How Donating Can Help Manage Depression Symptoms

Donating is thought of as a selfless act. But it turns out, people who regularly give away their money might also be cashing in on a reward: earning a more positive outlook.

Researchers at Shenzhen University have found that being generous might help people with depression manage their condition. In the experiment, people who donated small amounts of money online daily for 2 months improved their mood. The findings are published in Psychological Science. 

Lead author Yuyang Zhang said in an interview that the idea for the study came from his personal experience.

“While preparing for my psychology graduate exams, a notably stressful period, I observed that donation uplifted my mood, potentially due to a ‘warm glow’ effect,” he said. “Upon entering graduate school, I contemplated whether this mood enhancement could be replicated in others.” 

Zhang’s hypothesis was tested over three studies. The first, which included 125 participants, didn’t record how much people donated. The second and third, which included 296 and 462 people, respectively, logged the amounts people donated daily. Across all studies, the average age of the participants was 21.

Participants were recruited from online platforms such as WeChat, which is primarily used in China. After recruitment, participants were screened for symptoms via a depression scale, and any individuals currently undergoing treatment for depression were excluded to rule out potential confounding factors.

In each cohort, participants’ depression symptoms were regularly assessed, and they were asked to donate a minimum of one Chinese cent per day, which is equivalent to roughly USD $0.0014.  

The researchers found that people who donated daily tended to feel better about themselves after the trial. They also found that those who gave more generously tended to have greater mental health benefits than those who donated less. This included more positive emotionality overall.

“Our research has revealed that incorporating small acts of kindness into daily life can have a profound impact on mental health,” said coauthor Jinting Liu of Shenzhen University. “The ripple effect of these minor benevolent actions can be immeasurably powerful.”

Though the study was performed within China, previous studies conducted in other countries have suggested a similar link between well-being and donation. In a 2013 paper in Psychological Science, researchers at The University of Chicago and Northwestern University found that people who repeatedly gave small gifts were consistently happier than those who received gifts (O’Brien & Kassirer, 2019).

Related Research Topic: Giving

Yet some research has found that people with mood disorders receive little benefit from engaging in prosocial acts (Gander et al., 2012; Kerr et al., 2015; Wieners et al., 2021). Liu speculated that this difference could stem from study design. If a study required people perform an intervention in person, Liu and colleagues theorized, it could cause an undue burden on the individual living with depression, especially those who may be stressed in social situations.

“In my experience interacting with students exhibiting symptoms of depression, I have observed that they often encounter difficulties in social situations and tend to avoid such interactions,” Liu said. 

Moving the intervention to an online platform, they suggested, could remove this discomfort and yield greater benefit. Ideally, it could also help clinicians design prosocial treatments for depression, perhaps even expanding beyond donation and into other altruistic actions, like volunteering. 

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