146 - Friday Fix: What to Put in Your Calendar to Reduce Depression

The Verywell Mind Podcast

Dotdash Media Inc.

Health & Fitness, Self-improvement, Mental Health, Education

5 • 703 Ratings

🗓️ 25 February 2022

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Depression is complicated but some of the treatments can be simple. That doesn’t mean following through with these treatments is easy–battling depression is a tough job. But it does mean that a few lifestyle changes can sometimes make a big difference to someone who is living with depression. On today’s Friday Fix episode, I share how therapists often help people battle depression with behavioral therapy. Changing a few things in your calendar could reduce your depression. So today, I’m sharing what those things are and how they could help. And the best news is, it’s something you can try right away. You can put it into practice today and see if it works for you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Very Well Mind podcast. We've interviewed over 100 authors, experts, entrepreneurs, athletes, musicians, and others to help you learn strategies to care for your mental health.
0:22.9	This episode is hosted by psychotherapist and bestselling author Amy Morin. Now let's get into the episode.
0:48.0	Okay. You're listening to the Friday fix. I've talked before about the importance of scheduling something fun so that you have something to look forward to. This is a skill that in the
0:52.9	therapy office we call pleasant activity scheduling.
0:56.5	Essentially, it's just about putting something on your calendar that you enjoy. It could be something
1:01.3	simple, like I'm going to watch a TV show on Friday night at 8 p.m. even if you plan to watch it
1:06.4	alone. Or it might be something bigger, like I'm going to meet up with some friends that I haven't
1:10.5	seen in a long time for a weekend trip. Scheduling fun things is a good habit to get into. You boost
1:16.9	your mood by having something to look forward to. And by putting it in your calendar, you increase
1:21.4	the chances that you'll actually do it. Because too often, those fun things that we plan to do
1:26.3	just get pushed so far down on our priority
1:28.3	list that we never get to do them. But what about when you don't feel like doing anything? Depression can
1:34.3	often be the culprit and it makes it hard to plan those fun things for ourselves. In fact, if you're
1:40.6	feeling depressed, you might not feel like putting anything on your calendar at all because nothing sounds fun. Spending time with your friends might sound like it's too
1:48.3	exhausting when you're feeling low. That's one of the problems with depression. It creates
1:53.0	this vicious downward spiral. It zaps your desire to do things that are good for you,
1:58.2	like exercising, spending time with people, or doing the
2:01.5	hobbies that you normally love. Depression also sucks the energy out of you, so you might feel
2:06.7	too tired to do most things. Then the less you do, the worse you feel. And the worse you feel,
2:12.1	the less you do. I meet with a lot of people in my therapy office who sometimes feel like they want to do things, at least at first.
2:19.4	They might agree to hang out with friends or they might plan to visit the beach.
2:23.0	But when the time comes, they just don't feel like they can do it.
	...

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