Research Finds Joy & Pleasure Could Be A New Approach In Targetting Depression
Depression can be debilitating, not only causing feelings of hopelessness and sadness, but also reducing a person's ability to feel positive emotions. The latter, also known as anhedonia, is a lesser-studied (and lesser-targeted) aspect of depression that, until now, hasn't received enough attention.
But according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open1, addressing adhedonia could be a promising way to manage depression. Here's what they found.
Studying anhedonia in depression
Adhedonia, as described in this research, includes a reduced capacity to experience interest and pleasure in response to typically rewarding stimuli. It affects a majority of people with major depression, and is linked with more severe depression and worse recovery.
For this study, researchers wanted to dig into whether addressing adhedonia helped patients with depression, given most depression treatments involve trying to reduce negative feelings, as opposed to increasing positive ones. They used something called Positive Affect Treatment (PAT), which is a type of therapy intended to boost capacity for joy, purpose, motivation, and reward.
The research involved 98 adults with adhedonia, depression, and anxiety. Participants in a randomized controlled trial went through PAT, with the researchers finding that PAT resulted in greater improvements than conventional therapy targeting negative emotions. And further, those benefits lasted at a one-month follow up.
Not only were patients experiencing more positive emotions, but they also showed reductions in depression and anxiety symptoms, even though PAT doesn't address negative emotions directly.
"It's not enough to take away the bad," notes study co-author Alicia Meuret Ph.D. in a news release. "Treatment needs to ask: Is this activity meaningful to you? Will it give you joy or a sense of accomplishment? Does it foster connection?"
The importance of joy & pleasure in treating depression
These findings point to an important and novel aspect of treating depression that has largely gone unaddressed: Rebuilding the capacity to experience joy and pleasure.
"There's a difference between feeling helpless and feeling hopeless," Meuret explains, adding, "When you feel helpless, you still have the drive and the will to want to change things. When people feel hopeless, they don't believe anything will change. That's what anhedonia can look like, and taking away negative emotions doesn't fix it."
As the study authors note, PAT helps patients directly work with their brain's reward system, retraining the brain's "positive system." Many of the exercises, for example, re-engage patients with rewarding activities, gratitude, loving-kindness, and more.
The takeaway
For those suffering from adhedonia, depression, and anxiety, reducing negative emotions isn't always enough. The ability to experience joy and pleasure once again can feel like a major feat, but according to this research, reconnecting with joy through Positive Affect Treatment might just be a method worth trying.