Can One Donation a Day Keep Depression Away? Three Randomized Controlled Trials of an Online Micro-Charitable Giving Intervention

Prosocial interventions grounded in social interactions have shown limited effectiveness in alleviating depressive symptoms, possibly because of the discomfort and unease that depressed individuals experience during such interactions. We developed and examined an innovative prosocial intervention—an online micro-charitable giving intervention, in which individuals voluntarily donated at least one Chinese cent (¥0.01, or about $0.0014) daily. We conducted three preregistered, 2-month randomized controlled trials with depressed individuals (Sample 1: N = 125, Sample 2: N = 296, Sample 3: N = 462). Results showed that, compared with the waitlist group, the intervention group exhibited significantly greater improvements in both depressive symptoms (Cohen’s d s = −0.19 to −0.46) and emotional positivity (Cohen’s d s = 0.22 to 0.49), and that emotional positivity mediated the intervention’s effect on the reduction of depressive symptoms. Exploratory analysis found a slightly larger intervention effect for generous donors than for minimal donors. This low-cost, easily accessible prosocial intervention holds potential for the prevention of depression. Statement of Relevance Can donating one cent (specifically one Chinese cent, or about $0.0014) alleviate depressive symptoms? We have developed a practical and effective intervention—donating at least one cent daily on an online charity platform—and have discovered that this intervention effectively mitigates depressive symptoms in depressed individuals. Despite the nominal purchasing power of one cent in contemporary society, this act of giving has been shown to significantly enhance mental health. Our findings could be relevant to everyone in society; charitable donations promote societal harmony and, in addition, offer a cost-effective way to alleviate depressive symptoms. As the intervention instruction asserts, “Charity encompasses love, regardless of its size, as even one cent holds value.”

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Nikhil Krishnan on Twitter / X

yeah there used to be a company called Eureka that powered these types of observational, more lifestyle style studies (here's an example looking at coffee's effect on different biomarkers/conditions)https://t.co/urQRvTVTb7I think it can work if you have enough people in…— Nikhil Krishnan (@nikillinit) September 14, 2025

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Reducing debt improves psychological functioning and changes decision-making in the poor

Significance The impact of chronic debt on the poor is psychological, not just financial. We hypothesize that chronic debt impairs psychological functioning and decision-making, contributing to the poverty trap. This is because debt is not considered fungible and is viewed as costly mental accounts that consume cognitive bandwidth. We test this using quasiexperimental evidence from a one-off, unanticipated debt-relief program worth several months’ household income. Comparing the poor before and after debt relief, those with more debt accounts paid off experienced greater improvements in cognitive functioning, reported less anxiety, and became less present-biased. These findings provide actionable evidence for poverty-alleviation policy. , We examine how chronic debt affects behavior by studying how a large, unanticipated debt-relief program affected psychological functioning and economic decision-making in beneficiaries. A charity granted low-income households debt relief worth up to Singapore dollars 5,000 (∼3 month’s household income). We exploited quasiexperimental variation in the structure of debt relief: For the same dollar amount of relief, some beneficiaries had more debt accounts eliminated, while others had fewer paid off. Comparing 196 beneficiaries before and after debt relief, and controlling for debt-relief amount, having an additional debt account paid off improves cognitive functioning by about one-quarter of a SD and reduces the likelihood of exhibiting anxiety by 11% and of present bias by 10%. To achieve the same effect on cognitive functioning of eliminating one debt account, a beneficiary must receive debt relief worth ∼1 month’s household income. There is no effect of debt-relief magnitude on anxiety and decision-making. We exclude training and calendar effects, debt-causing behaviors, and liquidity constraints as explanations. Instead, these results support the hypothesis that chronic debt impairs behavior because the mental-accounting costs of owing distinct debt accounts consume mental bandwidth. Poverty-alleviation policies aimed at the indebted poor should consider addressing mental accounting and bandwidth taxes.

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One “advantage” of working in psychiatry is getting a window into an otherwise invisible world of really miserable people. I work in a wealthy, mostly-white college town consistently ra…

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Sasha Luccioni, PhD 🦋🌎✨🤗 on Twitter / X

Man, this preprint is really the gift that keeps on giving.In case people missed my previous PSA : you can't compare the carbon emissions of people and objects. Humans are more than just the work that they do. (Also, that paper makes a lot of false assumptions in general) https://t.co/bZA414J9YI— Sasha Luccioni, PhD 🦋🌎✨🤗 (@SashaMTL) September 19, 2023