Another Proof that Compassion Helps Ward Off Depression
There’s happiness in sharing, helping others and making them smile. And scientists have proof for this. Researchers from Adriana Galvan of the University of California and her colleagues found that happiness derived from reaching out to others, like raising money for charity, could be better for teen mental health than the happiness derived from personal pleasures like eating chocolate or listening to music.
Teens often seek hedonic rewards and gain pleasure from risky behaviours. At the same time, teens have a high risk of becoming depressed. Symptoms of depression increase dramatically through the course of the teenage years, peaking at around 17 or 18. Understanding how psychological responses to rewards affect the risk of depression could make it easier for mental healthcare professionals to provide the right services to vulnerable teens.
For the study, the researchers asked 39 teens to complete a questionnaire that measured depressive symptoms. The teens then performed two tasks. In the first task, they played a game in which they had to choose between earning money for themselves or for their families. In the second task, which assessed attitudes toward risk taking, they received rewards based on how they inflated a virtual balloon. As the teens performed these tasks, they underwent fMRI scans so the researchers could examine activity in the ventral striatum, a part of the brain associated with feelings of pleasure.
A year later, the teens retook the questionnaire. Teens whose ventral striatum activity had been high when they decided to help their families tended to experience a decrease in depressive symptoms. However, teens whose ventral striatum activity had been high when they decided to help themselves or take a large risk tended to become more depressed over the year.
The researchers think that people who gain pleasure from eudaimoniac rewards could be more likely to engage in activities that make them feel valuable, and this could improve their mental health.
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