Depression Therapy
What is Depression?Everyone experiences occasional sadness or dips in their mood. Depression is different, impairing a person's ability to engage in their normal lives. Depression can cause people to withdraw from friends and family, lose interest in the things they love to do, feel hopeless about the future, feel excessive guilt, and even contemplate suicide. Depression is a relatively common condition and is treatable.
What causes Depression?
Depression is caused by a combination of several factors. Our genetic makeup can play a role in predisposing us to becoming depressed. Situational stress or overwhelming life circumstances can trigger this genetic predisposition, causing the disorder to develop. Brain chemistry can also play a role when there is an imbalance of the chemicals used to transmit information in the brain (called neurotransmitters). Our style of thinking and interpreting the world around us can have a major impact in the development of Depression, as can the behavioral habits we develop over our lifetime.
How common is Depression, and how long does it last?
Depression is one of the most common forms of mental illness. Many people experience a "depressive episode" at some point in their lives. The duration of the symptoms depends on the type of depression. Some people experience episodes that last weeks to months. Others may experience a milder, more chronic version of depression that can last for years. Depression can also be part of a condition called Bipolar Disorder in which people experience shifts in mood that include periods of Depression.
What are the signs and symptoms of Depression?
- Unusually low mood
- Loss of interest in activities or relationships
- Significant weight change (loss or gain)
- Sleeping too much or too little
- Fatigue or low energy
- Feelings of worthlessness or guilt
- Decreased ability to concentrate
- An increase in thoughts of death or suicide
Depression Counseling
How is Depression treated?Depression is treated through psychotherapy ("talk therapy") and with the use of antidepressant medications. Though either of these options can significantly improve the symptoms, the best results tend to come from a combination of the two, in which the therapist and the medical doctor prescribing the medications are communicating about the treatment.
Therapy for Depression
Therapy for depression often focuses on teaching people to change the thought patterns, behavior patterns, and relationship patterns that contribute to depression. When depression develops, it can help to regularly meet with someone trained to help develop appropriate changes in thinking, behavior and in relationships that alleviate the symptoms. Therapy for depression can provide you with a structured approach to improving your symptoms. Meeting weekly with a trained counselor for depression therapy helps provide the tools that can get you back on track. Coping tools for depression help people begin to make progress that tends to be very long lasting, and a key component of developing future episodes of depression.How do I get started?
The best place to start is to participate in an evaluation by a mental health professional. They can help diagnose depression, recommend a specific intervention (therapy, medications, or both), and answer questions about the process. Therapy for depression can be a particularly difficult process to start, because the symptoms often make us less likely to seek out social support. We want to help make the process of starting depression therapy as easy as possible.
If you have questions, and would like to speak to one of our mental health professionals, call or email today. You can also fill out our brief contact form by clicking here.
