How To Use Goals To Avoid Depression

Posted on April 6, 2017

It has been found people who are depressed tend to set more generalised goals than others. Goals that are linked to depression tend to be less specific, for instance “I want to be happy.”, thus making these goals harder to achieve, culminating in pessimistic and depressed thoughts.

This may be due to the fact that generalised goals are harder for us to visualise and thus less achievable. On the other hand, people who are less depressed tend to set more concrete goals such as “I want to take a thirty minute walk every day.”

Also, it may be interesting to note that contrary to popular belief, depressed people are just as motivated as the non-depressed to succeed and excel in life. Both groups of people value their personal goals and have a similar number of goals they want to achieve. The difference lies in that people who are depressed are more likely to give up on goals that are deemed to be unattainable and experience difficulty coming up with goals that focus on positive and hopeful outcomes. Moreover, they are also more negative about achieving their goals and have greater difficulty in setting new goals to pursuit. While allowing themselves to escape from the cycle of goal failure by giving up on unattainable goals, pessimistic thinking and depression further enhanced the difficulty of them setting new goals for themselves!


Category(s):Depression

Source material from Psyblog