Allie Meyers

Activity Title: A walk around Lake Scranton

Sources:

Katharina Star, P. D. (2019, August 10). Why You Should Exercise to Relieve Symptoms of
Mental Illness. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/physical-exercise-for-
panic-disorder-and-anxiety-2584094.

Torres, M.D., MBA, DFAPA, F. (2020, October). What Is Depression?

https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/depression/what-is-depression.

Goal-setting. Goal-setting | Depression Center | Michigan Medicine. (n.d.).

https://www.depressioncenter.org/toolkit/i-want-stay-mentally-healthy/goal-setting.

Equipment Needed: Water bottle, sneakers, cell phone, earbuds to listen to music, proper
workout clothing, a hat (since it’s always sunny and hot there during the summer), and a light
backpack to keep the water bottle in.

Activity Description: This activity is one that can be done every day with a long-term goal in the
end. The short-term goal of this activity is to enjoy nature while also being active because
physical activity is proven to benefit our mental health. The participant is a 21-year-old woman
with major depressive disorder, so having an activity that is low impact is very important
because some causes of depression can be loss of motivation, increased fatigue, tension, feeling
sad, loss of interests, etc. Starting off with a walk then working your way up to running over the
course of however many weeks it takes is the long-term goal of this activity. To make it easier on
the participant, the only rules I would put are to push yourself and to listen to music while
walking to distract yourself and make it more fun. Listening to your favorite music will make the
activity much more enjoyable.

Primary Social Interaction Patterns: The primary social interaction for this activity is
extraindividual because the participant is alone and interacting with nature and their phone to
listen to music.

Adaptation: Depression is a common mental illness that negatively impacts the way you feel,
think, and act. It can cause someone to lose interest in things they used to be passionate about,
fatigue, overwhelming feelings of sadness, trouble sleeping, even difficulty concentrating
(American Psychiatric Association). Depression is different for everyone, so some people can
have completely different symptoms of depression. Something that is very important in helping
someone with depression is goal setting. The best part about goal setting is it doesn’t have to be a
huge goal. Little accomplishments are just as rewarding as big ones. In this activity, the
adaptation for the participant with depression would be to make multiple goals over the course of
a couple months. The first goal could be to walk half of the lake, then walk the whole thing, then
have the end goal be to run the whole lake. Lake Scranton is 3.57 miles long so starting off with
walking is the best way to accomplish this goal, especially since there is a major loss of
motivation for most people with depression. Having these short-term and long-term goals are a
very good way to help the participant stay motivated.
 Allie Meyers

Participant: 21-year-old woman with Major Depressive Disorder