Colors that relieve depression and anxiety

Currently, it has been verified through clinical color therapy practice and cognitive psychology research that cool neutral colors with low saturation and low brightness can have an emotional soothing effect on most people - such as soft mist blue, pine needle green, beige gray, and milky apricot. However, there is no "universal healing color" that applies to everyone. The specific effects will vary greatly depending on personal growth experience and cultural background.

A while ago, I accompanied a severely anxious Internet operator to visit me to make home adjustments. She had followed the trend and painted the walls in Internet red "Healing Blue". As a result, she felt flustered and restless when she opened the door after get off work every day. After chatting for a long time, she discovered that the office of the PUA leader she met before was exactly the same bright blue, and staying there for a long time might even trigger her memory of being scolded and causing physiological hand tremors. Instead, it was the worn soft mist blue fabric sofa in the consulting room. She could calm down her breathing every ten minutes she lay on it. Later, she changed the background wall at home to a wall covering of the same color, and the frequency of anxiety attacks dropped by 30%.

Many people ask me whether the "blue and green must be useful" as mentioned on the Internet is the standard answer. In fact, there are quite large differences in this matter among academic circles. The traditional school of color psychology prefers common conclusions, believing that human beings' relaxing associations with blue and green are engraved in evolutionary memory - in ancient times, seeing blue skies and green plants meant that they were in a safe and well-fed living environment, and the body would automatically lower cortisol levels and lower its defense state. However, the embodied cognition school that has emerged in recent years does not recognize the idea of ​​"unified healing color" at all. They believe that 90% of the healing effect of color comes from the positive association of individuals: If you think milky white is healing, it may be because the quilt your grandma used to dry in your childhood was of this color. When you see it, you associate it with the smell of the sun and a relaxing vacation; for someone who was locked up in a blank confinement room in childhood, looking at milky white will only feel suffocating, let alone relieve anxiety.

Interestingly, an experiment conducted by the Institute of Cognitive and Brain Sciences at the University of Cambridge in 2022 just provided support for both views. They found 1,000 subjects with moderate anxiety symptoms and spent 30 minutes in closed rooms of different colors. The final data showed that the cortisol levels of subjects in the soft mist blue room dropped by an average of 19%, and those in the pine needle green room dropped by 17%. Indeed, all colors However, 12% of the subjects' anxiety index increased in the rooms of these two colors. Follow-up interviews found that these people had either drowned or been lost and trapped in the forest. The negative memories completely overshadowed the soothing effect of the color itself.

When I usually make mood adjustment plans for visitors, I rarely ask them to buy soft furnishings according to the list of Internet celebrities. Instead, I will first ask them to do a small test that can be completed in half a minute: flip through the photo album on your mobile phone and find 3 photos that you did not take deliberately, but you unconsciously pause for two seconds every time you touch them. See what color accounts for the largest proportion in them. That is basically your "emotional soothing color". There was a young man who was so anxious about the postgraduate entrance examination that he had insomnia. The three photos he found were all of the orange sunset in high school. I asked him to change the curtains in his dormitory to a low-saturated light orange color and match the table mat with the same color. He said that when he looked up at the curtains when he was tired from studying, he felt that he would have a rest after school soon. It was much more effective than the green table mat he bought before.

Of course, there are a few general pitfalls to avoid. No matter what color you choose, you can pay attention to: Highly saturated bright yellows and bright reds are highly stimulating colors. Do not use them in large areas such as bedrooms and study rooms. For people who are in the acute attack of anxiety or the manic stage of bipolar disorder, the irritation of this color is basically the same as having a bass DJ playing in your ears when you are so flustered that you can't breathe, which will only increase the burden on your nerves. Also, use less bright silver and mirror gold that are highly reflective. They are too visually "jumpy" and can easily distract your attention. The more you look at it, the more your mind will wander.

After all, color itself has no healing power. In the final analysis, it is the soft memory we hide in color that pulls us to relax. You don’t have to force yourself to like the blue and green that everyone says. Every time you brush it, you will stop and look at the orange of the seaside sunset for a long time. The light gray of the old sweater that you have worn for three years and turned white. As soon as you see it, you will feel that the tightness in your chest relaxes. That is the color that is exclusive to you and the best way to relieve anxiety.