Has Depression Kept You From Feeling Alive?
Is a sense of low self-confidence or low self-esteem getting in the way of you making progress in your life?
Has a feeling of being unworthy of love and affection negatively impacted your relationships?
Do you find that it is easier to be kinder and more compassionate with others than with yourself?
You may feel as though it is hard to see negative qualities in others despite being able to identify and dwell on your own flaws. As a result, you may find that your inner voice is constantly on the offensive, creating the belief that there is something inherently wrong with you or that you deserve to be miserable.
Perhaps you experience common symptoms of depression, like sleep problems, negative body image issues, or pain that has no medical explanation. You may feel that your interest in doing the things that once provided joy has dwindled and that a gnawing sadness has replaced your sense of purpose and meaning.
Perhaps depression is impacting you socially, in that you become either overly attached to or withdrawn from partners, friends, or family members. You may have noticed a budding pattern of unsuccessful or unhealthy relationships for which you direct the blame onto yourself. Or perhaps, because you dwell so much on your perceived imperfections, you overcompensate by becoming overly committed to work, volunteerism, or social justice issues that allow you to deflect your pain and sadness.
If any of the above applies, you may feel plagued by a sense of not being good enough or worthy of happiness. Perhaps you have developed the belief that if you could just “fix” certain parts of yourself, then everything else would fall into harmony.
At the core of depression lies an innate desire to feel loved and understood—and therapy is precisely the place to begin your journey to self-acceptance.
Depression Often Stems From Early Experiences That Shape Our Worldview
Every person will experience depressive symptoms at some point in their lives—it’s an uncomfortable (but treatable) aspect of human nature. However, the way these symptoms manifest stems from a wide variety of circumstances, experiences, and upbringings. For those of us who were born into families where it was unacceptable to express negative emotion—be it sadness, anger, or frustration—feelings of dissatisfaction can often turn inward, creating a toxic inner critic within ourselves. Alternatively, for those of us who were instilled with a duty to help others and do good, an intense sense of purpose can take over, deflecting our insecurities and sense of failure. As a result, we may begin to prefer this self-inflicted pain to the perceived consequences of expressing our needs.
When such issues can be traced back all the way to childhood, it can be difficult to navigate a way out of depression. Uncomfortable and disruptive symptoms of depression signal to us that something needs to be resolved—whether that is properly mourning a relationship that was severed or made complicated during our youth or examining the experiences that we have had as adults that reinforce the system of negative beliefs we hold about ourselves.
You may feel that you would do anything to avoid the pain of examining and re-living the aspects of your past that have contributed to the symptoms you’re experiencing today. However, without the empathy and guidance of a professional counselor or therapist, it can be extremely difficult to understand the core issues that are driving your depression.
And while it’s understandable that you’d rather not go there, I am here to offer you the support and perspective you need to navigate your way out of the darkness. Together, we can find the roots that, when untangled, provide new energy for overcoming depression.
Treatment Puts You In The Driver’s Seat
Because depression has caused you to feel inadequate, self-critical, and low in confidence, it’s unlikely that you give yourself many opportunities for healing while exploring your strengths. In a safe and supportive therapeutic environment, however, you can be given the chance to unpack feelings that you might otherwise not want to confront or share with others.
Throughout the course of depression treatment, the therapeutic process will adjust to meet your needs and find healing rather than avoidance and repression. I view the therapist-client relationship in terms of guidance and navigation: you are the driver of your own car and I am simply here to help you read the map as you focus on the road ahead.
Using information from the first few sessions, we will slowly begin to uncover what is causing continued feelings of sadness, isolation, and dysregulation. Each session will be engineered to discuss exactly what you have experienced throughout the course of the week so that together, we can identify where your negative self-belief system has dictated your emotions and behaviors.
Together, we will take a curious approach to depression in understanding where these flawed beliefs may have stemmed from and how your most fundamental relationships have informed your worldview. By exploring these past dynamics, we will be able to locate the patterns in your life that are serving you as well as the ones that have become maladaptive and harmful over time.
As you progress throughout the course of depression treatment, you can observe and acknowledge your emotions in safe and healthy ways that don’t damage your sense of self. In beginning to understand the importance of all of your emotions, you will be empowered to experience your emotions more—not less. And over time, you will see symptoms of depression fade as you better understand how to welcome and manage emotional discomfort.
While the process of unpacking distressing experiences, memories, and emotions can be painful at times, it will benefit you in the long run to maintain a deeper understanding of how you feel and why. Therapy can help you readjust your relationship with emotions that may have been previously deemed negative or “bad” in the past, so that you can better decipher the messages that the depression you’re experiencing is attempting to convey.
There is nothing wrong with feeling angry or sad, and in fact, those emotions are a central part of you that contains useful information about who you are and where you want to go. These emotions and symptoms associated with depression are loud and surfacing for a reason— perhaps it’s time to listen and use the help of a therapist to interpret them.
Maybe you’re considering counseling for depression, but you have some questions…
How much does depression treatment cost?
A 50-minute session costs $250. Depending on availability, I offer an income-based sliding scale on a case-by-case basis.
How long does depression treatment take?
The length of this process will vary from person to person. Growth and development take time and perseverance. By exploring the prospect of therapy or counseling for depression, you are already approaching the first milestone of treatment, which is acknowledging that you are capable of change and do not have to do it alone. One way to think about “how long” is to compare it to going to the gym. Mental health is as important if not more important than physical health, and establishing a routine to stay in shape is vital.
What if we determine that you and I are not a good match for depression treatment?
The therapist-client relationship is likely the most essential element of the healing process when it comes to overcoming depression. As such, I use our initial sessions for not only getting to know you, but also to gauge the fit for our therapeutic relationship. If, after a few sessions, you feel that you’d like to explore other options for counseling, I am more than willing to provide referrals based on your needs; I am invested in helping you process and understand your experience with depression.
Give Depression The Opportunity To Provide You With Meaningful Information So You Can Heal
If you find yourself ignoring or avoiding the uncomfortable feelings that depression is signaling to you, therapeutic treatment can help you facilitate newfound awareness and healing. For a free, 15-minute consultation to find out how I can help, contact me via my website or call (323) 201-7450.