Written by Kristin Barton Cuthriell, M.Ed, MSW, LCSW
Attention: You do not have to be struggling with depression to benefit from this article. Anyone can benefit from the practices that follow.
While medication may be necessary, you have to do more than just take a pill.
After spending the last several days in Washington, D.C. attending wellness workshops with 3,500 other mental health professionals, I thought I would take a moment to share a few practices that were reviewed.
Although I learned many new theories and techniques that have been demonstrated by other professionals to increase positive outcomes with clients, I want to share with you certain behavioral practices that have been associated with an elevation in mood and a decrease in depression.
While researchers have found the following activities to decrease symptoms of depression, it is always recommended that you have a thorough medical evaluation if you have been experiencing a depressed mood for over two weeks or have been feeling hopeless or helpless.
Sometimes it is necessary for depression to be treated with medication, but too often today, people think that a pill alone will fix them. Research shows that the successful treatment of depression often involves multiple treatment modalities combined with certain behavioral changes. Listed below are behaviors that are associated with a decrease in symptoms of depression.
- Exercise, meditation, prayer: Many physicians rated these three to be the top wellness practices and mood enhancers.
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Seek person to person support: Personal interaction has proven to be healthier than web interaction. Isolating yourself from human contact increases depression. Don’t limit your social life to the web. Force yourself to get out of your home and seek support. When depressed you feel like isolating yourself from other people and from activities you once enjoyed, but the more you isolate, the more depressed you become. Push yourself!
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Practice gratitude: Research shows that keeping a gratitude journal every day for one week improves mental health for up to six months.
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Spend time with positive people: Having regular contact with optimistic people elevates mood.
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Practice affirmations: Reading or writing one positive affirmation every morning makes you less prone to depression.
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Set goals and follow with action: Accomplishing goals gives you a sense of accomplishment and purpose which will raise hope and decrease symptoms of depression. No matter how small, achieve one goal everyday.
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Aim for progress rather than perfection: No one is perfect. If you are only happy when you are perfect you will never be happy. This type of thinking is called depressive thinking. Continue to try to be the best that you can be, but remember to celebrate your baby steps, and celebrate your progress.
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Eat a well-balanced diet: Fatty sugary foods zap energy which is the last thing that you need when already feeling fatigued as a result of depression.
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Avoid alcohol: Alcohol is a depressant. Although alcohol may provide you temporary relief, it will make symptoms of depression worse. Your short-term fix will lead to a long-term problem.
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Avoid excessive caffeine intake, especially in the afternoon: Depression often interferes with your sleep patterns. Caffeine will not balance it out, it will make it worse. Caffeine may also dehydrate you.
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Drink lots of water: Dehydration zaps your energy.
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Contact a therapist: A therapist can serve as a coach working with you to achieve optimal wellness.
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Always contact your physician: There are many different factors that correlate with depression. If you have been feeling hopeless, helpless, or really down for over two weeks, see your doctor.
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Feeling better is a process. Give it time: The following tips may help you stop a downward spiral. Practice them everyday for several weeks before assessing whether they are working for you. Remember to look at long-term progress. You still may have bad days while improving overall. Everyone has bad days from time to time. The goal is to begin having more good days than bad.
Just in time, I need it. Thanks for sharing…;)
We all do from time to time. Thank you for commenting.
Your welcome Kristin. I find your blog truly inspiring. 😉
I love Tony Robbins take on this – physiology! If we change our physiology (how we’re standing, are we looking up or down, arms folded or relaxed by our sides etc.) we can actually effect our mood. Positively OR negatively. Apparently our bodies feed back to our brains as to what mood we’re in. When we smile we actually cause oxytocin to be released which makes us feel good. 🙂
Absolutely. I love reading the research on this and find it fascinating. It appears we have a lot more control over our mood than many people realize and can actually retrain our brain. Thank you for your comments, Stuart.
Great points to put up for public read, Kristin. I just finished a course on getting better together, and these are very similar highlights. Depression is a necessay discussion one needs to hold with their family and friends, so that together the steps can be taken to slowly lift the curtain. Thank you for sharing.
I agree with what you have said. Thank you for commenting, Liz.
Awesome list! I agree with every one of them. Great post!
Thank you.
Great advice, Kristin. Thanks.
Thank you for reading and commenting, Anneli.
As someone who has successfully overcome chronic depression, I can attest to each of these practices. Thank you for your blog; it is very necessary. Continued success 🙂
Thank you for commenting and following my blog. I am glad that you find it helpful.
Thank you for these very insightful tips. It’s so true, there are a plethora of things we can do to ease the blues… and hopefully our society at large is moving away from the pill craze and into a more holistic approach to treating the natural ups and downs of life.
Currie Rose, thank you for commenting. I, too, hope that we are moving to a more holistic approach. It is so important!
These are excellent methods for generating contentment for anyone and everyone, glad you shared them…
Celeste
Celeste, Thank you so much for reading and commenting.
Good post. I like the advice to not attempt perfection and that it takes time. We need to let ourselves off the hook a bit more. I wish there wasn’t such a stigma for being depressed. It seems like a natural part of life.
I have been depressed several times in my life. I used to think there was something wrong with me and that I should never admit to being depressed. I clearly remember being scared that if people knew I was depressed they wouldn’t like me. My last depression came about after my best friend died, I broke my ankle and was working at a job where trauma walked through the door constantly.
I haven’t been depressed since I quit my job and wrote my book last autumn. I know that is because I am finally following my passions, not freaking out over every failure or bad day and not working at a stressful job. I can do this because I finally realized that how things turn out is up to me and only me. I have to take the actions to make life work out and imperfections are not the end of the world. I have had a few bad days sure, but nothing like before.
I agree with a lot of what you have said. We are not suppose to be happy all the time. It is not natural. Also grieving is a process and being depressed is part of the process. It is only when you get stuck having more bad days than not for a really long time and the depression begins to really impair your functioning that you may need to seek help. Depression happens to most people at one time or another. It is the degree of impairment and length of time that matters. Thank you so much for your comments. Education removes the stigma. Before people judge, I wish that they would learn the facts.
Thanks. I don’t feel ashamed admitting to being depressed anymore. I hope that when I share it makes another person not feel the stigma that depression makes you a bad person.
I hope so too! Thank you so much for your helpful comments.
You’re welcome. Thanks for the opportunity to share.
Reblogged this on Life in Harmony and Balance and commented:
Living a life in Balance and Harmony is about accepting that days are better than others. While I am aiming at living my life joyfully & peacefully, there are some days when sadness, unhappiness, anxiety…are overwhelming me. Here is an amazing post by Kristin Barton Cuthriell, author of let Life In Practices that I would like to share with you. I Love this post and want to thanks Kristin for sharing.
It may take a while to try these steps but I will do what it takes to understand each one and fit them into my life. It makes such simple sense, but the persistence to do it is one of my drawbacks in life. Don’t give up on me. I won’t give up on myself. I am learning one day at a time. Thank you.
Thank you! Learning one day at a time is what it is all about. Keep up the good work!
Thank you for mentioning my post in your blog. I really enjoyed reading your post. My research and clinical experience has led me to view the treatment of depression holistically with exercise being a crucial ingredient. I really look forward to seeing where your research takes you. In your post, you bring up some relevant questions.
Thank you for the pingback. I enjoy reading your articles as you educate the public about mental health and our field, as a profession. My clients and I work very hard to identify the source of their symptoms and to change faulty beliefs and assumptions that have interferred with optimal functioning. Many learn how to better regulate emotions, tolerate distress, and improve interpersonal relationships. I agree with you; this is not simply a talk show. Thanks
Too many people overlook the positive effects of regular exercise on mood. Thanks