The Hidden Weapon Against Depression: Behavioral Activation Explained

Depression is a complex mental health condition

that can affect multiple aspects of your life,

including your thoughts, feelings, behaviors,

and physical wellbeing.

When you're depressed,

you tend to disengage from your usual routines

and withdraw from your environment.

When you do this, you don't get the psychological reward

from pleasurable activities,

and this creates a feedback loop

that perpetuates more depression.

A very effective intervention that is often underutilized

is behavioral activation.

That's what I'm talking about today.

I'm Dr. Tracey Marks, a psychiatrist,

and I make mental health education videos.

First, let me explain a little more

about the cycle of depression

and how it leads to the inactivity

that makes your depression worse.

A single depressive episode

can be triggered by many different factors:

loss, trauma, prolonged stress,

or a genetic predisposition and no identifiable trigger.

Once depression sets in,

you can experience persistent negative thoughts,

like, "I'm worthless," "No one cares about me,"

and feelings of sadness, hopelessness,

and a lack of pleasure in things

that you previously enjoyed.

Also, another thing that can happen when you get depressed

is even the smallest things feel really hard

and you have no motivation

to exert the energy that you don't have

to do these hard things.

Then because of these negative thoughts and feelings,

you withdraw from social situations,

avoid responsibilities, and neglect hobbies and interests.

This leads to less involvement in activities