Self-Management of Depression

We all have a list of "shoulds" that we consistently push to tomorrow. You should fold that mountain of laundry. You should hit the gym. You should finally tackle your monthly expense reports. But when the time comes to actually do them, your brain clamors for something else: an episode of your favorite reality show, a specialty iced latte, or a deep dive into a new podcast. What if you didn't have to choose between productivity and pleasure? Enter temptation bundling , a brilliant behavioral science hack that lets you indulge your guilty pleasures guilt-free while simultaneously crushing your goals. What is Temptation Bundling? Coined by Wharton School behavioral scientist Dr. Katy Milkman, temptation bundling is the practice of pairing an instantly gratifying "want" activity with a delayed-reward "should" behavior (Milkman et al., 2014). The golden rule is strict: you are only allowed to experience the temptation while you are perfor...

  Put simply, values are our heart’s deepest desires for the way we want to interact with the world, other people, and ourselves. They are what we want to stand for in life, how we want to behave, what sort of person we want to be, and what sort of strengths and qualities we want to develop (Harris, 2009). Values are subjective; what one may consider as a value (e.g., being famous) may be considered as being cocky by another person. Compared to thoughts and behaviors, values provide a far more stable compass to motivate you to achieve your goals, even when faced with personal adversity (Hayes et al., 2012). An exercise that may help you clarify your values and find meaning in life is to imagine that you are eighty years old, and you are looking back on your life. Then finish the following sentences (Harris, 2008): I spent too much time worrying about… I spent too little time doing things such as… If I could go back in time, then what I would do differently from today onwards is… Th...

Have you ever been so engaged in an activity that you lost touch with your surroundings and felt intense joy and satisfaction after the activity was over? Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes this experience of highest satisfaction as being in a state of “flow” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Csikszentmihalyi, 1999). According to him, an individual in a state of flow- Exactly knows what they have to do moment by moment, either because the activity requires it, or because clear goals are set at every step of the way. Gets immediate feedback on their performance either from the activity itself or from their internalized standards. Feels that the activity matches with their skill set, it being neither too hard and nor too easy so as not to lead to anxiety or boredom, respectively. Athletes, painters, and other creative people have described this state as an ecstatic feeling or a feeling of contentment. The person in a state of flow pays undivided attention to the task at hand to the ex...

We have all faced the modern-day malady of analysis paralysis. We think and plan, but when it comes to putting the plan into action, analysis paralysis creeps in and prevents us from executing the plan. This then leads to a sense of failure, triggering mental exhaustion leading to more analysis paralysis - a vicious cycle. One of the core symptoms of burnout is mental exhaustion and a key driver of this is, of course, analysis paralysis.   So, what happens in analysis paralysis? Here are some common attributes of this state of mind: You work on solutions to a problem but are overwhelmed by the available options. You feel you don’t have the “perfect” solution to a problem. You are afraid of picking up the “wrong” solution. You overthink about the possible solutions and believe that the problem is too complicated. You are afraid that you don’t have all the facts to make a decision. You may never have all the facts and the...

                                SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. SWOT analysis is a tool businesses and organizations use for strategic planning. The tool serves as a guide for organizations to leverage their strengths, address their weaknesses, explore external opportunities, and protect themselves from external threats. You can use the same tool to strategize your life goals and treatment goals. This tool will enable you to appraise your positive and negative attributes regarding a particular goal or situation, assess the impact of external factors on that goal or situation, and guide you in making rational choices based on this analysis. SWOT is described below: Strengths: These are the tangible or intangible internal positive attributes you can control. In addition to your character strengths, your strengths include your knowledge, skills, abili...

Change is not easy, especially when trying to break bad habits or desiring to keep the good ones going beyond a few days. Most people blame this on a lack of motivation. Researchers have written at length about types of motivation, such as intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, but most of these discussions fall short of offering realistic ways to boost motivation. In this context,  DARN offers a simple yet practical tool for increasing motivation to change.  DARN  is an acronym for Desire , Ability , Reasons , and Need . These represent four types of self-talk that people contemplating change engage in (Miller & Rollnick, 2013). Use this approach to ask yourself evocative questions that tap into your intrinsic motivation.  Desire:   Desire is wanting something or wanting change. Examples include, “I want to exercise more” or “I would like to eat healthy.” Ask yourself the following questions to elicit your desire to change. What am I hoping to accompl...

Procrastination is putting off things for another day or doing things that are not productive as an excuse for not doing what is important.  Dr. Wayne Dyer (1995) ,  in his book  Your Erroneous Zones , provides the rationale behind procrastination as a thought process, which is something like this: “I know I must do that, but I am really afraid that I might not do it well, or I won’t like it.  So, I will tell myself that I will do it in the future, then I don’t have to admit to myself that I am not going to do it. And it is easier to accept myself this way.” This temporary avoidance gives you quick relief from the anxiety associated with a task, which then reinforces this behavior. We all have procrastinated at one time or another. Still, in depression, procrastination becomes more complex due to the self-defeating attitudes of perfectionism (“I can do things only if I can do them perfectly”), hopelessness (“My low motivation and low energy levels are never going ...