ABSTRACT
When we have low mood or depression, it is normal to try to do things to feel better. This altered behaviour may be helpful … but sometimes it unhelpfully messes things up.
Often we think a behaviour is helpful when actually it’s part of our problem. Unhelpful behaviours can make us feel better quickly, but later they backfire and make things worse for us, for example avoiding our fears, blaming other people, seeking reassurance and experimenting with drink or drugs. All these may make us feel better in the short term (which is why they can be mistaken as helpful). But in the longer term they backfire. And so they worsen how we feel physically, mentally or in our relationships.
