Great Minds: Hamish and Kyle – On the inactivity of depression

Just a little bit of activity or a change of scenery can help when you feel depressed.
Video / NZ Herald

In this web series, psychotherapist Kyle MacDonald and Nutters Club co-host Hamish Williams look at mental health and how to navigate some of the more challenging parts of modern life. Today they talk about how to get active.

Many moons ago, while trying to help a friend who was going through a highly emotional time, I contacted a mental health team to get some support. After explaining the situation, they came back to me with the advice to get my friend out of the house and go for a walk.

“A bloody walk? I’m having a mental breakdown here and you think a walk will fix it!” my friend replied with vocal disagreement when I presented the suggestion.

I got exactly where they were coming from. When you’re feeling so low, it seems counter-intuitive that going out into the very world that might feel so uncaring and condemning could be part of a positive solution. Faced with such emotionally charged feeling to stay shut in, how can getting out of the house make any difference?

“The mood of depression moves us to inactivity, it sticks us to the couch, it keeps us in bed,” explains psychotherapist Kyle MacDonald. “Anything we can do both mentally and physically to stay active will start to push back on those feelings.”

I have to question this though, the idea that anything can make a difference doesn’t sound right. Walking to my letterbox every day isn’t going to improve my mental health in the slightest… or is it?

“You need to be aware of that self critic getting in there and telling you you’re pathetic and should be doing more,” says MacDonald. “Make it a habit by doing a little bit every single day, even if that’s just walking to the letterbox.”

“Crosswords, puzzles, board games are also helpful for the mental side of inactivity. Prevent yourself from being fixated on your own thoughts. That itself is another form of inactivity,” explains MacDonald.

And here we have the key to this all; by changing the behaviour of the mood, even in a small way, we can bring our mental health back to a better place. The opposite of inactivity is being active, so when we apply these actions to daily life, the mood will follow.

The key here though is consistency. Starting to get a small amount of activity in your day to day life will have nothing but positive outcomes for you.

It doesn’t mean joining a gym necessarily – walking around the block is a great start and over time you can find what your level of comfort and management is. And if it does start with the letterbox, that’s excellent. You’re already further than where you started and that’s a great place to be.