Helping Others – A Way to Treat Depression?

Habitat For Humanity Home Build – International Team

Author:University of Phoenix

Have you ever considered helping others as a way to handle your depression? When we are depressed we tend to be quite self absorbed and, as a result it may never occur to us to look outside of our self and consider the needs of others as a way to help ourselves feel better and boost our mood. Here I would like to expose you to this idea so that perhaps the next time you feel depressed you look outwards and help others. It truly is a win-win situation.

There is a saying that goes like this, “Do good and feel good”. It is very rewarding to help others. This post will highlight this idea.

None of us escape the daily frustrations,stresses or challenges in our lives. We have to deal with problems at work, illness, financial stress, family issues and on and on it goes. Sometimes we get overwhelmed and may feel anxious or depressed about our life situation. Doctors will typically recommend that you get on some medication(s) or go for therapy. I believe there is another option that offers great hope in this area and studies are proving it all the time. You can help yourself by helping others.

There have been multiple studies that show that those of us who help others by offering up our time, money or support are more likely to find satisfaction with our lives as well as more happiness in life. A person in this state will find depression a distant thought if at all present in their lives. That being said, do you think perhaps that helping others is a remedy for depression?

The fact is that there have been studies in the past that have shown that in situations where you had people supporting others in one way or another, many times it was the supporters who derived the greatest benefit, while the recipients of the support also benefited. It has gone so far as to improve the quality of the supporters lives, which is just fantastic.

There have been studies also on adolescents that have shown that those who begin engaging in helping others, or giving, at a young age are much less likely to experience depression, even as they age.

Research has shown that changes take place in our brain when we are helping others. Positive changes take place such as happen when we receive any positive stimuli to our brain, for example when we have sex or if we receive a monetary reward. It seems that volunteering or giving or helping others stimulates the good chemicals in our brain that make us feel good.

Another factor to consider here is that when we take the focus off of our troubles and onto helping others that alone benefits us and can significantly reduce depression and anxiety.

Helping others is something we should all be doing, all the time, however especially if you have a tendency to suffer with depression then you should be looking out for possible opportunities (which are all around us) to be benevolent and support others as often as you can.

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