This video focusses on how to increase our motivation when feeling low using a technique entitled behavioural activation. Avoiding and withdrawing are common symptoms of depression as you may find it difficult to carry out everyday activities.

In this video, we talk to you about a way to improve your mood by challenging unhelpful thinking. Challenging unhelpful thinking is an evidence-based approach to improving low mood or anxiety. It works by identifying negative or unhelpful thoughts and gathering evidence as to the accuracy of the thought. This evidence then helps us to develop a more realistic and helpful thought.

Learning about how to be more active is one way of helping to improve your mood and manage worry. There are many benefits for being active and it can give you a sense of taking control of your life and make you feel more confident. Focusing on the things that we’re supposed to be doing or the things that we enjoy can give us a sense of pleasure or achievement. Doing nothing can make you feel lethargic and tired and this can contribute to depression. Being active helps to reduce worrying or dwelling on negative thoughts. In this video we discuss the different types of activity and the benefits of being active.

Setting goals can help us to work towards change in line with our values which can often seem overwhelming. One way of achieving this is to set ourselves SMART Goals. Goals can apply to different areas of our lives. Setting goals can help us to manage our well-being, sometimes we can have long-term goals such as booking a holiday or changing our career. Often to achieve these goals we need to set smaller goals such as writing a CV or booking a visit to the travel agent. Watch our video to find out more about what SMART Goals are and how setting them up can help with your well-being.

Problem Solving has six steps. It is important to work through one step at a time, only move on to the next step of Problem Solving once you are comfortable with using the previous step. It is key to follow all six steps of Problem Solving in sequence.

This workbook can be used either alone or with the support of your Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner.

TalkPlus guides, workbooks and informational leaflets have been created to provide you with the resources and information you need to help with your mental wellbeing at any time or day that suits you. You may have been directed to this page by your therapist or you may have found this website via a search engine. Whichever it is, we hope you find these documents informative and helpful.

Behavioural Activation is an evidence based coping technique for the treatment of low mood or depression, recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE, 2009). You may find this workbook helpful if you have noticed your low mood or depression has stopped you from doing your usual activities, such as the things you normally enjoy. This workbook can be used either alone or with the support of your Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner.