Feeling low, and wondering what on earth
you can do to get your groove back?
Check out Pleasant Activity Scheduling, a simple method that injects the
fun back into your day.
One of the signs of being depressed is that
you lose your sense of enjoyment. If
you love tennis and lunch, depression can make tennis seem a waste of time and
lunch seem unappetising.
As a result, you stop playing tennis, stop
going for lunch, and before you know it, you’re becoming less active and more
isolated.
Whether you choose to take antidepressants,go for therapy or both, one simple activity you can do by yourself is Pleasant
Activity Scheduling. As the name suggests, this involves you getting out your
diary and adding fun To Dos into your schedule.
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| Spending time with Target, my cat pal, is always fun |
For example:
·
On Monday I have lunch with a
friend.
·
On Tuesday night I play
badminton.
·
On Wednesday night I phone an old
school friend.
·
On Thursday night I eat ice-cream
while watching a film.
·
On Friday I pack a lunch and read a
novel.
·
On Saturday afternoon I cook lunch for
friends.
·
On Sunday I go for a walk in the park.
If it’s part of therapy, I will help you
figure out what kind of activities will work best for you and when to time
them. To make the most of this when you're depressed, there
are a few variables that have to be considered in each case.
This short post is
not the place to describe them but the journal paper behavioral activation treatments of depression: A meta-analysis offers a nice simple overview.
You don’t have to be depressed or in
therapy to take advantage of this technique. Just doing this as a stand-alone
is a simple, effective practice for self-care.
It can’t harm you, either so it’s perfectly safe.
In fact, I recommend Pleasant Activity
Scheduling routinely because so many of us find it hard to achieve a decent
work-life balance. With the pressures of work and family, our own happiness
often takes a back seat.
So if you find that most of your schedule
involves duties (going to the dentist, picking up dry-cleaning, paying bills)
then it’s only sensible to balance those stresses with some self-care.
Finally, if you’re a parent, make it a
family exercise. It’s especially useful for kids who are burning out due
endless cycles of school, tuition and exams.
