Self Help

Module 3

Self Help First Steps

When depression gets a foothold in your life, it quickly takes hold in the
form of a series of mutually reinforcing habits. Depressed behaviour in
the form of avoidance and social withdrawal reinforces depressed
feelings and the lethargy that often accompanies depression. Whilst
not a substitute for professional help, the strategies discussed in this
module offer a starting point for doing what you can yourself to turn
this spiral around.

Contents

1. Taking Care of Myself 2

2. Focusing Outward 7

3. Getting Going 11

4. Finding What Works For Me 17

Page 1 of 21
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[Link] Care of
Myself
Self-neglect and having an uncaring attitude towards yourself are very
common results of stress or feeling low – and this in turn contributes to
further low mood and low self-worth.
Building a programme of self-caring habits can interrupt this vicious downward
spiral. Using constructive self-soothing strategies is a vital skill for dealing with
stress and other difficult feelings, like anxiety and anger.

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Page 2 of 21
1.1. My Self-Soothing Strategies

Read the ‘Taking care of yourself’ page and write down some ideas for your own
self-soothing strategies related to all of your senses:

Sense Examples My List of Things to Try

Sight/ Tidy room with plant and
surrounding soothing colours, pictures of
s friends or nature scenes, getting
out into nature, funny or light-
hearted TV/movies
Touch Pampering washing ritual,
stroking a pet, massage, hugs,
(self-respectful) sexual activity,
snuggling up in a warm duvet
Hearing Playlist of uplifting and/or
energetic music, sitting near the
sea/moving water, recordings of
natural sounds, meditation or
relaxation tapes, favourite radio
programmes, comedy, using
earplugs (if you are being
disturbed by unwanted noise)
Smell Having clean clothes and bed
linen, aromatherapy or incense
in your room, fresh flowers or
getting out to smell sea air or
other natural smells, choosing a
new deodorant/ perfume/
aftershave
Taste Try new tastes, cook healthy
tasty food instead of bland
processed food, treat yourself
with small amounts of dark
chocolate or ripe fruit or other
sweet tastes, savour your food/
eat mindfully

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1.2. Self-Care in the Mornings

First thing in the morning is often a particularly difficult time when your mood is
low. If you are finding it difficult to get out of bed in the morning then making
yourself a clear, self-caring plan for the first half hour of the day can help you
start the day as well as possible. Try to set yourself the target of getting up out
of bed within 10 minutes of waking up.
Example:
“When I wake up, I will get up straight away if I can, or else have the alarm set to
give myself one 10-minute snooze if I want one and then get up.
‘Straight after getting out of bed, I will put on the light or open the curtain and
take a few deep, relaxing breaths
‘Then I will prepare myself for the day in a self-caring way by having a shower
and getting dressed and eating something nutritious for breakfast
‘If I am finding this difficult to do, I will be kind to myself and recognise how hard
it is to do this when I am feeling so low. I will encourage myself to try anyway,
because I know it will make me feel better in the long run. If it is a particularly
difficult day I will let myself go back to bed for half an hour before trying again.”

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My morning plan:

When I wake up
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Straight after getting out of bed I will

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Then I will prepare myself for the day in a caring way by

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If I am finding this difficult to do I will

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1.3. Making a Soothing ‘Home Space’

Consider: Is your room a welcoming, comfortable place to be? Does it offer you a
soothing place to rest and re-charge, as well as an environment conducive to
study and concentration? Some aspects of this might be outside your control, but
what can you do to improve your home environment and make it a less
depressing place to be?
Write down five simple things you can do to make your room a more pleasant
environment in the form of a set of intentions.

My intention statement:

I will improve my home environment in the following ways:

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If this feels daunting, I will ask _________________________________________ to help

me.

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1.4. Next Steps

Build on these basic self-care strategies by reading the ‘Focusing outward’ and
‘Getting going’ pages, and planning how to tackle the lethargy and withdrawal of
depression by including more purposeful and enjoyable activities in your life step
by step.

[Link] Outward
The depression habit spiral narrows your perspective and works to keep
you looking inward. The more negatively introspective you become, the
firmer depression takes hold and the more you get sucked into
depressed thinking and tunnel vision.
Using purposeful distraction is a powerful way to resist this depressed
‘rumination’ habit. So, one way to choose useful activities for your list is to look
at how well they might distract you and engage your mind in something
purposeful or meaningful.

2.1. My ‘Focusing Outward’ Ideas

If you are feeling very low, then very simple distractions are all you need to aim
for – as long as they are reasonably constructive. You can build up towards more
meaningful ways to engage your time, energy and hope. Look at the suggestions
on the ‘Focusing outward’ page and make a list of activities that you can refer to
when you need ideas for something to distract you from depressive rumination.

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1. Three simple distractions I could use if I am feeling particularly low
Examples:
 watching a light-hearted TV show
 cooking myself a nice meal
 asking someone else to hang out or play a video game
 getting my washing done or tidying up my room

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2. Two ways/places I could regularly get myself outdoors, into natural

surroundings:
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3. Three ways I could continue to break isolation and distract myself through
contact with other people
Examples:
 making the effort to get out of my room and hang out when others are
watching TV or cooking a meal
 joining in with an activity at the SU or a club or society
 making contact with friends in other places via Facebook or texting
 doing a group exercise or yoga class
 perhaps even joining a ‘penpal’ scheme to make a new contact with
someone in a different country or setting

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4. One creative activity I could try as an outlet for my feelings: (

Examples:
 writing
 drawing
 making music
 model-making
 dancing
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5. One idea to aim for doing something useful in the wider world
Examples:
 getting/keeping a part-time job to earn money
 doing something for a friend
 volunteering for a charity or project

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6. One idea for how to use my uni/college work as a distraction

Examples:
 identify aspects of your subject or course that you might be able to enjoy
just immersing yourself in, rather than focusing on assessments
 finding out more about a specific topic you’re really interested in

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2.2. My Focusing Outward Plan

Choose one of the ideas you have listed above to plan to put into action this
week. Write an intention statement to help you make a clear, focused goal.

My focusing outward intention statement:

Example: “This week I will take a break and start filing the pile of papers (what)
on my desk (where) if I notice that I am feeling low and can’t concentrate on my
work (when). I will do that for 30 minutes and then get back to my work
(how/long).”

This week I will:

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(what)
__________________________________________________________________________ (when)
_________________________________________________________________________ (where)
______________________________________________________________________ (how/long)

2.3. Next Steps

Build on this strategy by reading the ‘Getting Going’ page and planning more
ways to increase purposeful and enjoyable activity in your life.

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3. Getting Going
Lethargy and lack of energy are classic warning signs for depression –
depression drains your motivation and reinforces the withdrawal from
daily activities and interests which in turn leads to isolation and loss of
purpose…

Activity (or the lack of it) has a direct effect on the brain chemicals affecting
mood, so one very effective way to turn this spiral around is to build simple, fun
or purposeful activities back into your daily schedule.
Don’t wait to ‘feel like it’! This worksheet will help you figure out the simplest,
most manageable way to ‘get going’ – giving you a very powerful strategy for
tackling depression and moving forward.

3.1. My Activity Record

The simple first step is to keep an activity record, so you have a clear picture of
how depression is depriving you of pleasurable activities. Use the Activity Record
page at the end of this worksheet to record what you are doing in each period of
the day, giving a rating for how enjoyable it was and a separate rating for your
sense of achievement.
The achievement rating needs to be based on your own personal sense of
achievement at this time – so if you’ve been finding it very hard to get out of bed
in the mornings and you manage to do this reasonably quickly on a given day,
then this should result in a relatively high sense of achievement. Remember, the
rating is not based on whether or not you feel this ‘should’ be an easy thing for
you to do!

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Don’t try to change anything yet – just observe what you do and how you feel for
regular intervals over the course of a day. You’ll get the most information if you
can do this for a whole week, but even one day is still beneficial.

3.2. Linking My Activity Levels and Mood

Once you have get the activity record for a few days, or up to a week if possible,
look back over your record and notice any patterns, and which activities had the
highest pleasure or achievement ratings. You should find that your mood is
generally slightly better when you have engaged in activities with higher
pleasure or achievement ratings.
Don’t dismiss this exercise if you don’t see a perfect correlation between
pleasure/achievement and mood. This is just one of the complex factors that
affects your mood, so it can’t be as simplistic as suggesting that if you just do
fun stuff you’ll feel fine! However, you might be pleasantly surprised to see how
much difference it can sometimes make…
Note down the activities which did seem to give a small mood boost and add a
few more ideas to the list of simple activities that you think might have this
effect if you try them out:
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Look back at the ideas you have had for ‘Taking care of yourself’ and ‘Focusing
outward’ – purposeful, self-caring activities are likely to be particularly effective
in lifting your mood.

3.3. My Realistic Goals For Increasing Activity In My Life

Now use the Activity Planner at the end of the worksheet to plan activities for the
week ahead. Start with putting in one simple activity for each day, at an
appropriate time. Balance fun things with tasks that will give you a sense of
achievement and getting things done. Keep it simple and be realistic – don’t set
yourself up for failure by giving yourself too many goals at once.
Give yourself a clear goal for how you will introduce the activities and how you
will support yourself in sticking to your plan. Setting a rule that you will ‘have a
go’ for a minimum time before you give up is a good way to motivate yourself
and give yourself a sense of achievement. You may already have some useful
intention statements planned from the ‘Taking care of myself’ and ‘Focusing
outward’ worksheets.

Example:
“I have set myself one fun activity and one achievement activity for each day
this week.
‘My achievement activities are:
 My achievement activity on most days is to get up out of bed when I first
wake up, do some deep breathing exercises and to get dressed within 15
minutes of waking up.
 I am also aiming to change my bed linen on Monday, and get my washing
done on Thursday.

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‘My fun activity is different on most days including:

  going for a coffee with Tom on Monday
 walking round the block with my ‘feelgood’ music on after lectures on
Tuesday, Thursday and Friday
 phoning for a catch up with Sarah (which is also an achievement) on
Wednesday
 playing with dog on Saturday when I go home
 then I have filled the activities in on my activity schedule to give myself a
rough time period for when I will do this each day, but it is okay to do it
later if I don’t make it when I planned to.
 I will do each activity for at least 5 minutes and after that I can give up if I
want to – and it will still count as an achievement.”

You can use the activity record sheet each day to rate your pleasure,
achievement and mood as before. Keep notes to help you modify your activities
if you notice anything that makes a particular difference.

3.4. Next Steps

Once you have successfully introduced more fun and achievement into your life,
in simple ways, you can build on and consolidate this powerful strategy with
other sections and worksheets:
 Use the ‘Healthier daily routines’ section to monitor and improve on your
daily routines for sleep, eating, exercise, relaxation and socialising.
‘Increasing exercise’ is a particularly effective strategy against
depression.
 Use the ‘Changing attitudes’ section to identify and challenge depressed
thinking habits that may be preventing you from making the most of your
activity goals, and improve your motivation for self-caring activities by
learning greater self-compassion.
 Use the ‘Living well’ section to introduce further life skills such as
mindfulness, assertiveness and emotional literacy, and provide yourself
with a powerful compass for the way forward by identifying your life
values.
Mood Rating (1-10)
Sunday Time: What was I doing? Pleasure rating (1- Achievement Rating (1-
10) 10)
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Activity Record
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00.00
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07.00
 Time: Monday Tuesday Wednesda Thursday Friday Saturday
y
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09.00
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Activity Planner
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07.00
 4. Finding What
Works For Me

Every person is affected by depression differently, so some strategies

will work better than others for each individual person. You can use the
‘spiral’ nature of depression in your favour – making even very small
changes in your behaviour can have a big impact in turning the
downward spiral around!
This worksheet helps you build on any steps you have taken so far and continue
to tackle the depression affecting your life. It is important to plan small steps at
first, and to take things slowly.
If you are moderately to severely affected by depression, and especially if you
feel you are at risk of harming yourself in any way, then the most important first
steps are to act quickly to get professional support from a doctor or counsellor,
and start building a wider support network. See the ‘Get Support’ section for
more information.

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4.1. One Small Thing

Thinking about how depression is affecting my daily life at the moment, what is a
small change I can make that might make a difference to how things feel?
A few quick examples to help you:
 getting outside into the fresh air once a day
 telling someone else how you are feeling
 getting an attractive poster or plant for your room
 planning to get up and eat breakfast every morning

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4.2. What I’ve Tried So Far

What strategies, if any, have you already tried to help you tackle your
depression? If you had a previous episode of depression then what do you think
was helpful to you in moving on beyond the depression on that occasion?
List strategies that have helped (even if only a little):
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4.3. Things I Might Consider Trying

The ‘Tackle Depression’ and ‘Get Support’ sections of Students Against

[Link] cover a wide range of strategies that might help you turn things
around. The Student Stories section will show that different things work for
different people, so it is important for you to keep trying until you find the things
that will work for you.
You can use the ‘My strategies’ table to get an overview of some of the things
that might help and to keep track of things you have tried and what they have
contributed. The strategies are listed in a recommended order of priority for
someone who is moderately to severely affected by depression – getting support
from others, preferably from professionals, is very important if this applies to
you. After that the simplest self-help strategies, which can make an immediate
difference, are listed in the First Steps section.
 Give yourself some time to browse the information and stories at Students
Against [Link]
 Mark strategies you think you’d like to try, then identify a few (up to 5)
you’d like to try first.
 Use the relevant ‘Take Action’ worksheets for the strategies you have
chosen.
 Give yourself a reasonable length of time to see how it goes, then
evaluate and make notes.
 Some of the first steps lead on naturally to longer-term strategies. Build
up gradually and be gentle with yourself (see Learning self-compassion).

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4.4. Take Action Workbook

If you prefer a more structured approach, then the Take Action worksheets
attached to each page on Students Against [Link] have been organised
into a Workbook with step-by-step modules, which help you try the strategies in
a recommended order. See ‘Take action in your own life’ for the collection of
Workbook modules.
 Strategy Section Worksheet Done? Tried Notes
Safety Plan Check suicide & self harm
Break Isolation Build support networks (TD)
Check Warning Signs What is depression? (UD)
See doctor Counsellors & doctors (GS)
Consider Prescribed Medication Counsellors & doctors (GS)
See counsellor Counsellors & doctors (GS)
Build Support Network Build support networks (GS)
Self-Care Plan First steps (TD)
Focusing Outward - distraction First steps (TD)
Getting Going First steps (TD)
Sort Out Sleep Healthier daily routines
Understand Food and Mood Healthier daily routines
Exercise Plan Healthier daily routines
Check Alcohol and Drugs Healthier daily routines
Relaxation Skills Healthier daily routines
Connect With Others Healthier daily routines
Understand My Depression Better Changing attitudes (TD)
Identify My Depressed Thinking Changing attitudes (TD)
Challenge My Depressed Thinking Changing attitudes (TD)
Stress Management Changing attitudes (TD)

My Strategies
Anxiety and/or Anger Management Changing attitudes (TD)
Learn Self Compassion Changing attitudes (TD)
Mindfulness Living well (TD)
Emotional Literacy Living well (TD)
Assertiveness Living well (TD)
Relationship Skills Living well (TD)
Identify Life Values Living well (TD)
Happiness Skills Living well (TD)
Alternative Approaches More ideas & resources
Therapeutic Writing More ideas & resources
Other Help and Resources More ideas & resources
Understand Different Perspectives on Depression Different perspectives (UD)
Take Action Against Depression Beyond My Own Take Action (TA)