cognitive behavioural interpersonal skills manual - GPSC

Depression’s Energy BudgetEvery day, we wake up with “resources” available for our use that day. These resourcesmight be energy, time, sense of well-being, motivation, etc. The amount of availableresources changes every day, even throughout the day.If we consistently spend beyond our resources, we will go “bankrupt.” The moredepressed or anxious we are, the fewer our resources.This means we need to figure out the actual resources we have at any particular time —not the resources we think we should have, or used to have. This helps us decide whatwe really can do each day.Living Within Your Resource “Box”Tom Mary rANdy• Extraresources+• Resourcesneed for basictasks• Resourcesneeded forbasic tasks• DepletedresourcesAs you can see Tom has so many resources that he can easily accomplish the requiredbasic tasks for the day. He has extra energy, time, and enthusiasm for other things.The next box shows that Mary only has enough resources to get through basic taskssuch as dressing, making meals, perhaps a few routine chores. If she tries to pushherself to do much more than this, she will pay a price. The next day she will feel moreexhausted and overwhelmed, and her box may be even smaller.In the last box, you can see that Randy is having a bad day and can only reasonablyexpect to do the bare minimum to get through the day.Continued on next pageCBIS Manual | JunE 2009actiVATion | 35