What is Depression?
Everyone one feels a little sad sometimes, but depression is different. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, "Depression (also called major depressive disorder or clinical depression) can cause severe symptoms that affect how you feel, think, and handle daily activities, such as sleeping, eating, or working. It is an illness that can affect anyone— regardless of age, race, income, culture, or education. Research suggests that genetic, biological, environmental, and psychological factors play a role in depression."
The NIMH notes that depression is a medical condition, not just feeling sad for a few days, and it interferes with your day to day life.
Below are some resources to help you learn more about depression and generalized anxiety disorders, and how to approach getting help if you or if someone you care about seems depressed or anxious. Treatment options for depression or generalized anxiety disorder can include cognitive behavioral therapy and/or medication. Help is available, so read on to learn more. This page features resources from the UConn SHaW mental health circle of care as well.
This page also includes some memoirs where writers talk about their lives and past experiences with mental health.
Above: an illustration of the UConn SHaW mental health Circle of Care model
Are you not sure if you are suffering from clinical depression? Take the quiz below to find out.
- Mental Health America Depression Screening Tool10 question clinical survey used to assess depression levels
- UConn Mental Health ResourcesInformation on the UConn mental health Circle of Care resources and more
- MedlinePlus: DepressionThe information above is paraphrased from this resource, which is produced by the National Library of Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health. You can learn more about the topic at this link.
- National Suicide Prevention LifelineThe National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a United States-based suicide prevention network of over 160 crisis centers that provides 24/7 service via a toll-free hotline with the number 1-800-273-8255. It is available to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress.
- Crisis Text LineText HOME to 741741 to connect with a Crisis Counselor
If you are experiencing a mental health emergency, call 911 or go to your local hospital.
UConn SHaW offers free and confidential 24/7 support for mental health crises. Crisis support is available during business hours (Monday-Friday, 8:30-4:30) in the Arjona, 4th floor office. After-hours support is available by phone by calling 860-486-4705. Please note that 24/7 support is available during the fall and spring semesters. During summer and winter breaks, crisis support is available during business hours.
If you choose to call our office (during or after business hours) for crisis-support, please tell the receptionist that you are experiencing a crisis and wish to speak to the on-call therapist. Students will be seen or spoken to by the on-call therapist as soon as possible.
Examples of a mental health crises include: thoughts or plans to hurt yourself or someone else, engaging in life-threatening behaviors, and/or recent assault or trauma.
What is therapy for mental health?
Therapy and Counseling: Your Questions Answered by ISBN: 1440861684Publication Date: 2019-04-04Seeing a therapist or counselor can dramatically improve the lives of individuals struggling with anxiety, depression, and many other psychological disorders, yet many young people are too afraid or embarrassed to seek the help of a trained mental health professional. Are their troubles serious enough? What type of therapist should they see? How long will treatment take, and how much will it cost? Will friends and family members find out, and what will they think if they do? Therapy and Counseling: Your Questions Answered, a part of Greenwood's Q&A Health Guides series, answers these and many other questions, attempting to dispel the mystery and stigma that surrounds mental health treatment.
Library Resources on Depression
Depression: Your Questions Answered by ISBN: 9781440866005Publication Date: 2019-06-24Introduces the topic of depression, especially as it relates to teens and young adults. The information, guidance, and resources offered are valuable tools for anyone personally grappling with depression or who has a friend or family member who is. How is depression different from sadness, and why are some individuals more predisposed to depression than others? What happens in the brain when we're depressed? What medications and options for therapy are available, and what side effects can antidepressants have? How can you help a friend or loved one experiencing depression?
The Cognitive Behavioral Workbook for Depression by ISBN: 9781608823802Publication Date: 2012-06-01The CBT program in this workbook has helped thousands of readers defeat the depressive thoughts and beliefs that keep them from enjoying life and feeling like themselves. Used alone or in conjunction with therapy, The Cognitive Behavioral Workbook for Depression delivers evidence-based tools you can confidently use to do better, feel better, and prevent depression from coming back. Through a series of worksheets and exercises, you'll evaluate your depression and learn key skills for overcoming it. Once you have your depression symptoms under control, you will appreciate the additional information on preventing relapse that is special to this new edition. This workbook also includes twenty-five bonus tips from depression experts that can jump-start your recovery.
Depression by ISBN: 9780812290882Publication Date: 2014-04-04More than forty years ago, Dr. Aaron T. Beck's pioneering Depression: Causes and Treatment presented the first comprehensive account of all aspects of depression and introduced cognitive therapy to health care providers and patients Beck and his colleague Brad A. Alford have written a second edition of Depression that will help patients and caregivers understand depression as a cognitive disorder and the treatments available
Managing Your Mental Health During Your PhD: A Survival Guide by ISBN: 9783031141942Publication Date: Springer 2022This book explores the PhD experience as never before and provides a "survival guide" for current and prospective PhD students. The book investigates why mental health issues are so common among the postgraduate population, going beyond the statistics, looking at lived experience of both the author and as well as current PhD students, who have found balancing mental wellness with the PhD endeavour challenging. The author discusses tips and tricks she wished she had known at the start of her PhD process for managing mental health, such as managing imposter feelings, prioritising workload, and self-care strategies to help others throughout their own journey. The book goes beyond typical mental health discussions (where the focus for improving mental health is placed on PhD students to become "more resilient") and explores some of the often unspoken environmental factors that can impact mental health. These include the PhD student-supervisor relationship, the pressure to publish, and deep systemic problems in academia, such as racism, bullying and harassment. Finally, the book is a call to action, providing tangible improvements from the author's perspective that university institutions can make to ensure that academia is a place for all to thrive.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy by ISBN: 9781615646159Publication Date: 2014-10-07Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an approach that addresses dysfunctional emotions and negative behaviors through goal setting and various coping techniques, such as meditation, visualization, relaxation, mindfulness, and more. Idiot's Guides: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps readers learn how to recognize negative thought patterns or obsessive behaviors, and then teaches how to employ various simple, yet effective techniques to overcome those obsessive and destructive behaviors.
What I Do to Get Through: : how to run, swim, cycle, sew, or sing your way through depression by ISBN: 9781787752993Publication Date: 2021-02-18"It might sound odd, but I can honestly say knitting has saved my life." When mental illness strikes, we need tools at our side to help make things better, that give meaning, relief and dare we say...happiness. From wild swimming and mindful running, to community singing and everyday yoga, the inspiring stories in this book reveal the power of activities and hobbies to distract, exorcise and calm, helping us to heal and recover from depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses. From the team behind the bestselling The Recovery Letters, this honest, uplifting and motivational book will help you to discover the activity or hobby that will transform your life and make every day that much brighter.
Lost Connections: Why You’re Depressed and How to Find Hope by ISBN: 9781632868305Publication Date: 2018-01-23There was a mystery haunting award-winning investigative journalist Johann Hari. He was thirty-nine years old, and almost every year he had been alive, depression and anxiety had increased in Britain and across the Western world. Why? He had a very personal reason to ask this question. When he was a teenager, he had gone to his doctor and explained that he felt like pain was leaking out of him, and he couldn't control it or understand it. Some of the solutions his doctor offered had given him some relief--but he remained in deep pain. So, as an adult, he went on a forty-thousand-mile journey across the world to interview the leading experts about what causes depression and anxiety, and what solves them. He learned there is scientific evidence for nine different causes of depression and anxiety--and that this knowledge leads to a very different set of solutions: ones that offer real hope.
Student Mental Health: a guide for psychiatrists, psychologists, and leaders serving in higher education by ISBN: 9781615371945Publication Date: 2018-06-18 APA PublishingStudent Mental Health: A Guide for Psychiatrists, Psychologists, and Leaders Serving in Higher Education is the result of a sustained and multidisciplinary collaboration of scholars, leaders, clinicians, and educators who are deeply committed to student health and well-being. The needs of young people today are quite different from those of even 5 years ago, and this book pays great attention to the specific issues encountered in caring for today's students who experience distress or develop significant mental health conditions. Such issues, including suicidality, newly emergent psychosis, problems associated with substance misuse, the health risks of eating disorders, and the devastation of sexual assault, can challenge even the most experienced clinician. These topics and others related to safety, respect, conflict, and connection on campus, as well as students' evolving relationships with family, friends, and romantic partners, are covered with sensitivity and skill.
When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by ISBN: 9781611803433Publication Date: 2016-06-07Title recommended by UConn SHaW staff. Pema Chödrön's perennially best-selling classic on overcoming life's difficulties cuts to the heart of spirituality and personal growth--now in a newly designed 20th-anniversary edition with a new afterword by Pema--makes for a perfect gift and addition to one's spiritual library. How can we live our lives when everything seems to fall apart--when we are continually overcome by fear, anxiety, and pain? The answer, Pema Chödrön suggests, might be just the opposite of what you expect. Here, in her most beloved and acclaimed work, Pema shows that moving toward painful situations and becoming intimate with them can open up our hearts in ways we never before imagined. Drawing from traditional Buddhist wisdom, she offers life-changing tools for transforming suffering and negative patterns into habitual ease and boundless joy.
(Don't) Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start the Conversation about Mental Health by ISBN: 9781616207816Publication Date: 2018-10-02In (Don't) Call Me Crazy, thirty-three actors, athletes, writers, and artists offer essays, lists, comics, and illustrations that explore a wide range of topics: their personal experiences with mental illness, how we do and don't talk about mental health, help for better understanding how every person's brain is wired differently, and what, exactly, might make someone "crazy."
Seasonal Affective Disorder
Seasonal Affective Disorder (or SAD) is a condition which causes people to become sad or depressed when the days become short and they are exposed to less sunshine and Vitamin D. In New England, this can happen in the Fall and Winter. New Englanders can benefit from taking Vitamin D during the winter and also from using a SAD lamp (a 10,000 lux lamp which imitates daylight) during the mornings which can help elevate one's mood and regulate circadian rhythm.
Winter Blues: Everything You Need to Know to Beat Seasonal Affective Disorder by ISBN: 9781609181857Publication Date: 2012-09-04When the dark days of winter approach, do you feel sluggish and slow? Is it a struggle to get out of bed each morning? *Do you have difficulty focusing at work or in relationships, feel down in the dumps, or, worse still, get really depressed? *Does it get harder than ever to stick to a healthy diet and control your weight? If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, you may be one of the millions of people who suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Picking up this book is the first step toward feeling more energized, productive, and alive--all year long. Dr. Norman E. Rosenthal's engaging, compassionate style and rich store of scientific wisdom have made this trusted guide a perennial bestseller. Dr. Rosenthal explains how to evaluate your own level of seasonality, get the most out of light boxes and other effective self-help options, and make informed decisions about antidepressants and psychotherapy.
How Do I Talk to a Loved One or Friend about Depression?
The video below offers strategies for asking a loved one who may be suffering from depression, how they are doing, and to check-in.
What is Anxiety?
Lots of people experience symptoms of anxiety. Sometimes these feelings are related to things that are stressful, like taking an exam or making a major life decision; at other times, they might be related to an anxiety disorder, which is a clinical condition. Some examples of common anxiety disorders include generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder. You can learn more about anxiety from the resources below.
- MedlinePlus: AnxietyThe information above is paraphrased from this resource, which is produced by the National Library of Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health. You can learn more about the topic at this link.
- Crisis Text LineCrisis Text Line is here for any crisis. A live, trained Crisis Counselor receives the text and responds, all from a secure online platform. The volunteer Crisis Counselor will help you move from a hot moment to a cool moment
Library Resources on Anxiety
Pocket Therapy for Anxiety by ISBN: 168403762XPublication Date: 2020-11-01 New HarbingerHow can you learn to cope with your anxiety in the moment? This little book can help you face your fears and take charge of your anxiety--wherever or whenever it shows up. From the author of The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook and Coping with Anxiety, Pocket Therapy for Anxiety offers immediate, user-friendly, and evidence-based strategies to help you manage anxiety, panic, and fear. The exercises in this book can be done in the moment, whenever you feel anxious, and will help you move past your fears and start living the life you were meant to live.
Anxiety Happens: Anxiety Happens: 52 Ways to Find Peace of Mind by ISBN: 9781684031108Publication Date: 2018-04-01Break free from anxiety--once and for all! From the authors of The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety, this powerful yet portable guide offers fifty-two in-the-moment mindfulness strategies you can use anytime, anywhere to cultivate calm and radically transform your life.
Anxiety and Panic Attacks: Your Questions Answered by ISBN: 9781440852985Publication Date: 2018-04-19A new title in the Q&A Health Guides series, this book tackles readers' questions regarding anxiety and panic attacks, dispelling misconceptions and examining real-world scenarios that highlight important concepts and controversies. How is social anxiety different from shyness or introversion? Are anxiety disorders only a problem in the Western, industrialized world, and if not, are they expressed differently in other cultures? Why do some people suffer from panic attacks while others do not? What kinds of therapy and medication are available for anxiety? What happens in therapy? How can well-meaning family and friends help a person with an anxiety disorder rather than make things worse?
Things Might Go Terribly, Horribly Wrong: A Guide to Life Liberated from Anxiety by ISBN: 9781572247116Publication Date: 2010-05-01Does anxiety need to go away in order for you to live your life fully, vitally, with richness and purpose? This book approaches the problem of anxiety a little differently than most. Instead of trying to help you overcome or reduce feelings of anxiety, Things Might Go Terribly, Horribly Wrong will help you climb inside these feelings, sit in that place, and see what it would be like to have anxiety and still make room in your life to breathe and rest and live -- really and truly live -- in a way that matters to you.
Anxiety 101 by ISBN: 9780826104892Anxiety 101, written by two prominent figures in the field of anxiety research, provides a thorough introduction to the concept of anxiety, placing it in the broad matrix of human concerns. The authors address evolutionary origins of anxiety, functions that anxiety and fear play in maintaining life, and ways in which these emotions can get out of control. An excellent introduction to students who want to understand the many ways in which scientists have approached the topic of anxiety.
The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD by ISBN: 9781684035632Publication Date: 2020-12-01Title recommended by UConn SHaW staff. If you have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), you might have an irrational fear of being contaminated by germs, or obsessively double-check things. You may even feel like a prisoner, trapped with your intrusive thoughts. And while OCD can have a devastating impact on your life, getting real help can be a challenge. Combining mindfulness practices with cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD offers practical and accessible tools for managing the unwanted thoughts and compulsive urges that are associated with OCD. With this workbook, you will develop present-moment awareness, learn to challenge your own distorted thinking, and stop treating thoughts as threats and feelings as facts.
Can't Even: How Millenials Became the Burnout Generation by ISBN: 9780358315070Publication Date: 2020-09-22An incendiary examination of burnout in millennials--the cultural shifts that got us here, the pressures that sustain it, and the need for drastic change Do you feel like your life is an endless to-do list? Do you find yourself mindlessly scrolling through Instagram because you're too exhausted to pick up a book? Are you mired in debt, or feel like you work all the time, or feel pressure to take whatever gives you joy and turn it into a monetizable hustle? Welcome to burnout culture. While burnout may seem like the default setting for the modern era, inCan't Even, BuzzFeed culture writer and former academic Anne Helen Petersen argues that burnout is a definitional condition for the millennial generation, born out of distrust in the institutions that have failed us, the unrealistic expectations of the modern workplace, and a sharp uptick in anxiety and hopelessness exacerbated by the constant pressure to "perform" our lives online.
Pocket Therapy for Emotional Balance by ISBN: 1684037689Publication Date: 2020-11-01 New HarbingerBite-sized, evidence based tips and tools for managing intense emotions in the moment--from the authors of The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook! Sometimes emotions can feel like a big, powerful tidal wave that will sweep you away. And the more you try to suppress or put a lid on these emotions, the more overwhelming they get. So, how can you feel better when difficult emotions threaten to wash over you? In this take-anywhere pocket guide, clinical psychologists and authors Matt McKay, Jeffrey Wood, and Jeffrey Brantley offer quick and simple strategies based in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) to help you take charge of your emotions and start living the life you want.
Physical Library Books Addressing Mental Health
I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are by Call Number: Physical Title: available for pickup; Leisure Reading CollectionISBN: 1538745356Publication Date: 2020-11-17From the charming and wickedly funny co-creator and star of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, a collection of hilarious personal essays, poems and even amusement park maps on the subjects of insecurity, fame, anxiety, and much more. Rachel Bloom has felt abnormal and out of place her whole life. In this exploration of what she thinks makes her "different," she's come to realize that a lot of people also feel this way; even people who she otherwise thought were "normal." In a collection of laugh-out-loud funny essays, all told in the unique voice (sometimes singing voice) that made her a star; Rachel writes about everything from her love of Disney, OCD and depression, weirdness, and Spanx to the story of how she didn't poop in the toilet until she was four years old; Rachel's pieces are hilarious, smart, and infinitely relatable (except for the pooping thing).
The Emotional Load and Other Invisible Stuff by ISBN: 9781609809560Publication Date: 2020-07-21After the success of The Mental Load, Emma continues in her new graphic novel to tangle with issues pertinent to women's experiences, from consent to contraception, from the 'power of love' to the care and attentiveness that women place on others' wellbeing and social cohesion (and how it constitutes another burden on women), from the true nature of gallantry to rape culture to diets, from safety in public spaces to retirement, along with social issues such as police violence, women's rights and green capitalism. And, once more, she hits the mark.
Everybody (Else) Is Perfect: how I survived hypocrisy, beauty, clicks, and likes by ISBN: 9781982127763Publication Date: 2021-01-26From the former editor-in-chief of Nylon comes a provocative and intimate collection of personal and cultural essays featuring eye-opening explorations of hot button topics for modern women, including internet feminism, impossible beauty standards in social media, shifting ideals about sexuality, and much more.
Checking In: How Getting Real about Depression Saved My Life---and Can Save Yours by ISBN: 9781400223343Publication Date: 2021-05-25"I need help." Those three words saved Grammy Award-winning singer Michelle Williams's life. Realizing that she needed immediate help and could no longer battle her anxiety and depression alone, she checked herself into a treatment facility. Practical, engaging, and full of wisdom, Checking In helps us understand that building walls around our vulnerability can hinder our healing. Please note that this book features a Christian faith focus.
The Book of Hope: a survival guide for trying times by Call Number: Leisure Reading Collection: B LevelISBN: 1250784093Publication Date: 2021-10-19In a world that seems so troubled, how do we hold on to hope? Looking at the headlines--the worsening climate crisis, a global pandemic, loss of biodiversity, political upheaval--it can be hard to feel optimistic. And yet hope has never been more desperately needed. In this urgent book, Jane Goodall, the world's most famous living naturalist, and Douglas Abrams, the internationally bestselling co-author of The Book of Joy, explore through intimate and thought-provoking dialogue one of the most sought after and least understood elements of human nature: hope.
Free Self-Care Tools
- Blurt Foundation's Self-Care Resource LibraryDownload free mood trackers, habit trackers, journaling prompts, self-care planning sheets, and other resources.
Disclaimer
Disclaimer: This content guide is meant to be solely informational in nature. It is not meant to provide professional care or recommendations. It includes general considerations, but readers should contact their medical provider for individualized advice, treatment, and recommendations.
