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How to engage with life when you feel down | Psyche Guides
The Depression Cycle
Depression can be distilled down into a problematic cycle due to reduced activity and low mood: when there is less activity, the person becomes withdrawn or isolated, and new opportunities become less likely, leading to a downward spiral.
Prolonged isolation and inactivity make previously enjoyable activities challenging or unappealing, making people withdraw further.
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Action has the power to improve our low mood
We normally think our mind makes our body get into action, but the reverse is also true: Action has the power to improve our low mood.
When one is down in the dumps, even simple chores need a lot of effort. The ongoing global crisis has had many activities that one enjoys to be indefinitely cancelled, leading to withdrawal.
The Depression Cycle
Depression can be distilled down into a problematic cycle due to reduced activity and low mood: when there is less activity, the person becomes withdrawn or isolated, and new opportunities become less likely, leading to a downward spiral.
Prolonged isolation and inactivity make previously enjoyable activities challenging or unappealing, making people withdraw further.
Behavioural Activation
The Behavioral Theory states that positive reinforcement acts as oxygen for the body/mind/soul, and makes the person break the cycle of negativity and depression.
The depression cycle of inactivity can be broken by Behavioural Activation which is an effective depression therapy in psychology. The depressed people are made to engage in activities they have stopped doing or are reluctant to do now.
Behavioral Activation Action Mode
- Ensure variety in the activities, and strike a balance between pleasurable, routine and necessary ones.
- Avoid prolonged inactivity periods and remember that challenging activities provide a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction, boosting one’s mood.
- Carry out the activities even if you don’t feel like it, and let the body cure the mind.
- Do self-evaluation on a daily basis and be patient with yourself.
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Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT)
It's one of the most widely used and well-known talking therapies. It is based on the assumption that the way a person feels is closely related to the way a person thinks and the way they behave.
To change a person’s feelings, a psychologist providing CBT will help that person engage in different activities that can help to change thinking and behaviour patterns.
Acceptance&commitment therapy (ACT)
ACT targets a person’s tendency to avoid things.
- It introduces the idea of achieving a state of mind where people are able to notice the problematic thoughts, feelings, or behaviours but not be overwhelmed or consumed by them (the “acceptance” part.)
- It encourages people to identify values that are important to them and figure out ways their day-to-day life can reflect these values (the commitment part).
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Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)
The goal of ACT is not necessarily to reduce one's problematic thoughts and emotions. It is to help people effectively function while they are distressed and to promote more flexible and value-driven behaviors.
In other words, the primary goal is to promote 'valued living.'
Valued living
Valued living is going about your daily life in the service of values you find important. Engaging in these actions creates a sense of meaning and purpose.
The symptoms of psychological suffering are problematic when they are linked to behaviors that draw us away from valued living.
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When You Don't Know What's Wrong
Solving a problem is very difficult when its cause is hard to trace. You can’t isolate the trouble the same way you would dunk a leaky inner tube into a bathtub to see where the bubbles come out, for example.
What you can do is try to focus on better inputs: i.e, if you're struggling because of the pandemic and its social and health consequences, try pouring more vegetables, books, and exercise into the front end of the system, while reducing the intake of sugar, Netflix, and news.
Feel-good activities
There are 2 types of feel-better activities:
- Those that immediately improve your mood, but often at the expense of overall well-being. Easy to start doing, and often hard to stop, they tend not to have long-term rewards.
- Those are activities that improve your well-being, and your mood too, but usually not right away. You never regret these activities and they take effort.