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Can a person prevent getting more severely depressed?

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Host: Can a person prevent getting more severely depressed?

Dr. Kim Penberthy: Yes, and that's why treatment early is so important. You can do this on your own, some of it, by doing the things I talked about that are just normal, healthy things like exercising. We know exercise alone can improve your symptoms of depression. So there were studies showing that even just going out three times a week and walking for 20 minutes can help improve your mood. So some of those things, surrounding yourself by people who make you feel good, doing things that you used to enjoy, if you used to enjoy fishing and you have stopped that, try and make yourself go fishing with a buddy that you used to enjoy. Some of those things can really help prevent us slide into depression and then also, if you are already depressed, getting treatment can help you keep from getting more severely depressed which is very important, because the earlier you intercede, the easier it is to stop that spiral down and that's really important.

Expert: Dr. Kim Penberthy

Dr. Penberthy attended Wake Forest University and obtained a bachelor’s degree in psychology and biology. She obtained a master’s degree in experimental psychology from Wake Forest University in 1992. Dr. Penberthy collaborated in research conducted at the UNC-Chapel Hill Center for Alcohol Studies, in the Medical School, and then at the Cancer Research Center at Duke University. She then completed her More »