depression
A lot of people struggle with depression. According to NIMH, over 8% of all Americans (21 million) are affected by depression. Furthermore, a lot of people struggle longer than they need to, because depression makes it its job to stick around. It tells you to self-isolate or self-medicate instead of connecting with friends. Persistent feelings of hopelessness or apathy you of your energy. Anger and irritability keep your social supports at arm’s length. Sleep disturbances and digestive issues add to your overall malaise. For some, there are thoughts of suicide.
“The true opposite of depression is neither gaiety nor absence of pain, but vitality—the freedom to experience spontaneous feelings. ”
No matter how depression is showing up for you, it is important to know that there is hope and you do not need to suffer alone.
Common Symptoms of Depression:
Persistent sad, anxious or "empty" mood
Loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities once enjoyed.
Decreased energy, fatigue, a sense of “wading through molasses.”
Feelings of hopelessness, pessimism, guilt, worthlessness or helplessness
A sense of being numb - an inability to experience joy or pleasure (anhedonia).
Restlessness and irritability.
Difficulty concentrating, remembering, making decisions
Insomnia, early-morning awakening, or oversleeping
Low appetite and weight loss or overeating and weight gain
Thoughts of death or suicide, suicide attempts
Substance abuse
School-refusal
Persistent physical symptoms that do not respond to treatment.
Common Sources of Depression:
A denial of your essential self as a child (I.e., societal conditioning, pressure to fit in, etc.)
Experiencing ACES (Adverse Childhood Events)
Genetics (depression often runs in families)
Experiencing a series of ungrieved losses
Attachment disturbances; as an infant, your needs were not consistently attuned-to and your brain triggered an alarm response that altered its neurobiology and stress hormone levels.
How I Can Help:
While I tailor therapy to each individual client, the approaches I favor when working with depression are as follows:
Psychodynamics— Helps uncover the deeper grief, loss, or unmet needs that often lie beneath the surface of depression.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) — Effective for depression because it helps the brain desensitize stuck memories, and reprocess unhealthy self-beliefs with healthy ones.
IFS (Internal Family Systems) — Depression is often a part of us that needs to be heard, not suppressed; IFS helps you approach it with curiosity and compassion rather than shame.
Somatics — Depression lives in the body as much as the mind; somatic approaches help release this.
CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) — Helps you identify and gently challenge the thought patterns that keep depression around.
This is a form of therapy that helps you reduce symptoms of anxiety by identifying and transforming unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. With CBT, I collaborate with you to understand activating events and the thoughts/beliefs they generate. Then we work together to explore those thoughts/beliefs, and the ways in which they might be transformed into something more helpful for you.