Joy-Rewiring Therapy Shows Promise Against Depression

A randomized trial of 98 adults with severe anhedonia, depression, and anxiety found Positive Affect Treatment (PAT)—a 15-session therapy designed to boost positive emotions and retrain the brain’s reward system—outperformed a conventional negative-emotion-focused therapy, with improvements in overall clinical status persisting at one-month follow-up and notable reductions in depression and anxiety symptoms. PAT targets the brain’s positive pathways (anticipation, response to reward, and reward learning) and may reduce key depression risks by enhancing meaningful activity, gratitude, savoring, and social connection.