Introduction to Depression
What is depression? Feeling low is a common feeling for most of us at some point in our lives.
It can come out of the blue or it may be triggered by a stressful time such as illness, relationship or financial difficulties. At times depressed feelings can become a problem and start to impact on our lives. Severe depression is a serious problem that requires recognition and treatment.
Sometimes we may think of depression as low mood, feeling blue, feeling down. A lot of people may not think of themselves as depressed because they haven’t got a severe mental health illness such as bipolar or haven’t been hospitalised.
The level of depression we’re discussing in this presentation is when people are significantly impacted by low mood but not to the extreme of having a severe mental health illness.
Recognising or acknowledging that we have depression can be difficult.
Top Resources
LTC Prehab- Get Fit and Ready project
Behavioural Activation
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.
Challenging Unhelpful Thinking
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.