depression-support

# Depression Support

**Daily check-ins and small wins. One step at a time.**

## What it does

This skill offers three core functions to support you through depression:

- **Mood Tracking**: Log how you're feeling today with simple 1-10 scales or descriptive words. Track patterns over time to understand what helps.
- **Behavioral Activation Suggestions**: When motivation is low, the skill suggests small, achievable tasks that don't require energy or willpower—just momentum.
- **Self-Care Prompts**: Personalized reminders for hydration, movement, sleep, and connection tailored to what you find manageable.

## Usage

### Log Mood
Ask: "Log my mood" or "Check in on how I'm feeling"
- Rate your mood on a scale (1-10 or descriptive: terrible, bad, okay, good, great)
- Optional: Add a note about triggers or context
- Data is stored locally so only you see it

### Get Suggestions
Ask: "What should I do today?" or "I don't know what to do"
- Receives 3-5 micro-tasks based on your energy level
- Tasks take 5-15 minutes (no commitment required)
- Examples: drink a glass of water, step outside for 30 seconds, text one person, open a window

### Small Wins
Ask: "Celebrate a win" or "I did something today"
- Log any accomplishment, no matter how small
- Tracks momentum over time
- Builds evidence against the voice telling you nothing matters

### Self-Care Check
Ask: "Self-care reminder" or "Am I taking care of myself?"
- Brief check on basics: sleep, food, water, movement, connection
- No judgment—just awareness
- Suggests one small thing you can do right now

### Track Patterns
Ask: "Show my mood history" or "What patterns do you see?"
- Weekly or monthly overview of mood trends
- Identifies what correlates with better days (more sleep? time outside? talking to someone?)
- Helps spot early warning signs

## Behavioral Activation

When depression tells you nothing matters and motivation is gone, behavioral activation breaks the cycle by decoupling action from feeling.

**The principle:** You don't feel like doing something → so you wait until you feel like it → but you don't feel like it (depression) → so you do nothing → which makes depression worse.

**The flip:** Do the thing anyway, even at 5% capacity. The feeling follows the action, not the other way around.

**Micro-tasks this skill suggests:**
- Physical: stretch, stand, walk to the window, drink water, take a shower
- Social: text one person, read one message, react to a post
- Creative: draw one line, write three words, hum a song
- Cognitive: read one paragraph, watch a 2-minute video, solve one puzzle

Start with the smallest possible version. "Go for a walk" becomes "step outside." That's it. Momentum builds.

## Tips

1. **Check in daily, not obsessively.** Once a day is enough. Depression loves spirals—don't track every hour.

2. **You don't need to feel better to complete a task.** The task is the win. Feeling better is a side effect, not a requirement.

3. **Small wins are still wins.** Taking a shower on a bad day is the same as climbing a mountain on a good day. Your brain doesn't know the difference—it only knows you did something.

4. **When you're doing okay, set future self up.** On better days, note what helped. Write it down. Your depressed self will need that info later.

5. **All data stays local on your machine.** Nothing syncs to the cloud. Your mood history, notes, and patterns exist only on your device—no tracking, no analytics, no sharing.

## If You're in Crisis

This skill is not a substitute for professional help.

- **988** (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline)
- **Text HOME to 741741** (Crisis Text Line)

If you're having thoughts of harming yourself, reach out now. These services are free, confidential, and available 24/7.