A new study led by the University of Vienna shows that when people with depression are encouraged to recognize their strengths, their confidence and ability to pursue personal goals improve. The findings challenge common stereotypes that frame depression as weakness.
People living with depression often hear that their illness makes them fragile or incapable. A new study suggests the opposite is true — and that recognizing the strength it takes to live with depression can help people believe in themselves and move toward their goals.
Led by Christina Bauer, a social psychologist at the University of Vienna, the research team found that when people who had experienced depression spent just 20 minutes reflecting on their own resilience and coping skills, their self-confidence rose. Over time, that boost in confidence translated into greater progress toward personal goals.
The work, published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, challenges a powerful cultural story that paints people with depression as weak or broken. The research suggests that story is not only inaccurate, but also harmful.
People with depression often push through intense fatigue and lack of motivation to get out of bed, go to work or school, and care for others. They learn to manage waves of negative thoughts and emotions, and they endure difficult phases that can last weeks or months.
“All of this shows impressive strength,” Bauer said in a news release.
Yet previous studies have shown that these efforts are rarely recognized. Instead, public conversations and media portrayals often reduce people with mental illness to stereotypes, sometimes even labeling them as weaklings.
Bauer notes this kind of language has real psychological consequences.
“It stands to reason that such narratives have negative effects: we know from previous studies that people with depression often have less confidence in their own abilities. In our new study, we were able to clearly prove how great the influence of such attributions can be,” she added.
To test that influence, Bauer and colleagues designed a simple intervention that flips the usual deficit-focused narrative. Rather than emphasizing symptoms and struggles, the researchers created a short, guided exercise that highlights the often-overlooked strengths people develop while dealing with depression.
In the exercise, participants were invited to think about specific ways they had shown perseverance, handled difficult emotions, or coped with symptoms in their own lives. The activity took about 20 minutes and was designed to be easy to complete online.
Across three controlled experiments involving a total of 748 people who had experienced depression, participants were randomly assigned either to complete this strengths-focused reflection or to join a comparison group. Those who did the reflection reported significantly higher self-confidence afterward, regardless of how severe their current depressive symptoms were.
That finding matters because low self-confidence is a common and debilitating feature of depression. When people doubt their abilities, they may be less likely to apply for a job, start a class, reach out to friends, or take other steps that could improve their lives and well-being.
Bauer’s team wanted to know whether a brief shift in self-perception could change that pattern in everyday life. In a two-week follow-up study, participants set a personal goal — for example, exercising more often, studying consistently, or reconnecting with someone important to them. Those who had completed the strengths exercise made substantially more progress toward their chosen goal than those in the control group.
According to the researchers, participants who reflected on their strengths advanced 49% more toward their personal goal over the two weeks. That suggests that feeling more capable did not just make people feel better in the moment; it helped them take concrete steps toward what mattered to them.
Bauer emphasizes that seeing oneself as strong is not about denying the reality of depression or minimizing the need for treatment. Instead, it is about giving a more complete and accurate picture of what people are already doing to cope.
“Seeing ourselves as strong rather than weak is important for all of us in order to believe in ourselves and pursue our goals. This also applies to people with depression,” Bauer added.
The study adds to a growing body of research showing that how society talks about mental illness can shape how people see themselves. When the dominant story is one of weakness, failure or permanent damage, people may internalize those messages and give up on their ambitions. When the story includes perseverance, courage and skill, it can open up new possibilities.
Bauer argues that shifting the narrative is not just a task for psychologists, but for families, friends, educators, employers and the media. Everyday comments — from how a teacher talks about mental health in class to how a manager responds when an employee discloses depression — can either reinforce stigma or recognize strength.
“We need to understand that people who struggle with depression are not weak. Such narratives can act as self-fulfilling prophecies and prevent people from reaching their full potential,” added Bauer.
The researchers describe their approach as reframing depression: not ignoring the pain it causes, but also acknowledging the resilience it reveals. While the study focused on a brief, structured exercise, the underlying idea can be applied more broadly.
For people who have experienced depression, that might mean taking time to notice the skills they have built — such as persistence, empathy for others who are suffering, or the ability to function under emotional strain. For clinicians, it could mean incorporating strengths-based questions into therapy. For the public, it might mean being more careful about language and more willing to recognize the effort it takes to live with a mental illness.
At its core, the research suggests a straightforward but powerful shift: instead of asking what depression takes away, we can also ask what strengths people show in facing it — and how recognizing those strengths might help them build the lives they want.
The study was conducted with participants in the United States and the UK.
Co-authors of the study include Greg Walton, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, Jürgen Hoyer, a professor of behavioral psychotherapy at the Technology University of Dresden, and Veronika Job, a professor of motivational psychology at the University of Vienna.
Source: University of Vienna