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hubie [soylentnews.org] writes:

Study finds helping others reduces focus on your own symptoms [osu.edu]:

People suffering from symptoms of depression or anxiety may help heal themselves by doing good deeds for others, new research shows.

The study found that performing acts of kindness led to improvements not seen in two other therapeutic techniques used to treat depression or anxiety.

Most importantly, the acts of kindness technique was the only intervention tested that helped people feel more connected to others, said study co-author David Cregg, who led the work as part of his PhD dissertation in psychology at The Ohio State University [osu.edu].

[...] "We often think that people with depression have enough to deal with, so we don't want to burden them by asking them to help others. But these results run counter to that," she said.

"Doing nice things for people and focusing on the needs of others may actually help people with depression and anxiety feel better about themselves."

[...] After an introductory session, the participants were split into three groups. Two of the groups were assigned to techniques often used in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for depression: planning social activities or cognitive reappraisal.

[...] Members of the third group were instructed to perform three acts of kindness a day for two days out of the week. Acts of kindness were defined as "big or small acts that benefit others or make others happy, typically at some cost to you in terms of time or resources."

Some of the acts of kindness that participants later said they did included baking cookies for friends, offering to give a friend a ride, and leaving sticky notes for roommates with words of encouragement.

[...] The findings showed that participants in all three groups showed an increase in life satisfaction and a reduction of depression and anxiety symptoms after the 10 weeks of the study.

"These results are encouraging because they suggest that all three study interventions are effective at reducing distress and improving satisfaction," Cregg said.

"But acts of kindness still showed an advantage over both social activities and cognitive reappraisal by making people feel more connected to other people, which is an important part of well-being," he said.

[...] "There's something specific about performing acts of kindness that makes people feel connected to others. It's not enough to just be around other people, participating in social activities," she said.

[...] "Not everyone who could benefit from psychotherapy has the opportunity to get that treatment," she said. "But we found that a relatively simple, one-time training had real effects on reducing depression and anxiety symptoms."

Journal Reference:
David R. Cregg & Jennifer S. Cheavens (2022) Healing through helping: an experimental investigation of kindness, social activities, and reappraisal as well-being interventions [open], The Journal of Positive Psychology, DOI: 10.1080/17439760.2022.2154695 [doi.org]

Original Submission