Why Weekend Depression Strikes and What to Do About It
Weekend depression turns out to be real. I noticed a few years back that while the rest of the world seems to live for the weekends, when I was depressed, the weekends would often make me feel even more depressed. I’ve discovered some reasons for weekend depression and what we can do to feel better.
3 Reasons Why Weekend Depression Happens
- We lack structure. During the week, we often have our days structured. Moving from task to task, place to place, our days are filled and we are in motion. Even if we don’t love our jobs, being busy can help to keep our minds off our troubles. On the weekends, especially when we are depressed, we will tend to not plan activities. This lack of structure can make us feel more depressed.
- We lack social interaction. When depressed, social interactions can be more difficult. Wanting to do what’s comfortable, we will have the tendency to isolate ourselves. And, if we don’t need to go to work, we will often choose to sleep or stay in rather than spend time with others. Human beings were meant for social interaction and this isolation over the weekend can increase our depression symptoms.
- We compare ourselves to others. When we’re depressed, we often don’t have the energy or desire to do the things we used to enjoy. When we compare our depressed lives to the lives of others who are on the go, being social, and doing all of the things we used to do, we can feel even more depressed.
2 Ways to Combat Weekend Depression
- Create a weekend schedule ahead of time. Add structure to your weekend so that you’ll have things to look forward to and less time to let your thoughts just wander. You might find that adding just one activity each morning and one activity each afternoon can help to lift your spirits. However, if you’re feeling severely depressed, I would recommend scheduling an activity for each hour. Even checking off activities such as eat breakfast, take a shower, and buy groceries can give you a sense of accomplishment and help you to feel better.
- Make plans for social interaction. While it can be tempting to stay in and isolate, this approach can do more harm than good. Before you get to the weekend, make plans to be social. If you’re depressed, you’re most likely not up for hosting a party, so meet yourself where you are. Invite a friend out for coffee. Or find a group on Meetup.com that you can attend. Being around others, in real life, can help to alleviate your depressive symptoms.
APA Reference
Sedas, M.
(2018, January 4). Why Weekend Depression Strikes and What to Do About It, HealthyPlace. Retrieved
on 2024, August 31 from https://www.healthyplace.com/blogs/copingwithdepression/2018/01/what-to-do-when-weekend-depression-strikes
Author: Michelle Sedas
Helpful article. Good to know I'm not the only one who experiences weekend depression. Thanks for the suggestions.
"A wife and a mother" - how this supposed to help me, if even the site of happy families makes me not want to come out on weekends at all. The author seems like want s us to feel worse! :)
I’m sorry to read this. I think society isn’t aware of the trauma we often unintentionally cause others. I hope you are ok. Sending you
Terrible article. The suggestions are not achievable for people who are depressed. If we were able to make plans, we would
The suggestion to make plans to fill your weekend with activity doesn't make sense for a lot of people with depression. When the time comes for the plans, we often don't feel like doing them and will cancel them at the last minute. An alternative suggestion would be very helpful. Please don't say, "just make yourself go." It doesn't work like that.
I would suggest appointing a buddy (a person you really trust) to encourage you to activate your plans. Ideally someone who is included in same plans.
weekends suck! everything costs more, its crowded and uptite.food service is crap and a lot of places are closed for anything important to do list. weekends are highly over rated! too many people! noisy!
I second the cost factor and the important places close.
Weekends equal wasted days, or self reflection. And I have self reflected enough to know how I function and run out of things to reflect on, so there is such a thing as to much self reflection.
Thank you, Anna. I'm so glad to hear it.
--Michelle Sedas
Coauthor "Coping with Depression"
Howdy! This blog post couldn't be written any better! Reading through this article reminds me
of my previous roommate! He always kept talking about this.
I will send this article to him. Fairly certain he'll have a very good read.
I appreciate you for sharing!
My husband has everything "loud" ? ? and even when he's on the ☎ it's Loud. I hac enough of it it makes to me stomach
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