Depression Cake and the Best Anxiety Trick

When you suffer with anxiety and depression (and mental illness in general), it seems many people have the same advice: “Just get over it! Stop thinking about it and it’ll go away!”

This Mad TV skit starring Bob Newhart is funny, but it really does feel that way when someone you’ve trusted with telling your personal challenges to brushes you off. I’m not here to preach about mental health stigma today, though. No, today, I am going to give you my best technique for dealing with anxiety when it’s running especially high.

Now, this may seem like I’m telling you the same thing Bob Newhart told that lady, but stay with me; The best way to deal with anxiety is to distract yourself. Do anything you like to get your mind off of it. To anyone who doesn’t deal with anxiety and depression, this should seem obvious, but to us, it’s the hardest thing in the world. It’s like telling someone not to look behind them- that’s the only thing they want to do now!


 So, the only way to go about distracting yourself is to do something that takes more mental power than thinking about your anxiety, but not so much effort that it causes you more stress. This is where I can help. I have mastered the art of distraction by collecting various activities that I keep around just in case.


The title of this post, and the pictures too, should give a hint to one such activity- baking! I have so many little baking projects collected now that require minimal effort, but enough thinking that I forget about what I was freaking out about before. Today I chose to make a pumpkin spiced depression cake. The name is fitting, no?

The recipe will be at the bottom of this post if you’d like to make your own. The depression cake is one of my favourite distractions because it’s so easy. No eggs, no butter, no milk; you can even mix and bake it in the same pan.

Now, I promised you some more distractions, didn’t I? Try:

• Writing prompts

• Doing something from this list

• Buying something from this store for just a dollar

• DIY-ing something easy

• Reading some self-help articles

There, now you have at least a few months worth of distractions for yourself. You may even find a new hobby out of it! This trick won't cure your anxiety, by any means, but it will help to lessen it when it is a particularly bad day. Tell me in the comments below: How do you deal with anxiety and depression? If you have any other distracting activities, share them with me!

Of course, as promised, here is the recipe for my easy (vegan) pumpkin spice depression cake: