Depression Counseling
You deserve more than a life lived through an exhausting grey cloud of depression. People with depression often express that they are unable to engage in their lives in a consistent and meaningful way. Depression can cloud your mind and sap your energy leaving you feeling hopeless and disconnected. In a lower-level depression, functionality may exist, but life seems to lack joy or meaning. Unfortunately, depression is not something you can just “snap out of” no matter what you may have told yourself or heard from others.
Lasting change is possible and you can find a renewed sense of engagement, optimism and energy for life, but it may require the help of a trained therapist to get you there. The first step is in understanding more about how depression works and how to begin treating it.
Signs of Depression Include:
Significant depressed mood most of the day for a prolonged period of time
Markedly diminished interest or pleasure
Changes in sleep
Psychomotor changes
Fatigue
Feelings of worthlessness
Excessive or inappropriate guilt
Difficulty concentrating
Recurrent thoughts of death
Treatment for depression
A good therapist will begin by helping you to understand both what is causing your depression, and practical things you can do to start managing it right away. Working with Belle, we will begin by placing our focus on key areas: where thoughts came from, how to refute irrational thoughts, what emotions are associated with them, and how to change resulting behaviors. By looking at each piece, we treat the whole person using a comprehensive approach including psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, and mindfulness therapies.
Mindfulness based therapy allows the emergence of an impartial view that starts with a sense of how things are in the present moment, without changing anything. This in turn creates a shift, leading to a feeling of control and even self-mastery.
“You are a wonderful guide, mentor and friend. What you’ve shared will endure within me for a long time.”
– KO