ABSTRACT
Depression slows people down, they feel tired and withdrawn. This chapter draws on the rationale for monitoring and demonstrates the use of the activity schedule in recording what clients are doing. It focuses on the client's plans to increase their activity. Clients are often more positive about other people. The client is instructed to fill in the schedule with their activities over the coming week. Easy and enjoyable activities could include sitting having a cup of tea or watching the television. More challenging ones might include small household tasks, such as washing the pots or cleaning the car. They should keep the plan simple at the beginning, and slowly build up to more difficult and challenging things. It is important for the client to rate their activities for pleasure and achievement at the time, not in retrospect. When people are depressed, negative and unpleasant events are more easily noticed and remembered.
