Depression

Similar to anxiety, I utilize multiple approaches to assist in alleviating depression symptoms. For example, I may apply Somatic (bodily focused) and/or Compassion-Focused, techniques to assist with reducing and/or eliminating depressive symptoms.

Depression shows up as low mood, sadness, low motivation, appetite changes, and a cluster of other symptoms. If you are exhibiting these symptoms for 2 or more weeks, you may have depression and it is important to treat it. Left untreated, depression does not go away, it simply lingers or gets worse. I provide treatment strategies to alleviate these symptoms.

I help you heal specific life experiences, anxieties and triggers, strengthening your mind to overcome negative emotions and trauma. I am committed to teaching you how to quiet the chatter, live in the present, choose better thoughts, habits, and beliefs through emotional healing and relaxation therapy.

I have worked with many individuals experiencing depression, both short-term/recent and long-term, often lifelong. I help them to discover ways of coping, to explore the origins of their depression (which can help normalize and explain their experience), and uncover their inner strengths to remind them of how resilient they actually are.

I view depression not as a set of symptoms, but as a manifestation of one's inner world. I view depression as multifaceted, and tend to approach mood-related symptoms from existential, interpersonal, and relational lenses. While I am a firm believer in expanding one's "toolbox" to treat depression, I work with patients to understand inner conflicts, previous traumas, and unresolved grief that often underlie symptoms of depression.

The bottom line is that depression is worse than mere sadness or being in a "bad mood." The hallmark of severe depression, is "an inclination to despair" and the inability of many people to feel anything whatsoever. The "soul of depression"

Depression is a feeling of being trapped. It is difficult when you have lost your energy to connect with others or do basic tasks. I can help you look at how you can crawl out of the prison you feel you are in. I will help you view your life from a different perspective and give you your hope back. I will help you learn to re-engage in life and find a way to find joy again.

I can help you learn the skills you need to not feel exhausted all the time, have energy for things you love, stop feeling like a burden, & feel better about yourself & your life.

If your depression feels overwhelming, or you're wondering how to enjoy life again, I can help you. You don't have to hide your feelings with me, and you only need to share what you're comfortable with, when you're comfortable. I can handle anything and everything you share with me. Do you feel like you have been driving a car in the dark on an unknown dirt road? By facing your depression together, I can be your co-pilot in the passenger's seat who turns on the headlights and helps read the map.

I enjoy walking beside my clients who are working to overcome depression, low motivation, and negativity about their future. I like to help my clients to accurately reframe negative thoughts, to create goals, accumulate positive experiences, and using tools such as behavioral activation. I'm also there for my clients to have someone to just be with them and listen, which sometimes is exactly what we need when we're feeling low.

Therapy for depression is individualized based on your circumstances. There may be grief or past trauma that contributes to your low mood that we work through in therapy. Current stressors might have pushed you past your limits, & we will work to get you back on track. Some common areas addressed in therapy for depression are dealing with negative thoughts, learning new ways to interact with your emotions, exploring coping patterns, & trying out new ways of interacting with yourself & others.

Depression is difficult. From being unable to get out of bed to feeling overwhelmed by small tasks to snapping at those you love it's exhausting. I have been partnering with client's to take back their lives using a mix of Narrative Therapy and DBT for many years. I am looking forward to working with you to take back your life.

My experiences also consist of working with those who suffer from depression. In today's world many people struggle with feelings of isolation, not measuring up, feeling hopeless, and a lack of motivation. In my experience, people benefit from talking to someone in a safe space and gaining a deeper understanding of the processes of their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that may contribute to depression and learning techniques to develop new ways of coping that reduce depression.

Sometimes, what makes us miserable is not the situation but how we think about the situation. There are also legitimate reasons to experience sadness and grief, but these feelings become less overwhelming as we learn to treat own emotions with compassion, curiosity, and acceptance. I want to help you break free of self-destructive, habitual ways of thinking, to learn skills for coping with distress, and to identify and expand your strengths and sources of positive emotion in your life.

For my clients, depression looks like this: sleeping too much/little, staying in bed all day “bed rotting”, not taking care of hygiene regularly, feeling down or “blah”, isolating, not engaging in activities they used to, eating too much/little, feeling irritable, and sometimes feeling suicidal or harming themselves. I use specific strategies (CBT & DBT) to help people feel like themselves again. I know it’s hard to imagine what it’s like to not feel this way anymore and I help folks get there.

If the depression you are experiencing could talk, what would it say? Depression can be the result of many things - trauma, grief, anger focused inwards and even creativity not being expressed. I help my clients process and reduce their depression through talk therapy, connecting to people, changing the way they think and exercise.

Stuck inside for the last 3 years? Not sure what next steps are? Struggling to find motivation-- Same. We all have moments in our life where depression can feel overwhelming, debilitating, and exhausting? There may be hope, or not, and that's okay. Let's work together to create the life you want. We may be fighting systemic oppression and invalidating family dynamics, and I am here to make sure you don't have to do this in isolation.

Beyond my own comprehensive professional training for addressing depression, I have personal experiences with overcoming its challenges which have helped formulate my approach.

I have the training necessary life skills to help you through your depression.