Depression
Feeling sadness is a normal response to triggers such as breaking up with your partner, not getting the grade you wanted in a class, or financial problems. The feeling might last a few days (or even longer), but sadness does not cause a major disruption in your daily life. Depression is different. You may feel sad for an extended period of time, as well as feel hopeless, and it might not be linked to any specific cause.
If you are showing signs of mild to severe depression, reach out to Student Counseling Services to get the support that you need.
On This Page:What is Depression?
These resources and screening tools will help you learn more about what depression looks like and how to know when it is time to seek professional help.
Recognizing Signs of Depression
Supporting a Family Member or Friend with Depression
Effective Ways to Feel Better
- PsychCentral (Three Part Series):
Relaxation & Mindfulness
Research shows that relaxation and mindfulness exercises can help to improve a person’s mental health, physical health, and overall well-being. Here are some practices that help you regulate negative emotions.
- Dialectal Behavior Therapy (DBT) Mindfulness Resources: Exercises M1 through M10 are often interconnected. While they can be done separately, it may be beneficial to try various exercises outside of the ones explicitly recommended here:
- Mindfulness
- Calm mind: M2: Mental Body Scan and M7: Mindful Breathing
- Thoughts aren't in control: M5: Mental Noting and M6: Though Defusion
- Negative thinking: M9: Negative Judgments and M10: Letting Go of Judgments
- Distress Tolerance
- RESISTT and Self Soothing: T4: RESISTT Technique and T8: Self Soothing
- Emotions
- Physical and Cognitive Vulnerability: E3: Emotions and Physical Vulnerability and E4: Emotions and Cognitive Vulnerability
- Mindfulness
- 10-Minute Meditation for Depression (YouTube)
Additional Self-Help Resources
- Feeling Great: The Revolutionary New Treatment for Depression and Anxiety
by David D. Burns
In Feeling Great, Dr. David Burns reveals that our negative moods do not result from what’s wrong with us, but rather—from what’s right with us. And when you listen and suddenly “hear” what your negative thoughts and feelings are trying to tell you, suddenly you won’t need them anymore, and recovery will be just a stone’s throw away. Dr. Burns will provide you with inspiring and mind-blowing case studies along with more than 50 amazing tools to crush the negative thoughts that rob you of happiness and self-esteem. - The Feeling Good Handbook
by David D. Burns
Dr. Burns reveals powerful cognitive therapy techniques and provides step-by-step exercises that help you cope with a full range of everyday problems, some of which include freedom from fears, phobias, panic attacks and overcoming self-defeating attitudes. - You Are Not Your Brain
by Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz & Dr. Rebecca Gladding
Schwartz works with psychiatrist Rebecca Gladding to refine a program that successfully explains how the brain works and why we often feel besieged by overactive brain circuits (i.e. bad habits, social anxieties, etc.) the key to making life changes that you want—to make your brain work for you—is to consciously choose to “starve” these circuits of focused attention, thereby decreasing their influence and strength. You Are Not Your Brain carefully outlines their program, showing readers how to identify negative impulses, channel them through the power of focused attention, and ultimately lead more fulfilling and empowered lives.
- NIH.gov: Depression
- Anxiety & Depression Association of America
- HelpGuide.org: Depression Homepage
- American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
- Families for Depression Awareness
- The Trevor Project: The leading national organization providing suicide prevention services for LGBTQ young people