Thursday, January 6, 2022

Spiraling Into Depression? Try This!

 



We used to call this happiness scheduling but these days we're talking posh and calling it behavioural activation. Either way, it's surprisingly effective if you're a bit down or losing touch with what matters in life.

When we're in good mental health, we will our lives with activities we enjoy

Low mood and depression tends to kill our energy, and our socializing and makes us focus on the negative

As we disconnect and stop doing things we like, we spiral

Therapy approach: we push connecting, doing things we like and doing things that affirm our values.

Method: 

  • List some simple five-minute activities you enjoy <- do one every day
  • List some one hour activities you enjoy <- do one every week


Either schedule for these and tick them off - to get instant rush of reward
OR put the strips in a jar and pull them out at random once a day

Follow the plan, even if you're not in the mood

If after a few weeks you're not getting a boost, or you find you continue to spiral, talk to a mental health professional. I work internationally, so feel free to email me