When looking for a fix for depression or anxiety, some of the talk can sound lame, trite, even insulting.

You might feel that way when hearing of a new study. US researchers say that people suffering from symptoms of depression “may help heal themselves by doing good deeds for others”.

For someone feeling persistently down, your response might be: “Give me a break.”

The idea isn’t new

There’s a lot of research that demonstrates when we perform acts of kindness for others, we improve our mood.

Sure, but that’s easier said than done if you’re in a black hole, right?

But the new study, involving people with moderate to severe symptoms of depression or anxiety, is surprising – even persuasive. Because it found that performing acts of kindness led to improvements not achieved in standard therapies.

In fact, it was the only intervention investigated “that helped people feel more connected to others”.

That’s a big deal

Study co-author Dr David Cregg led the research as part of his PhD dissertation in psychology at Ohio State University.

Dr Cregg said: “Social connection is one of the ingredients of life most strongly associated with wellbeing.

“Performing acts of kindness seems to be one of the best ways to promote those connections.”

If this research holds up in real-life situations, it offers a genuine breakthrough strategy for people whose depression holds them socially hostage.

An interesting 2009 paper lays out the problem: “When people experience positive social interactions they should be more likely to feel a sense of belonging.

“However, depressed people’s social information-processing biases appear to make it less likely that they will perceive cues of acceptance and belonging in social interactions.”

The study

This was a small study involving 122 people with moderate to severe symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress.

After an introductory session, the participants split into three groups.

Two of the groups were assigned to techniques often used in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for depression: Planning social activities or ‘cognitive reappraisal’.

The social activities group was instructed to plan social activities for two days a week.

The participants assigned ‘cognitive reappraisal’ kept records of their thoughts and feelings for at least two days each week. This helped them “identify negative thought patterns and revise their thoughts in a way that could reduce depression and anxiety”.

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 these acts of kindness included baking cookies for friends, giving a friend a ride, and leaving sticky notes for roommates with words of encouragement.

Participants followed their instructions for five weeks, after which they were evaluated again.

The researchers then checked with the participants after another five weeks to see if the interventions were still effective.

The results

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,” Dr Cregg said.

But acts of kindness “showed an advantage over both social activities and cognitive reappraisal” – by making participants feel more connected.

In addition, the kindness group enjoyed greater improvements than the cognitive reappraisal group for life satisfaction and symptoms of depression and anxiety.

The researchers noted that “just participating in social activities did not improve feelings of social connection in this study”.

Co-author Professor Jennifer Cheavens 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.”

The researchers cautioned that while this study used techniques of CBT, it is not the same experience as going through CBT.

They allowed that “those who undergo the full treatment may have better results than those in this study”.

However, not everyone has the opportunity to get professional treatment, which is where the study finds further value.

Professor Cheavens said the researchers had found “that a relatively simple, one-time training had real effects on reducing depression and anxiety symptoms”.