💬 Ask Shanen Norlin about Coping Skills for Depression [Licensed Therapist Column]

Depression has a way of making the simplest things feel insurmountable: getting out of bed, eating something, replying to a message. From the outside, these look like small tasks. From inside a depressive episode, they can feel like the heaviest things in the world.

Finding coping skills for depression that don't feel patronizing or impossible to do is harder than most advice suggests. "Go for a walk" or "practice self-care" lands differently when the episode is severe.

Shanen Norlin is a clinical therapist, behavioral health specialist, and a member of Liven's Board of Health Professionals. She works with clients navigating depression, and its impact on the body, including the way chronic stress and low mood affect energy, immunity, and daily functioning.

Her approach draws on behavioral activation, somatic therapy, and nervous system regulation: three evidence-based tools that work together to help both the mind and body stabilize during a depressive episode. In this article, she walks us through how and where to start.

Key Learnings

• Depression affects the body as much as the mind.
• Behavioral activation doesn't mean doing a lot; it means reintroducing small, manageable actions that re-engage your system.
• A dysregulated nervous system keeps the body in a chronic stress state, and grounding, breathing, and mindfulness help shift it.
• Basic acts like showering or eating nourishing food count as meaningful steps.

Here's what Shanen shares on supporting the body and mind during a severe depressive episode:

Depression can take a real toll on the body, including sleep, energy levels, and daily functioning, all of which play a role in overall health. While medical concerns like immune function are best addressed in collaboration with a healthcare provider, there are therapeutic strategies that can support your body and mind during a depressive episode.

One of the primary approaches is behavioral activation, which focuses on reintroducing small, manageable actions into daily life. This might look like getting out of bed at a consistent time, stepping outside for a few minutes, or completing one simple task. These changes may seem small, but they help re-engage both the mind and body in ways that support overall functioning. You want to treat yourself with compassion — even taking a shower or fueling your body with nutritious food can help with overall immune health.

Therapists also work on regulating the nervous system. Chronic stress and depression can keep the body in a prolonged state of dysregulation. Skills like grounding, paced breathing, and mindfulness can help shift the body out of that state, creating conditions where both emotional and physical systems can stabilize. Somatic therapy can be helpful to bring bodily awareness back into your conscious mind. Emotional distress often shows up as a body-based state, also known as fight, flight, freeze, shutdown. Using somatic strategies can help you more effectively change states and shift out of that cycle.

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Where to Start?

Shanen's framework works because it doesn't ask you to feel better before you act. Behavioral activation flips the usual logic: you don't wait for motivation to arrive; you move, and the motivation follows. Small and consistent beats ambitious and abandoned every time.

How to apply it:

• Grounding works best when practiced across different mood states. Shanen's point about building familiarity before you need it applies here, too. Try paced breathing or a simple body scan on a neutral day so it's accessible when things get harder.
• If you notice depression living in your body, e.g., tension, heaviness, a sense of being shut down or disconnected, somatic approaches are worth exploring. Liven's in-app tools include somatic and breathing practices designed specifically for nervous system regulation.
• Shanen names showering and eating as meaningful health acts during a depressive episode, because the body needs them to function, and depression is very good at "convincing" you they don't matter.
• If depression and anxiety are both present, the depression coping skills Shanen outlines here overlap significantly with anxiety regulation. The nervous system doesn't draw clean lines between the two, which means the same grounding, breathing, and body-based tools tend to support both.
• If you have a partner, family member, or friend who can take something off your plate, let them. Depression is harder to move through alone, and asking for help is not a sign that the coping skills aren't working.

If the episode is severe, prolonged, or affecting your ability to function in daily life, professional support isn't a step to delay. A therapist can tailor these strategies to what's happening for you, and a doctor can assess whether there are physical factors worth addressing alongside the emotional work.