Depression is one of the most commonly reported mental health challenges. The need for coping skills to help manage depressive spikes, as well as chronic depression, remains important whether you are in treatment for depression or not.  There are many skills that can help battle depression that use multiple methods.  However, depression is also one of the most debilitating mental health challenges, as it is effective at significantly reducing motivation across many areas of life. This can include activities and/or hobbies that you once enjoyed and took pride in.  This lack of motivation can also lead to a feeling of helplessness when you have the opportunity to use coping skills and other interventions.  Many strategies for this include using behavioral change to help facilitate mood and thought changes.  Others use cognitive approaches to help build a more factual perception of one’s self and the world.  Whether you seek out supportive relationships, get back into jogging again, or reflect on the steps needed to go back to school and get that degree you want, all of these steps require a version of movement.  Depression is easily reinforced by stagnation therefore movement is one of the strongest tools in your toolbox. The different versions of movement are broken down as follows:

• Physical Movement– Your body is built to reward you for physical exercise and this reward can be used to regulate depressive moods.  Additionally, whether it is a walk around the block, relaxing with yoga poses, or finally training for that marathon you always wanted to run, physical movement has immediate gratification for completing the action and can quickly inspire a sense of accomplishment.

• Locational Movement– This movement refers to a change in environment and allowing different scenery to inspire different moods.  This can look like coming out of a room in which you may have been isolating from others, going outside to a scenic park, taking a rejuvenating trip that is within your means, or moving to a new living arrangement that evokes a more desirable mood. These changes are more involved and should not be done impulsively, however, reactions to new environments can help reduce fixations on depressive triggers and inspire hopefulness.

• Situational Movement– This movement refers to making progress in a goal you find important.  This may include signing up for classes, starting a YouTube channel, researching the steps to start a small online business, or anything that you may have wanted to achieve at least in part, in your life. These steps toward a goal help in building meaningful work and play activities.  Even if depression makes it difficult to enjoy these steps, these steps accumulate in their effectiveness over time.

• Cognitive Movement– This movement refers to allowing your thoughts and perceptions of yourself, your future, and the world around you to be able to move, evolve, and remain “unstuck”.  Depression loves itself and will build thought habits that reinforce depression.  These cognitions need to be able to keep developing and allowing more facts to inform them. This helps to break habits of hopelessness and related thought distortions.

• Emotional Movement– This movement includes efforts toward a more desirable mood state.  This movement can look like pursuing a support group, nurturing a trusted relationship, opening up to a therapeutic provider, or any other effort that results in a feeling of validated peace.  This can be done independently, as well with mindfulness and meditation, and/or self-soothing experiences like using oil diffusers or other soothing sensory techniques.

These are not the only means by which one can battle their depression and I would urge anyone fighting that battle to seek what help they are comfortable with seeking.  While doing so, be sure to remind yourself of the “movements” you wish to be making and don’t allow depression to get you “stuck”.

For further support and assistance getting “unstuck”, click here.