-session psychotherapy designed to help restore joy, purpose, motivation, and sensitivity to reward. PAT works by retraining the brain’s reward system through exercises that reconnect patients with rewarding activities, shift attention toward positive experiences, and strengthen habits such as gratitude, savoring, and loving kindness.
In a randomized controlled trial with 98 adults experiencing severe anhedonia, depression, and anxiety, PAT led to greater improvements in overall clinical status than conventional therapy focused on negative affect. The advantage remained at the one-month follow-up. Patients also showed significant reductions in symptoms of depression and anxiety. Notably, they improved on both positive and negative measures even though the therapy did not directly target negativity.
How It Works
The researchers found that changes in reward and threat processing were central to these improvements. The study used nine measures to track changes in reward sensitivity across three areas: anticipation and motivation for reward, response after receiving a reward, and reward learning. It also included five measures of threat processing, based on self-report, behavioral tasks, and physiological assessments. Six of the seven self-reported reward and threat measures helped explain clinical outcomes.
According to the research, improving impaired reward processing is important for reducing major risk factors in depression and anxiety, including suicidality and relapse. The work was published in JAMA Network Open on April 24 and was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://scitechdaily.com/new-therapy-rewires-the-brain-to-restore-joy-in-depression-patients/