Reclaiming Joy With Positive Affect Treatment
A highly effective new therapy to reclaim joy and reduce anxiety and depression.
Updated May 12, 2026 | Reviewed by Michelle Quirk
If you've been following this blog, you know I've been struggling with anxiety and depression —and working hard to reclaim my capacity for pleasure. I've written candidly about that journey: sharing a model of how the three-level brain/mind works so we can learn to work it better, and offering practical tools to help reverse the anhedonia that’s at the heart of this suffering.
Difficulty experiencing pleasure isn't just a personal problem: It's a driving force behind soaring rates of anxiety and depression, and behind what researchers are calling the sexual recession —the well-documented trend of people having significantly less sex than previous generations.
Good news about a revolutionary new treatment for reclaiming our capacity for pleasure
I have recently learned about a newly developed therapy for anxiety, depression, and trauma , which specifically addresses how to reboot our pleasure systems, positive affect treatment . In this post, I will introduce this evidence-based approach, shown to be more effective than traditional therapies, and share how you can begin using its core practices. Note: This is not a replacement for professional help, but a validated toolkit for rebuilding your capacity for joy.
The problem isn't just stress—it's a pleasure shutdown
My book, Why Good Sex Matters, grew out of years of witnessing scores of clients lose the capacity for satisfying pleasures—in and out of the bedroom. This “pleasure crisis” is driven by the relentless demands of the attention economy —the pings, the scroll, the low-grade overstimulation that never really stops—and is quietly eroding our capacity for embodied, felt pleasure.
Layered on top of this is the traumademic : the collision of our personal trauma histories with the collective stress , loss, and uncertainty of living in an era of relentless upheaval. When individual nervous systems—already impacted by early wounds—encounter chronic activation in a world that feels genuinely threatening, the result is compounded dysregulation. Nervous systems locked in fight, flight, or freeze lead to brains with diminished pleasure capacity.
And this is exactly what positive affect treatment (PAT) was designed to address.
PAT, developed by Michelle Craske and colleagues at UCLA, is built on a key insight: low positive affect ( emotion )—the absence of joy, enthusiasm, and engagement—is a distinct clinical problem, not just a symptom that disappears when anxiety or depression lifts. You must actively rebuild it. The good news? You can.
Meet your SEEKING system
To understand why PAT works, you need to meet one of your brain’s most important core emotional systems: SEEKING . Identified by affective neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp, the SEEKING system is your brain’s primary engine for motivation , curiosity, and anticipatory pleasure. It’s what makes you lean forward into life.
When we’re stuck in survival mode—when the three-story brain-mind is locked in the basement, flooded with stress hormones —SEEKING goes quiet. We stop wanting. We stop anticipating. We lose our motivation to explore. We lose our lust for life. This is the neurological core of anhedonia , and it’s epidemic right now.
PAT works directly on this system. Its practices are, in essence, a set of evidence-based tools for waking SEEKING back up.
The practices—and how to actually do them
Here’s what PAT looks like in daily life. These aren’t abstract concepts. They’re concrete moves you can make, starting today.
A note on starting small
Here’s something I tell my clients and remind myself: you don’t need to feel motivated to begin. In fact, waiting to feel motivated is a trap—motivation follows action, not the other way around. The SEEKING system wakes up when you give it something to seek.
Pick one practice from this list. Just one. Do it today, imperfectly, for five minutes. Notice whatever you notice. That noticing—that tiny flicker of attention toward positive experience—is the beginning of rewiring.
The "traumademic" has done a number on all of us. The pleasure crisis is real. But so is your brain’s capacity for repair, for learning, for pleasure. The science is clear: Positive affect can be cultivated, even when it feels impossibly far away.
To find a therapist, visit the Psychology Today Therapy Directory .
Craske, M. G., Dunn, B. D., Meuret, A. E., Rizvi, S. J., & Taylor, C. T. (2024). Positive affect and reward processing in the treatment of depression, anxiety and trauma. Nature Reviews Psychology, 3(10), 665-685
Meuret, Alicia E., et al. "Positive affect treatment for depression, anxiety, and low positive affect: a randomized clinical trial." JAMA Network Open 9.4 (2026): e267403.
Hung, L. W., Neuner, S., Polepalli, J. S., Beier, K. T., Wright, M., Walsh, J. J., ... & Malenka, R. C. (2017). Gating of social reward by oxytocin in the ventral tegmental area. Science, 357(6358), 1406–1411.
Wise, N. (2020). Why Good Sex Matters: Understanding the Neuroscience of Pleasure for a Smarter, Happier, and More Purpose-Filled Life. Harvest.
Share this post Facebook Bluesky Linkedin Email
There was a problem adding your email address. Please try again.
By submitting your information you agree to the Psychology Today Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy
Nan Wise, Ph.D., is a cognitive neuroscientist, licensed psychotherapist, certified sex therapist and the author of Why Good Sex Matters.
Get the help you need from a therapist near you–a FREE service from Psychology Today.
This article is part of the Bringwise Psychology Journal — daily insights on human behavior, mental health, and personal growth.