Modifying Behavior
Now let's shift our attention to our behaviors and creating helpful behavioral habits.
Sleep, Exercise, and Nutrition
First, let's acknowledge that you've already begun modifying your behavior. This workshop has included implementing new sleep and exercise strategies. Because you've been working on these things, you are already on the road to creating new healthy habits! It's now just a matter of repeating the new strategy over and over until it becomes second nature.
Socializing
Engaging in social interactions is a major component in improving depressed mood. When depressed, some people feel a pull to withdraw and isolate. Some people stop hanging out with their friends, stop talking to family, and stop being around people in general. It’s as if it just takes too much energy to talk, even to people you love and typically enjoy being around.
This is a symptom of depression. Even though you feel like being alone, the cure to depression often lies in interacting with others. Research has shown that talking, physical contact such as hugs, or even just being near other people can decrease depressive symptoms and increase happiness. Social interaction is so powerful, in fact, that simply talking with a stranger can positively impact your mood.
This doesn't mean that we are suggesting you go strike up a conversation with a random stranger or sit and have deep conversations with friends or family. The first step may be as simple as studying in a public place instead of alone in your room. The idea is to just get out of your depressive environment and be around people.
If you are open to hanging out with friends but don't feel like talking, try planning an activity in which you can engage without the pressure to talk. Schedule a study date, go see a movie, or play a board game. Click here for a page with a section entitled "ideas for socializing." We've created a brief list of ideas to start the brainstorming process.
Please mark a few ideas for socializing that seem do-able for you. There is also blank space for you to list your own ideas that are unique to you and what you would be willing to try.
Pleasant Activities
Similar to not feeling up to interacting with others, when people are depressed they may not feel like doing things that they usually enjoy. People may get stuck in the lack of motivation, apathy, and lethargy of depression and end up eliminating enjoyable activities that promote feeling good.
Pleasant activities are just that; those that feel pleasant to you. These activities may be related to school, work, family, friends, sports, clubs, exercise, hobbies, chores, nature, spirituality, etc. Here there are sections for identifying pleasant activities. Please mark a few do-able activities. There are also blank spaces for you to list your own ideas.
Mastery Activities
When depressed, doing everyday tasks like cleaning or homework can seem like monumental hurdles. So people stop accomplishing the things they need to do.
One way to address this is to start by doing things, even little things that evoke a sense of accomplishment or achievement; these are called mastery experiences. Something as small as washing a dish or taking out the trash can provide a sense of mastery that contributes to feeling better.
One great example of a mastery experience is productive procrastination, which involves doing something productive, even if it’s not the original task you wanted to accomplish. Do anything on your to-do list. Once you start being productive, you will likely have more energy and motivation to do the thing you really need to do. Let's be clear, we are not encouraging you to procrastinate; we are saying do something that brings a sense of accomplishment.
Here there are sections for identifying mastery activities. Please mark a few do-able activities. There are also blank spaces for you to list your own ideas.
Other Behavior Techniques
So, we have highlighted several behaviors that influence mood, including sleep hygiene, exercise, nutrition, socializing, and pleasant and mastery activities. These are the heavy hitters in impacting mood. However, there are numerous other things we can incorporate in our life patterns that will lead to improved mood. Before we look at a list of other tips, I want to remind you that you should only pick a few things to work on at a time. We don't want to overwhelm you by suggesting that you do everything at once; that would be unrealistic. If you are dedicated to modifying exercise and socializing, start there. When you are ready to make changes in other areas, incorporate new tips.
Click here to review additional techniques. You don't have to mark anything or commit to any of these things right now, we just want you to be aware of other strategies for improving mood.