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Module 2: Behavioural Strategies for Managing Depression
•Psychotherapy•Research•Training
planning things to do for yourself, it is important to remember to include a mixture of activities, adding those
that have the potential to give you other positive feelings. An example of this is paying off money on your
credit
card, doing the ironing, or doing the shopping. Doing these things can help you feel more in control of
your life
(e.g., paying off your debts) and give you satisfaction that you have started doing something (e.g.,
catching up on
household chores). Doing tasks that give you a sense of achievement or mastery will help you
feel like you are
starting to get back on top of things again. Some activities may combine the two. For
example, making your bed
may give you a sense of pleasure at having a neat, tidy bed, but it may also give you
a sense of achievement at
having done something to improve your home environment. This sense of
achievement is just as important as
getting pleasure out of something, and may indeed prompt you to do
more.
Start Simple
Even though there are a number of advantages in increasing your activity level, it may not be easy
to
get started. Often, this is because when you are depressed, you think negative thoughts such
as “I
won’t enjoy doing this,” or “It’s too hard,” or “I’ll probably fail at this too.” These thoughts
may
stop you from getting started. Often the big mistake people make is trying to do too much
too
soon.
When you are depressed, things that you usually don’t even have to think about doing (when you are not
depressed) can seem to require a huge amount of effort. The idea is to start with small easy steps and begin
with
things that you can do. Think of it in terms of training for a sports event.
If you hadn’t been doing any running for 6 months, would you try and run a marathon without doing any
training?
Of course not! You would go on a training programme that starts out within your present
capabilities, and then
slowly build up your fitness and endurance. Similarly, when you are depressed, it is
unreasonable to expect
yourself to be able to jump out of bed and clean the house before going out to meet
a friend for a late lunch. If
you set your goals too high, you might end up not doing them, become
disappointed in yourself, and feel worse
than ever. Instead, plan to do things that are achievable at your
current level of functioning. Start with small
steps and slowly build yourself up to the large tasks that seem
unmanageable right now. For example, aim to get
out of bed for 10 minutes, then slowly build up the amount
of time you are out of bed for. Don’t try to clean
the whole kitchen – just aim to do the dishes. If t
his is too
much, just stack all the dirty dishes in a pile. Aim to
get one bench top clean, or just wash 5 plates. Any task
can be broken down into smaller and smaller steps until
you find something achievable.
Sometimes it is easier to aim to do a task for a set period of time rather than trying to achieve a set amount.
Read a book for 5 minutes rather than reading a whole chapter. Say you will spend 10 minutes weeding the
garden rather than aiming to weed a certain area. In this way, it will be easier for you to achieve your goal. In
the beginning, the important thing is not what you do or how much you do, but simply the fact that you are
DOING. Remember that action is the first step, not motivation, and you‘ll soon find yourself feeling better!
On the next page is a Fun Activities Catalogue. There are 365 activities listed in this catalogue. Choose two
or
three from the list to do in the coming week. Remember to include one or two achievement-type tasks to
your
schedule as well. Use the worksheet on page 7 to plan ahead which activity you will do, when you will
do it
(date), and then rate your depression, pleasant feelings, and sense of achievement BEFORE and AFTER
the
activity. Take this as an experiment to evaluate your mood before and after doing an activity. See if this
helps in
lifting your mood.
On page 8 is a Weekly Activity Schedule. You could use this worksheet to plan your schedule for
a
week. Try including a few tasks you need to tackle or some errands that you need to run, and
remember to add in some fun activities as well.
