Humans are hardwired to feel good when performing acts of kindness towards others, an imperative trait in any animal that evolves to live and hunt in social groups.
This is such a truism that performing random acts of kindness for other people was more effective in reducing symptoms of depression than specifically planning activities for the sake of enjoyment, a new study found.
The study sought to test methods of cognitive behavioral therapy, a non-pharmaceutical treatment for depression and anxiety that’s proven to work through confronting patterns of thought and behavior that lead to depressive or anxious thoughts, and consciously moving away from them by retraining one’s brain.
The methods included random acts of kindness, such as buying a stranger’s coffee at Starbucks or baking cookies for the mailman, as well as planning fun activities twice a week and “cognitive reappraisal,” which guides people with depression or anxiety to record triggering thoughts, and actively contemplate what would make the resulting stress diminish.
Participants in the study recorded their feelings before, during, and five weeks after it ended. They noted feelings like social isolation, self-consciousness in public, and overall life satisfaction.
Coauthor Jennifer Cheavens from Ohio State University mentioned, “We thought the group that kept track of their thoughts might do better since that’s a well-known way to help with depression and anxiety. However, the kindness group performed just as well, if not better, and they also felt more socially connected than the other two groups.”All three groups showed improvements in their feelings. The random acts of kindness group had a strong positive effect early on, but this decreased over time. In contrast, the thought-recording group started off with negative feelings, but their outlook improved as the study went on.
Another surprising finding was how easy it was for the kindness group to perform their acts of kindness. Cheavens noted, “I was surprised that it wasn’t difficult for them. The kindness group was more engaged than the other groups in some ways.”
The kindness acts is a particularly important finding because it necessitates a connection with other people. Social isolation is a high-risk factor for survival; the same as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Cheavens felt that as well as being a powerful therapeutic strategy, random acts of kindness can be “add-on therapy” to pretty much most mental health disorders, reasoning that anytime we can get out of our own heads, it seems to be of benefit to our well-being.
Be inspired by this finding and Try A Little Kindness