Pre-panel, Photo by Thomas Roche

I wanted to provide an update on my recent experience at SXSW Interactive. I didn’t get to go to every panel I’d wanted to attend, but I believe most people come home from SXSW feeling that way.

Therapy 2.0: Mental Health For Geeks which I co-presented with Thomas Roche, was well attended with somewhere between 50-60 people in the room. As the room filled up, I wondered whether a group of this size would really allow for  a conversation, but I was pleasantly surprised to experience people talking with one another and sharing ideas, as opposed to simply directing their comments back to Thomas and me. There was quite a bit of energy in the room as people talked about how they sometimes feel overwhelmed by information. Some mentioned issues with non-privacy while others talked about the illusion of intimacy that one gets with social networking sites. One person observed that the frequent interruptions of technology have changed her experience of what it means to be alone, which I found interesting. People talked about their own tips for keeping healthy which included hobbies, breaks, exercise, and techniques such as leaving their devices at home.

Since we were doing a Core Conversation, rather than a formal panel, I wanted to create some resource so that folks could obtain information, if they felt compelled to do so after talking about all of these issues. With that in mind, I created a Therapy 2.0 wiki where folks are welcome to find out more. Please feel free to check it out for information related to self-assessment, books, online tools, and how to find a therapist. We ended our Core Conversation with my list of five things you can do now to improve your mental health. These are also on the wiki, but I am also sharing them here.

In summary, I had a wonderful time presenting at SXSW this year and am looking forward to returning next year, regardless of whether I’m presenting or simply listening and learning from the other inspirational panelists and attendees who show up each year.

Five Things You Can Start Doing Now to Improve Your Mental Health

1. Weekly gratitude practice

Research shows that keeping a weekly gratitude journal has significant effects on increasing optimism and decreasing reported physical symptoms. But don’t overdo it. Lyubomirsky et al. (2005) found that those who practiced gratitude three times per week saw less benefit than those doing it once a week, suggesting that there may be a habituation effect and loss of gains if you do it more than once per week. Consider putting a reminder in your calendar to do this once a week.

2. Breathing exercises/Mindfulness practice

If you find yourself feeling stressed or anxious, doing a simple breathing exercise can help lower your blood pressure, lower your heart rate, and bring your attention away from distressing thoughts. It is easy to let future-focused or past-focused thoughts get in your way and this can increase depressed or anxious feelings. Be sure to breathe deeply into your lower abdomen, rather than taking shallow breaths just into your upper chest.

Breathing exercises are one component of mindfulness which is the practice of staying focused upon the present moment. There have been many studies showing the beneficial effects of mindfulness practice on depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, stress, chronic pain, and other ailments. When practicing mindfulness, sit in a comfortable place and start with the breathing. Then focus simply on being in your body. Notice your weight in the chair and the sounds you hear. If worrisome thoughts enter your mind, bring your focus back to your breath. Try to do this for 5 minutes a day and work up to 15 minutes.

You may also consider searching for podcasts that offer relaxation, breathing, and mindfulness exercises.

3. Connect with others

There is much data suggesting that social support and connection increases mental health and feelings of self-worth while simultaneously decreasing stress. Consider joining an activity group, taking a class, or even volunteering somewhere.

Have a lot of work to do? Try co-working or just go to a cafe to get your work done.

4. Exercise

There is significant data indicating that exercise relieves symptoms of depression and anxiety while also helping with insomnia. Consider combining exercise with connecting with others by joining a gym or a boot camp or organizing physical activities with friends.

5. Thought-tracking

If you’re struggling with anxiety or depression, tracking thoughts and moods can be helpful. Thought records are a cognitive-behavioral tool that can help you examine thoughts and beliefs and how they influence your mood. You may notice patterns and less useful beliefs that come up in your inner monologue with yourself. Identifying these thought patterns can be a first step in changing them.

As someone with a passionate relationship with the the technologies I use, I can be a bit defensive when people pathologize internet and social networking technology. However, living in a culture of constant distraction certainly has an effect on our attention and concentration, even if we don’t have Attention Deficit Disorder. We are constantly being interrupted by our cellphones, SMS messages, Instant Messages, RSS feeds, Twitter updates, news headlines, email inboxes, and Facebook wall updates. All of this input can contribute to problems with task management. Information overload is also changing how we communicate: people are now microblogging and exchanging smaller snippets of information. This may be an adaptive way to connect with others, but it’s not always the best way to complete larger work projects.

Staying plugged in while still managing one’s time wisely is challenging. I’ve spent the past five years working in the counseling center at Stanford University, where I have seen many graduate students try to manage large chunks of unstructured time while working on their dissertations. Here are some time management tips that have been useful with these clients. They can also help you if you’ve fallen under procrastination’s spell.

1) Short work periods

If you have gotten really stuck on a project, try scheduling a 30-40 minute work period for your first day of getting back on-task on a project. Clients usually think I’m kidding when I prescribe such a short work block, but I am astounded at the number of people who come to see me who set aside 6 hours of work time and then are frustrated with themselves for not using the time well. Think of it this way: it’s much easier to mismanage 6 hours of time than it is to mismanage 40 minutes of time. This is especially true if you’re already reinforcing poor work habits. Get in the new habit of experiencing what a productive piece of work feels like. Keeping to short work periods helps create reasonable expectations while helping you build your skills and focus. It will also help you by leaving you feeling satisfied and productive, rather than angry at yourself for wasting time.

Tools

I tell clients to use an old-fashioned kitchen timer if they can find one, since it’s big, hard to ignore, and somewhat symbolic while you see it running out of time. There is the added tactile experience of twisting the time up when you set it, which may help to jar you from unconsciously web-browsing back to conscious work mode. Plus it’s one less thing to fiddle with on the computer.

Some people prefer to download different timers or stopwatches and use them instead.

2) Eliminate distractions

Have a big project to do? Turn off your cellphone (and that means turn it off vibrate!) and stick it in your backpack. Don’t leave it sitting on the table in front of you. Close your IM software, or at least go invisible. Close your web browser if you can, but if not, then close windows that are not work-related. If you have an email notifier, turn it off.

Is 40 minutes without access going to make a big difference? If you create room for interruptions and distractions, they will find you. It seems pretty straight-forward, but lots of people have gotten used to letting technology tap them on the shoulder every two minutes, and deciding that you’re going to be unavailable during your short work period will help immensely, at least for the outside interruptions.

Tools

If you need access to the web for the project you are working on, you can also use tools like LeechBlock to lock you out of specific websites for a specified period of time if you fear you will browse away from the project during your blocked out work time.

3) Schedule reward and break periods

When people are just starting to get back into good work habits, I recommend they start with 30-40 minutes of work each day. For many serious procrastinators, 6 days of 40 minutes of work is already three more productive hours of work a week than they’ve been completing. If someone is able to manage this and feel successful, we’ll talk about sandwiching an hour of internet playtime between two 40 minute chunks of work next. It is just as important to set the timer on the break periods as it is to set it during the work periods. After success with this, we’ll talk about increasing stamina to four work periods a day, with breaks scheduled and we may move the work period to 60 minutes with 40 minutes for breaks, internet browsing, research.

4) Break large tasks into smaller ones

Many people have difficulty because the size of the task. This can be particularly daunting if it’s something like a book or dissertation. Large projects can easily overwhelm a person. Start breaking projects into smaller pieces. Get specific about what you want to do with your block of work time and be reasonable. It may make more sense to start reading and reviewing one article than thinking you’re going to write ten pages of your lit review in one work session. If you’re having trouble breaking up your tasks, schedule some time with a friend who may be able to help you get organized and help you assess what a smaller task really is and whether it is manageable.

5) Get support

Try co-working or having a project partner. Getting together with someone for 1-2 hours of work a couple of times a week can help you to be accountable. It is sometimes easier to have to show up for someone else than it is to show up for yourself. Agree at the beginning of your work time on what tasks the two of you are hoping to complete. Check-in at the end of the work session and set an agenda for your next work date. If you can’t get together to work, plan a phone check-in at a set time later in the week to update one another on your progress. If you don’t have a partner, try Googling co-working and your city. Many cities have co-working networks and resources for people who want to get together and work.

Some other good sites and resources

Some people like to use tools to track their time to get a baseline measure of how and where their time is being spent. I don’t recommend people start with this, as it can add to the distraction or just bring up feelings of shame and defeat about misuse of time. But if you’re interested, RescueTime is a time management software that can do this for you. MeeTimer is a Firefox extension which does the same thing.

David Allen, the author of  Getting Things Done (GTD), a strategic approach to workflow management, has sparked a large movement of devotees. You can find a 1:26 minute podcast over at 43 folders, where there is another great post about his concepts in practice.

I love Cory Doctorow’s piece on Writing in the Age of Distraction.

Thanks to Tim Ferriss for his post on How to Use Twitter Without Twitter Owning You in which I was tipped off to the software recommendations in this post.

I have used Twitter socially for over two years now and have always been impressed with it as a way to quickly disseminate information across communities. Last fall, I discovered that one of my closest friends was in the hospital having emergency surgery, thanks to a mutual friend’s tweets. If not for her messages, I’d likely have not found out until days later, when my friend had the strength to email. During a recent dinner with another friend, she noted that Twitter has become a faster and more useful resource for local information on earthquakes than the previously relied upon California and Nevada earthquake Index .

But there are more things that you can do with Twitter, besides staying updated on personal or local updates. I just watched a fabulous online presentation entitled Twittering and Plurking for Work and Health , by PF Anderson, Emerging Technologies Librarian at the University of Michigan. She gives a fantastic overview of how these social networking technologies can be utilized by healthcare providers and patients to enhance productivity, learn about health legislation, mobilize activism and support, and to have more accessible relationships with providers. You can click through her slides for a quick overview, or play them with audio for the full 60 minute presentation. I am excited to see how technology is creating new avenues for patient care and empowerment, and I am looking forward to expanding my use of new web tools in productive ways for the clients who work with me.