* Do you frequently feel sluggish and tired?
* Have you lost interest in things you used to enjoy?
* Do you sometimes wish you just wouldn’t wake up in the morning?
* Do you have trouble sleeping or sleep way too much?
If you can relate to the questions above, you may have clinical depression. You may have trouble concentrating and find it difficult to make even simple decisions. Maybe you’ve noticed a change in your weight or your appetite. Depression can cause some to overeat therefore put on weight while others have no interest in food. You may also feel irritable or get angry more quickly than usual. Depression effects people in many different ways and it can leave you questioning what’s going on.
You know your body. You can tell something is off but you may feel powerless to change it. Depression is a very powerful force which can consume you and your life before you know it. We tend to write a lot of symptoms off like maybe we’re just stressed out, maybe it’s my thyroid or I just need more sleep. But, eventually it becomes more than you can handle alone and nothing seems to change it.
Some people know exactly what caused their depression. Such as the death of a loved one, divorce, financial problems or even childhood trauma. But, others may be confused and frustrated about where their depression comes from. You may think “there is no logical reason for me to be depressed, things are pretty good in my life right now.” There could be a biological component to your depression such as the brain chemistry being unbalanced, inherited traits that leave you predisposed to depression or hormonal changes. There isn’t always a concrete reason for depression.
You may feel “empty,” worthless or helpless. You may have noticed difficulty falling asleep at night in spite of being tired, or waking early. Many people also experience a desire to sleep much more than normal. You might think that you don’t want to keep living this way and even consider suicide. You may struggle with your irritability so much that you become isolated or want to become violent with others. You may start calling in to work, getting there late or under-performing. Ultimately, you know that something is wrong but you don’t know how to change it.
Depression has a way of convincing people to think that life isn’t worth experiencing. Their energy dwindles, what once was pleasurable is now of no interest and the physical symptoms are completely overwhelming.
By the numbers: According to a report by the National Institute of Mental Health, over 16 million Americans suffer from depression each year. But there is help. There are many different ways to treat depression.
In therapy, counselor helps you better understand your depression, identify negative beliefs you have that may be fueling your depression or if there are unresolved issues from your past. You may think you have already dealt with past stress or trauma when in reality, it’s still effecting you. We will consider and weigh options for medication to help your symptoms with our ultimate goal being to help you get off of them.
We know therapy can be intimidating so we will work to ease your concerns in the first session. We like to get to know you, understand your history and what is bothering you presently. Then establish some specific goals we can work toward together in therapy. You are ultimately in control of what we work toward so we will always consult with you about how things aRe progressing. You may start feeling better after the first session since you know you are doing something to get your life back. After some time in therapy, you will begin to see things from a different perspective, identify underlying stressors that were fueling your depression and come up with ways to deal with those.
