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  • Depression

    Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of grief, sadness, and loss, negatively impacting your outlook and perspective of your life and affects your cognitive thinking, actions, and behaviors. You may experience symptoms every day and have difficulty in completing daily tasks and normal day-to-day activities. You may feel as though you are living in a black cloud of despair and hopelessness about your life.

    Do These Thoughts Often Enter Your Mind?

    I am worthless and cannot do anything about it.

    I feel guilty for just wanting to eat, sleep and be alone.

    I do not like who I am these days.

    I cannot stop crying and being tearful, which makes me want to stay away from others.

    I feel deep emotional pain, and no one understands me.

    My life and the world around me are dark. I would not say I like it, but I cannot change it.

    Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is the most effective empirical research evidence-based form for the treatment of depression providing strategies and interventions to provide you relief from the anxiety and bring calmness, balance, and satisfaction to the life that you deserve.

    CBT helps to identify and evaluate sadness and depressing thoughts, incorporate mindfulness and meditation, and implement behavioral experiments and exposure exercises. We can elicit and evaluate negative automatic intrusive thoughts, build and maintain a strong therapeutic relationship, and collaboratively develop objectives for your treatment goals.

    We can collaborate to uncover the underlying causes of your depression, worries, and fears, learn how to reframe, look at situations in a new optimistic way, and develop better adaptive coping mechanisms and problem-solving skills.

     Symptoms

    ·       Sadness, tearfulness, emptiness, or hopelessness

    ·       Angry outbursts, irritability, or frustration

    ·       Loss of interest or pleasure in most activities

    ·       Sleep disturbances, insomnia, or oversleeping

    ·       Lack of energy and motivation

    ·       Appetite fluctuations, undereating or overeating

    ·       Anxiety, impatience, tension, or restlessness

    ·       Foggy thinking, slower speaking, or body movements

    ·       Feeling worthless, guilt, or self-blame

    ·       Problems focusing, concentrating, memory, or decisions

    ·       Suicidal ideation, thoughts, or suicide attempts

    If you have had any variation of these thoughts and do not feel like your usual self, then you may be suffering from depression.

    I want you to know that you are not alone and that some people can help. Many clients find relief in realizing that their struggle does not own them and that there are many options available to have hope for their lives once again.

    I understand the social stigmas that come with the label of being depressed and thus aim to help clients sort out their environmental, biological, and circumstantial factors while offering support and care through a very dark time in their lives.

    If you hope to lighten this load finally and feel like yourself again, contact me today for a free consultation.

    If You Are Experiencing a Crisis, Suicidal Thoughts or Thoughts of Self-Harming

    If you are having thoughts of harming yourself, immediately seek assistance in reaching out.

    ·     Immediately call 911 or the local hospital emergency room

    ·    Call National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK

    ·     (1-800-273-8255) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

    ·    Chat at suicidepreventionlifeline.org/chat.

    ·    Contact the Crisis Text Line 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

    ·     Text HELLO to 741741.

    ·     Seek help from your primary care physician

    ·     Call a mental health professional

    ·     Reach out to your partner, close friend, or family.

    ·     Contact a spiritual leader in your faith community.

     

    References

    Beck, J. S. (2011). Cognitive behavior therapy: Basics and beyond (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.

    Depressive disorders. In: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-5. 5th ed. Arlington, Va.: American Psychiatric Association; 2013. http://www.psychiatryonline.org.

    Depression. National Institute of Mental Health. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/depression/index.shtml.

    Depression: What you need to know. National Institute of Mental Health. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/depression-what-you-need-to-know/index.shtml.

    What is depression? American Psychiatric Association. https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/depression/what-is-depression.

    Depression and complementary health approaches: What the science says. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. https://nccih.nih.gov/health/providers/digest/depression-science