This is an excerpt from a book I recently completed called Get We Get Better: 48 Treatment Options for Chronic Depression. Following the mental health journey of depression survivor Ruth, it offers numerous practical, evidence-based strategies for improving your physical, behavioral, vocational, relational, cognitive and emotional health. For updates and availability info, subscribe for free to the right. I post two or three articles per month, mostly on the topic of depression.

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Treatment option 29: Attending a community group

Positive psychology researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky reports in The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want that people who actively participate in spiritual communities are physically healthier, live longer, enjoy better marriages and experience less stress overall. The 2000 classic Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert Putnam covers the topic in more detail, arguing for the importance of community to mental health.

If your life isn’t quite peopled enough, consider joining a group. The choices are many: spiritual groups, religious groups, crafting groups, therapy groups, volunteer groups, writing groups, hiking groups, book clubs and more. If you can’t find one in your area that interests you, consider starting your own. Just keep in mind that the benefits of doing so might not come right away; it takes time to build community.

If desired, add “attending a community group” to your depression treatment plan. Then decide on next steps and write them on your to-do lists.

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“This is the kind of writing that makes me feel as if I’d sat down with the author on the sofa with cups of tea and we were talking together for hours. The style is so vulnerable …” –Heather. Get The Power of Acceptance: One Year of Mindfulness and Meditation at your preferred book retailer today.

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Babies come. But babies don't go. Get Fights You’ll Have After Having a Baby: A Self-Help Story on Amazon now.

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