What is Depression?

Depression is much more than being sad or feeling blue. Depression is a complex psychological reaction to our sadness. When we fear that a loss may be unbearable, or that our sadness may engulf us, depression can take root. Depression involves our whole person: our thoughts, feelings, body, behavior, and spirit.

When we’re depressed, we’re frozen between a happier past we can’t recover, and a future we can’t imagine as anything but bleak. We may feel angry. We may feel numb. More than anything, we feel hopeless.

How do I recover from depression?

If you’re depressed, your energy is trapped. You go over and over the same ground — like a hamster on a wheel, but more slowly. You need to break out of this system.

We’ll begin by surveying your situation, noticing your thoughts, feelings, sensations and behaviors as they arise. We’re going to be especially curious about the moments when one of these things leads to another. Understanding those tiny movements of change — the what, when, why and how — will prove invaluable.

Sometimes it’s going to be helpful to engage the critic inside. You’re going to listen carefully, but you’re also going to respond. Sometimes we may need to follow your anger a bit further than you currently allow it go. Other times we’ll go more deeply into your sadness or fear or hopelessness. It is through deepening your experience that we’ll uncover resources you didn’t know you had. It is these recovered resources that will pull you out of your despair.

Engaging yourself in these new ways requires support. We’ll go slowly, and I’ll be right there with you every step of the way. For more information, or to make an appointment, contact me.