Are you feeling depressed?
Are you feeling lost and lacking motivation? Are you feeling down and hopeless? Doing the simplest thing can take so much energy. Stress can lead to bad thoughts that keep you down. Feelings like sadness, hopelessness and anger can spiral with the thoughts. You may be isolated or neglecting taking care of yourself. Do any of these sound familiar?
Symptoms of depression include:
Feeling sad, empty or tearful.
Not enjoying things you used to enjoy.
Changes in your sleeping pattern – either sleeping too much or having trouble sleeping.
Changes in your appetite – either eating more than usual or not feeling hungry.
Loss of energy. Feeling tired all the time and/or losing motivation for everyday things.
Slowing down – for example, feeling restless and agitated or moving and speaking more slowly.
Finding it harder to make decisions.
Feeling hopeless about the future.
Questioning yourself, your worth and your abilities a lot (for example, having negative thoughts about your self such as “I’m a failure” or “I’m a loser”).
Feeling that things around you are grey or numb and that you can’t enjoy the good things in life.
Thinking about death or suicide more often than usual (for example, feeling suicidal or having thoughts of wanting to die).
How Therapy Can Help Depression
Counseling can help you explore your feelings and experiences so that you can better understand yourself, have a clearer sense of direction and feel more hopeful about the future.
You can learn ways to manage any overwhelming feelings and thoughts, or look at how some of your lifestyle choices may be exacerbating them (for example, alcohol use).
Benefits of Therapy for Depression:
- Find your sense of purpose again
- Find ways to break the cycle of depression
- Learn about what your body and mind are going through
- Learn coping mechanisms for dealing with difficult emotions and situations
- Tap into your motivation
- Develop awareness about how your thoughts and feelings are connected
- Have support and feel more in control of your life
- Identify unhelpful expectations you have of yourself or other people which might be causing unhealthy thinking patterns (for example, “I should always please others”).
