What to Do When You’re Feeling Depressed
Depression symptoms like low energy, lack of motivation, and not getting enjoyment from your usual hobbies can be challenging to overcome. On days where these feelings are the strongest it may feel like you’ll never feel happiness, or even okay, again. Worse still, when we are feeling this down, it can feel especially hard to do the things that you know might make you feel better. But there’s good news! Depression symptoms can be treated and there is a strong base of evidence for what to do when you’re feeling depressed to start feeling better.
Behavioral Activation
Behavioral activation is the term used by mental health professionals to describe interventions that challenge the cycle of depression in which low mood leads to lack of engagement with enjoyable activities which leads to even lower mood. Behavioral activation strategies focus on identifying concrete actions that break the depression symptom cycle and help to inspire feelings of accomplishment, joy, or connectedness with others.
Whether you have an official depression diagnosis, or if you’ve just been noticing your mood has been lower than usual, read below to find three behavioral activation strategies that may work for you. Remember to personalize any of these suggestions to meet your needs, preferences, and lifestyle!
Talk to a Friend
Social connection is one of the most consistently cited contributors to positive mental and physical health.[1] This likely won’t come as a surprise to anyone who has felt comforted by a loved one or had a friend who could make you laugh even during stressful times. For all of human history, social ties have helped people to navigate the big and small challenges of life. When you’re feeling depressed, connecting with a loved one (friend or family), can help to reaffirm our sense of connection to our community and disrupt the depression cycle.
Connection doesn’t just have to look like crying on your friend’s shoulder (although that is incredibly helpful too!). It can be talking to a friend about a shared interest or checking in on your mom’s new garden. Just the act of speaking with and sharing time with another person can have major benefits for your mood, even if you never end up talking about the feelings themselves. If you are feeling able to talk about your emotions, sharing feelings with someone you trust (even if it is scary at first), is a powerful way to break the depression cycle. You might often notice that once you say the thoughts out loud, they feel way less strong than they did when they were alone in your mind.
Important note: you may try to use AI for social support; however, proceed with caution. Many people are talking to AI bots to try and meet social needs, and there may be some benefits to this during times of incredible isolation. On the other hand, real connection with another human, even if it is a virtual conversation, is uniquely beneficial. It may be easier to be vulnerable with a chatbot, but the vulnerability of reaching out to someone for support or conversation is a fundamental part of what makes social connection so invaluable. (If you are finding yourself in need of new social connections, keep an eye out for a future blog post about making new friends!)
In Summary: talk to someone you trust, someone who makes you laugh, or someone who shares your interests. Talk about what you’re feeling or talk about things that you’re passionate about. Talk about sports, talk about the weather, talk about movies, music, or T.V. shows. It doesn’t really matter what you talk about, as long as you're connecting with someone who matters to you.
Go Outside
It may seem simple, but spending time in nature has major benefits for our mental health and cognitive functioning. [2] Many of us spend most of our days indoors looking at screens. While screentime is an almost inevitable part of our lives, constant screen use can have major negative impacts on our mental health. Excessive screen time is associated with higher levels of depression and anxiety and decreased time socializing with others. [2] Additionally, modern technology is designed to keep us constantly engaged without fully attending to anything- you probably know the struggle of trying to sit down and focus on something while your phone, watch, and computer send unending notifications pulling your attention in a million directions.
A potent antidote to all of this tech time is spending time outdoors. When you are out in nature, and away from a screen, you reduce the physical strain of staring at technology (which often manifests as back pain or headaches [3]) while also receiving the benefits of the sights and sounds of nature. Research has repeatedly suggested that increased time spent outdoors or even looking at videos of nature can help reduce anxiety and depression levels and even help us act more kindly to one another. [3] So, if you’re finding that your mood is persistently low, try integrating regular time outside into your routine. This could be a walk in your neighborhood or in your park, or even just sitting in an outside space and reading a book. Just getting outside and seeing the sky and natural life around you can have major benefits for your well-being!
Important note: When you take your time outdoors, try not to go on your phone! It can be challenging since for many of us- our first instinct when we have free time is to go onto social media or check messages and email. To receive the full benefits of time in nature, try to limit or avoid screen time entirely. Put your phone on “do not disturb”, bring a physical book or journal, and allow yourself to take in the sights and sounds of the natural world that surrounds us.
In Summary:go outside, take a walk in nature, or sit on a bench at a park. Try not to go on your phone. Try to listen to the sounds of the world around you, notice the color of the sky, of the trees, and plants in your area. Feel the wind or sun on your face. You don’t have to do anything but be to receive the benefits of the natural world.
Mindful Movement
Connected to the previous point, with the demanding schedules of work or school, we can often spend a whole day sitting in one spot. Or some of us may have rigid and intense work-out schedules that may feel more like another thing on the “to do” list rather than something we actually enjoy. If either of these sounds like you, a relationship to movement that is either not enough or too intense can contribute to feelings of depression and low mood. [4][5][6] Instituting mindful movement into your daily routine can have major mental health benefits as well as benefits for your long-term physical health.
Mindful movement is movement that takes into account what feels good for your body and current fitness level. What it doesn’t look like: signing up for a gym membership even though you hate working out indoors, going to a super intense workout class that you dread and feel miserable while you’re doing it, forcing yourself to stick to a 7 day a week workout routine. What it does look like: thinking about the last time you enjoyed movement (often we have to think back to when we were kids to remember what this was) and engaging in activities that move our body and bring us joy.
Important note: mindful movement entails a wide range of activities! Things that count as mindful movement include: dancing to your favorite album, going on a casual walk, playing tag with your kids, stretching when you wake up or before bed. If you used to love organized sports as a child, try joining a local rec league (and get the added benefit of connecting with people while you move!). As long as you are moving your body and enjoying it, you’re doing mindful movement!
In Summary: Identify a form of movement that you have always enjoyed and integrate it into your weekly routine. Remind yourself that movement does not have to leave you breathless and soaked in sweat for it to have major mental and physical health benefits. Listen to what feels good to your body and do that!
Conclusion
I know how frustrating it can be to hear “just DO something” in response to feeling depressed. That’s why it’s important to allow yourself to start small and slow. If your goal is to start walking in your neighborhood (for movement and nature benefits), you can start by putting on sneakers and standing outside your front door for five minutes. If that’s all you have energy for, great! You’ve taken a huge step forward! If after five minutes, you find yourself feeling able to walk, or even able to stay outside another five minutes, do that. Behavioral activation is made up of small consistent decisions to challenge the low mood cycle that sustains depression. Any step is a good one and something to be proud of!
If you find that your depression symptoms persist for longer than two weeks, last most of every day, and impact major parts of your life like sleep, appetite, relationships, school, or work, then it may be time to reach out for professional help. A professional therapist can help you to dig more deeply into the factors that may be contributing to your depression and work with your specific concerns to help you find lasting relief. Reach out today for personalized and evidence based care!
References:
[1] https://www.who.int/news/item/30-06-2025-social-connection-linked-to-improved-heath-and-reduced-risk-of-early-death
[2] https://www.apa.org/monitor/2020/04/nurtured-nature
[3] https://acp-mn.com/about-acp/blog/mental-and-physical-health-benefits-of-reducing-screen-time
[4] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8535876/
[5] https://www.columbiapsychiatry.org/news/when-exercise-becomes-too-much-good-thing
