Depression Counseling
YOU MAY BE EXPERIENCING:
Depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day
Less interest or pleasure doing activities that you usually enjoy doing
Significant weight loss or weight gain
Lack of appetite, or overeating more than usual
A slowing down of thoughts and/or physical movements, to a point in which others around you notice
Fatigue or loss of energy
Feelings of worthlessness
Excessive or inappropriate amounts of guilt
Diminished ability to think or concentrate
Being indecisive often
Recurrent thoughts of death or wanting to harm yourself
If you are having suicidal thoughts or want to hurt yourself, call the free Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988
In order to receive a depression diagnosis, you need to experience several (but not all) of these signs of depression most days for several months at a time. You could experience a depressive episode, with which you are experiencing these symptoms for a few months or you could experience a recurrent Major Depressive Disorder, with which your depressive symptoms last longer than 6 months. In order to get a depression diagnosis, you would have to notice that these symptoms impact your daily life in a negative way.
Some examples of how depression can negatively impact your life include:
Distancing in your friendships
Doing poorly in school/work
Not engaging in the activities you would typically enjoy doing
If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, remember you are not alone.
What is the difference between clinical depression and sadness?
While depression includes sadness, it is different than just feeling sad. Both depression and sadness include feeling down, but a depression diagnosis must include multiple varying symptoms that impact you emotionally and physically (as listed above). These symptoms also have a large impact on your daily functioning.
Sadness is a normal emotion that everyone experiences at times. It is typical to feel sad when an event happens such as a loss, the end of a relationship, being fired from a job, etc. But when you are depressed, you do not need a triggering event and you could feel sad for no specific reason. A person who struggles with depression usually feels sad and hopeless about everything. You may have every reason in the world to be happy, but you continue to experience very little joy or pleasure in your daily life.
How do I know if I am clinically depressed or sad?
When you feel sad, you’re usually feeling low for about a day or two. You typically are able to still enjoy little things in life that bring you joy such as watching your favorite TV show, talking to a friend, listening to a Podcast, or spending time with family. When you experience depression, you do not find any joy in these activities anymore and the low feeling lasts well beyond a few days.
Sadness will weigh on you throughout the day, but you will continue to move through the motions of your day. While depression makes it very difficult to live out your daily routine. Some examples include not getting a good sleep at night and having a hard time getting out of bed during the daytime hours. If you are depressed, your appetite may change and you most likely will not feel motivated to do anything.
I am experiencing negative thoughts. Am I depressed?
Although depression comes with constant negative thoughts that cycle in your head daily, it does not necessarily mean that you are depressed unless you are experiencing additional depression symptoms in conjunction with your intrusive negative thoughts.
These thoughts make you feel guilty, hopeless, and worthless. If you are experiencing a normal amount of sadness, you may find yourself feeling guilty about something you did or said. But if you experience depression, then these thoughts of guilt will cycle nonstop through your mind for days and days on end. These negative thought patterns are easy to get stuck in when you are experiencing depression, and they will make you feel even lower.
Depression can even introduce suicidal thoughts that may include thoughts of wanting to harm yourself. If you are experiencing a normal amount of sadness for a few days then you will not experience suicidal thoughts.
Suicidal thoughts include:
Thoughts of wanting to die
Plans of how you could die or harm yourself
Creating a suicide plan
If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts, help is only a phone call away at the free National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988
THE TOP CAUSES OF DEPRESSION:
The causes of depression can be broken down into two categories including biological factors and environmental factors.
Biological factors can include your genetics. We know that depression can sometimes run in families. Children, siblings, and parents of people with severe depression are more likely to develop depression. Biological factors play an important role in development, and can influence you in both positive and negative ways.
Additionally, the environment that you are in influences your development and depressive symptoms.
Depression is a complex disease. While the exact causes can be hard to pinpoint since there are often several, there are some common factors.
Biological Factors include:
Genetics
Chronic pain and illness
Hormones
Environmental Factors include:
Early trauma and abuse
Poverty
Personality
Stress and conflict
Death or a loss
Life transitions (e.g., losing a job, having a baby, divorce, retiring)
Certain medications
Social media
Lifestyle factors
Physical activity
There are a lot of causes of depression, and usually it is caused by more than one of the above factors. Once you realize that you are feeling depressed, it would be good to try to reflect on what may be causing your symptoms and start making some changes. Be mindful that when you are depressed, it is hard to become motivated and it is much easier to place the blame on yourself. Depression is a real disorder, and it can be very harmful to you if it goes untreated.
If you believe you may be struggling with depression but are not quite sure, check out our 2-minute quiz to see if you have depression.
The good news is that there are many highly effective treatment options to help those struggling with depression. Most will benefit from a combination of treatment modalities that will be tailored to fit individual needs and symptoms.
IS A DEPRESSION COUNSELOR AT ANCHOR THERAPY THE RIGHT FIT FOR ME?
Finding the right depression therapist to work with can be difficult. Whether you do not like the therapeutic modalities that they use or have a hard time connecting to your counselor for depression, there are many reasons why you may find that it is not the right fit. At Anchor Therapy, we are committed to matching you with a counselor who fits your needs.
We understand that the most important relationship is between your depression therapist and you as that is the key to success in a therapeutic environment. It is important to try to be open to the process. Letting someone into your life and being completely honest can be difficult but, by reading this page and taking the first step to reach out, you are already on the right track!
HOW CAN A DEPRESSION THERAPIST AT ANCHOR THERAPY HELP ME?
If you are struggling with depression, a depression therapist at Anchor Therapy can help. During behavioral activation therapy, you and your depression counselor will work together to understand how depression is impacting your life and work through these issues.
Your therapist for anxiety and depression is there to be an unbiased source of support for you, listening to all of your concerns. In addition to providing feedback that you can apply to your life, your local therapist for depression will teach you healthy coping strategies.
Some examples of healthy coping habits may encompass:
Meditation
Exercise
Connecting with nature
Journaling
Affirmations
Minimizing technology
In some cases, your depression therapist near you may give homework. This will extend whatever it is that you are learning in therapy to your outside life. This type of “homework” often comes in the form of tracking your moods and feelings.
After evaluating your progress after several sessions have passed, your counselor near you for anxiety and depression will adjust your sessions. For instance, you may start meeting with your depression therapist weekly and, after some time has passed, your depression counselor may suggest moving to bi-weekly sessions.
WHAT TYPES OF DEPRESSION COUNSELING ARE OFFERED AT ANCHOR THERAPY?
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT):
CBT, an evidence-based treatment, is one of the most widely used treatments for depressive disorders. This form of treatment utilizes both cognitive and behavioral techniques to address both the behaviors and thoughts that make daily life difficult for those struggling with depression. CBT for depression works to identify negative thoughts and beliefs that lead to maladaptive behaviors such as avoidance and withdrawal. In addition to identifying the source of the depression, it will help you to process and challenge these beliefs. The next step in CBT for depression is to develop effective coping skills and strategies to process and work through the depressive symptoms that have been impacting your life.
Depression counseling focuses specifically on your present thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It inspects how these factors are currently affecting your life. Therefore, CBT for depression and anxiety is so effective and successful because it deals directly with your present issue.
With cognitive behavioral therapy for clinical depression, you will learn to alter negative thinking that may be worsening your symptoms of depression. The focus of CBT for depression is goal-oriented where you take an active role in your self-development.
CBT is often a top choice for depression therapists when it comes to major depressive disorder therapies. Cognitive therapy for depression has even been shown to reduce relapse or recurrence rates of depression after your depression counseling has ended.
2. Interpersonal Psychotherapy:
Psychotherapy for depression will include CBT interventions while adding a form of talk therapy to help better understand and process the root of your depression symptoms. Interpersonal psychotherapy addresses a larger range of issues and patterns of behavior that is personalized to best address each person’s needs.
The goals of this form of interpersonal therapy for depression are to help you:
Regulate emotions
Manage stressful life situations
Improve relationships
Interpersonal therapy for depression focuses on interpersonal conflict and poor social support that may lead to feelings of depression. After undergoing interpersonal psychotherapy for depression, you will learn to communicate better and even address the problems in your life that worsen your symptoms of depression.
3. motivational interviewing:
The goal with Motivational Interviewing is for the therapist to meet you where you are at and then slowly move forward together, progressing towards the relief of the depressive symptoms. Your depression therapist would provide depression counseling to you by using support and empathy. You will then create small, obtainable goals together to work towards. Your therapist would remain optimistic as they support you towards reaching your goals.
SHOULD I START COUNSELING FOR DEPRESSION?
Choosing to begin therapy can sometimes be a difficult decision. To best consider if this is the right choice for you, it can be helpful to ask yourself a few questions on how your depression symptoms impact your day to day life:
Does your depression interfere with your work, school, or family responsibilities?
Do you have problems sleeping?
Has your appetite and/or weight changed drastically?
Do you no longer enjoy the things you previously liked to do?
Do you feel tired all of the time?
Are you having negative thoughts that are hard to stop?
Are you experiencing any physical conditions that can’t be explained medically?
If you feel that your depression is negatively impacting you and those around you, therapy for depression is a great option to help you feel better. The sooner you can understand and develop the coping skills needed, the sooner you can get to feeling like yourself again. Depression is a common mental health issue, and here at Anchor Therapy we have counselors that specialize in creating a treatment plan that will work best to address your personal needs and goals.
WHAT ARE THE STEPS TO STARTING DEPRESSION COUNSELING AT ANCHOR THERAPY?
WORKING WITH US IS EASY
Fill out the contact form below.
Our intake coordinator will get back to you with more information on how we can help and to schedule an appointment. We will set you up with an experienced licensed therapist who specializes in what you're seeking help with and who understands your needs.
You’ll rest easy tonight knowing you made the first step to improve your life.
