Depression is common among people with PTSD. Depression may lead people with PTSD to isolate themselves from friends and family, as well as prevent them from taking part in activities they once enjoyed. This isolation and avoidance can then make a person's depression worse.
Getting Active
One healthy way of combating this isolation and avoidance is to get more active in your life and move toward positive goals you have set for yourself. However, just being more active might not always do the trick. For example, filling up your day with chores might help you in becoming more active, but it might also increase your stress levels and your depression. Therefore, it is important to make sure that when you are active, you are engaging in activities that you have found to be positive, pleasurable and rewarding.
These activities should be ones that you currently or once found to be positive. Some activities people find pleasureable are:
- Going to or renting a movie
- Eating at your favorite restaurant
- Meeting up with friends
- Visiting family
- Calling friends or family
- Going for a leisurely drive through the countryside
- Going to a sporting event
- Going shopping
- Exercising
- Going for a quiet walk
- Going for a swim
- Taking a bubble bath
Schedule Your Activities
When you have PTSD, these activities might not be that easy to do. Therefore, it can be helpful to schedule these activities. Make sure you put aside time in your schedule to take part in these activities several times a week. Scheduling something is like making a commitment. If you schedule something, you will be more likely to do it.
It is very important to keep in mind that simply taking part in one activity might not immediately change your mood. You might still feel down or upset. Do the activity anyway. Let your schedule guide what you do, not your feelings or thoughts (which might be telling you to stay at home). How we feel can take some time to change, especially in the case of depression. That is why, when depressed, it is important to focus on taking control over your behavior.
Taking part in a positive activity, even though you might not feel as though it is doing anything for your mood in-the-moment (although it might), can prevent your depression from getting worse, and it may help tip your mood into a more positive direction.
