Having depression feels like being an observer of your own life.

Depression can have a slow or a fast onset, but once it arrives it is quite unmistakable. It can feel unremitting, disappointing and alarming, especially as a new experience. People with depression can have a tendency of turning blame and negativity inward, resulting in self-criticism and significant guilt. Each of these experiences creates a difficult puzzle to solve: how to rise out of depression when it feels impossible to rise.

My Approach

I approach depression with an understanding that there is something to be learned from the depression. There are also practical and research-based ways to start feeling better.

While depression can at times seem random, it is oftentimes related to powerful unconscious emotions and experiences. For example, you might feel depressed following the loss of a job that you loved. Through therapy you gain the understanding that this loss brings you back emotionally to when your family could no longer afford their home when you were young. As this illustrates, early losses can become an unconscious sticking point until they are processed. I help my clients connect the conscious and unconscious aspects of depression in order to heal the original wounds and regain their hope for the future.

I also help my clients with concrete behavioral skills that help to improve one’s mood. For example, if a client is having difficulty following through with plans, we may work together to create a schedule starting with short walks and building toward exercise and attending social events. Enhancing one’s ability to muscle through the slog of a depressed mood can feel like wrestling a dragon at first, but it gets much easier with practice. Wrestling dragons is also easier when you’re not doing it alone. 

I also utilize body-based approaches that focus on energy regulation and enhancement. For example, even when producing energy feels impossible, the mind can create energy in the body through mindfulness and imagery. I help my clients to “up-regulate” their nervous systems through mindfulness based exercises to help create energy when it feels like there is none.

We can discuss how your depression is impacting your life further during a free phone consultation.