There once was a psychiatrist in New York who worked with patients who were depressed.  While he provided the usual treatment, he would add something out of the ordinary. He would ask all his patients to do a mitzvah.
 
A mitzvah is a good deed, but not just any good deed. A mitzvah is a good deed where you are not expected to get anything back. You don’t expect an acknowledgment: it doesn’t give you points; you don’t get a reward; and you might not even get a thank you.

In the previous post on mental health wellness, we talked about the need to meet with a friend face-to-face, either just talking or eating together. However, some people have only a few or no friends.  In this post and the next, we share recommendations on how to be social even if you don’t have many friends.

May is Mental Health Awareness month.  This month, organizations and agencies publish articles on how to identify mental health issues and best treatment practices.  This year we’d would like to take a slightly different approach and focus on mental health wellness.  In the next few weeks, we will present activities that have been shown to improve mental health. These activities work for people who are currently in treatment, have been in therapy, and want to stay well, and those who have never been in treatment but want to simply improve their mental health.