“I don't want you to feel hopeful. I want you to be hopeless that you'll ever have enough control to make a better, more stable, and happier future. Instead, I want you to have confidence, and enough faith in yourself to know that you'll be able to successfully navigate what ever life has in store for you.”
- Hudson Wilkins
Is Depression Creating An Emotional Disconnect In Your Life?
Do you feel like you are emotionally shutting down—as if you are numb to everything, even activities that once gave you pleasure? Are you having trouble motivating yourself, making choices, or following through on plans, even if it could help you move toward happiness or growth? Do you commonly experience unexplained headaches, body pain, tight muscles, or weakness and fatigue?
Perhaps you feel a pervasive heaviness in the body that makes everything seem so constricted and listless that you can barely find the energy to sit in front of the TV. Or maybe you are avoiding others in an effort to protect them from your pain, but the isolation is destroying your relationships and threatening your mental well-being.
Depression can have a powerful impact on a person’s well-being, creating a disconnection and uncertainty that affects nearly every part of life. You may have trouble finding purpose and meaning in work or activities that were once fulfilling. Or you may be second-guessing yourself and worrying about not being a good enough parent, partner, or friend. And the constant sense of sadness and despair can make it seem like you are experiencing life peripherally as an onlooker rather than a participant.
I know that you probably feel alone and powerless right now, but there is a way forward. With my help, you can wake up to a world in which you have meaningful connections with your job, values, spirituality, and your relationships with others as well as with yourself. Over time, you can increase your capacity to recognize negative thought patterns, make informed decisions, and adopt healthy practices for living fully.
Depression Is Considered A Problem Of Global Proportions
The World Health Organization estimates that over 264 million adults and children suffer from depression worldwide.* In the United States alone, over 17 million adults have had at least one depressive episode.** So if you are going through a difficult emotional experience or dealing with depression, you are not alone—and it is not your fault.
Although biology can play a part, there are many different institutional, personal, and cultural factors involved in depression. Our toxic political environment, the threat of COVID-19, and the financial questions we all have can fuel stress and a sense of powerlessness. And when you aren’t empowered, it’s easy to slip into despair. We also receive societal messages telling us that we are not really adults until we have disconnected ourselves from others and lived without help. Similarly, our economic model stresses and rewards individualism to such a degree that we end up isolated, feeling unfulfilled in our lives because we no longer have the connection of family and community.
Granted, there are many positive aspects of independence and the institutions we have in place. But sometimes, the pressure to add up to expectations or simply survive in this world can evolve into fear, shame, and despair. Often, it can seem like the only way to deal with it is to stay in bed, curl up with comfort foods, or turn to alcohol or drugs, which only exacerbates the disconnect between you and the world outside.
Treating depression can ensure that you stop missing out on life and begin seizing opportunities for greater spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Even if we need to take baby steps, I can help you repair your connection to yourself, other people, and the world around you.
Depression Treatment Can Help You Find Strength Amid The Sorrow
A majority of people do not have a place where they can be open and honest about their pain and suffering. That’s why therapy can be so empowering. In a space of compassion and respect, you’ll have the opportunity to be heard and validated while building a skill set that can help you make positive changes in how you engage the world. With my help, you can heal emotional wounds, practice building connected relationships, and increase your capacity to choose spaces of empowerment over apathy as you navigate your life.
Building a therapeutic relationship is a process that occurs in stages. So at the beginning, I want to focus on helping you feel safe and respected. And because there is only so much we can do in a weekly one-hour session, I’ll also make sure you leave our sessions with tools and strategies for managing challenges in the outside world. As you grow more comfortable in sessions, we can work on recognizing unhelpful patterns of thinking, feeling, or acting. For instance, we can look at any negative stories you tell yourself, explore where those ideas came from, and identify how you feel in your body when you experience something objectionable.
Many factors can contribute to a person’s experience with depression. There may be a biomedical imbalance that could benefit from medication, trauma that requires modifying the nervous system, or isolationist behaviors that call for empowerment skills. That’s why I tailor my person-centered, empowerment-focused approach to healing according to each individual’s needs. And although every person is different, our goals are similar.
In the long-term, I want to help you find peace and sustainable healing by enhancing the relationships you have with yourself, your spirituality, and the world around you. And if some obstacle comes up between sessions, we can go in a process-oriented, solution-focused direction, depending on your needs at the time.
One of the tools I use is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, a multi-sensory technique that provides rapid relief for trauma-related depression symptoms. I also use Internal Family Systems therapy, which helps you to get in touch with all the parts of your identity that feel burdened by shame and or at war with your concept of your best self. And Sensorimotor/Somatic Therapy enables us to identify how you experience disconnection physically when despair and fear set in while empowering you to reconnect with your body and strengthen your vitality.
I know that things may seem dark right now, but depression counseling can equip you with a list of external and internal resources that can help you engage in a more fulfilling life. Together, we can work on cultivating meaningful connections in your work, values, spirituality, relationships, and perhaps even your community. With a little support and guidance, you can learn to love yourself unconditionally and increase your capacity to move toward a place of peace and contentment.
Perhaps you are considering depression treatment but still have some concerns…
I’m not sure if I need therapy for anxiety or for depression?
Anxiety and depression go hand-in-hand, commonly with overlapping symptoms, which can make the two conditions difficult to distinguish on your own. Moreover, anxiety and depression can have a cyclical relationship wherein they feed off each other and make things feel worse. For instance, perhaps you’re too anxious to go out with friends, which makes you feel ashamed, which in turn makes you depressed. Fortunately, depression counseling can interrupt that loop and offer conscious ways of moving forward regardless of your situation.
I don’t think I am worth the trouble.
Depression fundamentally changes the way you see yourself; it latches on to a negative experience or idea and fictionalizes from your fears the biggest worldview possible. Most of the time, that perspective is distorted so that you only see yourself when you are weak, alone, or struggling. Under the weight of those lies, you can actually start to believe in that feeling of worthlessness. But there are magical moments in the therapeutic relationship that can show you how special and resilient you truly are. Even if you can’t see it for yourself, you are worthy of being happy and loved.
Does treatment for depression require medication?
Not necessarily. Medication can be a powerful supplement to therapy for managing the acute symptoms of depression. But it can’t address the real reasons behind the way you think and feel. Counseling gets to the core of depression and helps you feel empowered to overcome underlying factors, life factors and overarching systemic issues that could be causing problems in the first place. Even so, everyone responds to therapy differently. Therefore, if you feel that a combination of medication and therapy could help, I can offer resources and referrals for pharmaceutical support.
Let Me Help You Restore Your Connection To The World
If you would like to heal old emotional wounds and empower yourself to move toward spaces of opportunity and happiness, please call (615) 243 0874 to set up your first appointment.
Due to COVID-19, I’ll be conducting all depression therapy sessions online for the foreseeable future.
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