In today’s highly individualistic culture, selfless acts can be a little hard to come by. But it turns out, Harry Styles was right: Treating people with kindness really can help you “find a place to feel good.” According to a study recently published in The Journal of Positive Psychology, performing acts of kindness can help people suffering from symptoms of anxiety or depression find relief and healing.
The study compared engaging acts of kindness with other therapeutic techniques to determine how they fared in improving social connection for people with anxiety or depressive disorders. “Social connection is one of the ingredients of life most strongly associated with well-being,” David Cregg, study co-author and doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at The Ohio State University, said in a Jan. 10 news release. “Performing acts of kindness seems to be one of the best ways to promote those connections.”
