Has Life Got You Down, or Do You Simply Want to be Happier?
Hopelessness is an awful feeling. Even your friends and family may not understand. Feelings of isolation and loneliness can occur. Work performance can suffer without people understanding why. If these feelings occur, depression counseling may be needed.
Seasonal changes, economic struggles, adjusting to COVID-19, job losses, grieving, addictions, and isolation, among many other factors, can often bring a need for depression counseling. Not having clear goals or finding it difficult to find meaning can bring about the need for a depression therapist. Those who lack purpose and feel depressed are in the difficult situation of needing to take action but not feeling motivated to do so, creating a negative spiral.
Perhaps you know that exercise helps but cannot find the energy to start. Maybe getting out of bed is difficult. Things that were once enjoyable may have lost their meaning.
If you are feeling depressed, you probably don’t want to hear that in some cases, sadness can have value. There are, however, some cases where this is true.
Anxiety and Depression are Often Mixed
People with long-term anxiety frequently become depressed. People with long-term depression often become anxious. These feelings are widespread in an increasingly complex and demanding world. Feeling depressed or anxious does not have to mean there is something wrong with you. Counseling for depression and anxiety is available. It treats both conditions at the same time rather than as separate and unrelated conditions.
Help and Hope Is Available
Depression can be treatable if you seek help. Many clients feel hopeless only to rediscover the joy and meaning they once had. Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) can help with both anxiety and depression. Despite all the research supporting CBT, therapists need to be prepared for the reality that it won’t work for everyone or will not be enough by itself.
We sometimes use Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) techniques. This model can work exceptionally well and efficiently with mixed anxiety and depression. DBT can also help with OCD, ADHD, and PTSD. DBT incorporates strategic goal-setting, mindfulness, understanding how to make meaning, and learning distress tolerance, among other strategies.
Sometimes the best approach is just having a supportive person to talk to and problem-solve with.
Common Concerns
Sometimes a new perspective is needed. Perhaps a previous counselor and you just did not mesh. The therapeutic relationship is so important, and just because you didn’t have luck the first time doesn’t mean there isn’t hope. Counselors also need your help, so if therapy failed in part because you were not committed to it, a newfound commitment might be required.
Many coping mechanisms take personal practice. Any technique learned in a peaceful therapy session will be more challenging when the going gets tough at home. By practicing, the brain learns to make more helpful thinking and behaviors a habit. There becomes less of a need for a counselor to guide you. My goal is to teach you the skills you need so that you no longer need me. Coping mechanisms can also be a great start to put a band-aid on the problem, but true healing may require understanding and getting to the root causes.
Counseling is an investment in yourself and has the potential to transform your life for the better (while there are no guarantees). There are no commitments or packages to buy, and clients can leave or switch therapists at any time.
Yes, depression counseling can be invaluable when suffering from postpartum depression.
Unless you are mandated to participate in therapy, you don’t have to answer anything that makes you uncomfortable. It can be uncomfortable for some people to walk into a therapist’s office and be asked the most personal of questions by a virtual stranger. Some questions may take time and a healthy client-counselor relationship of trust may need to be established first. While lying at first is not encouraged and can hurt the quality of your care, it is quite common and you won’t be shamed if you admit in a later session that perhaps you withheld some information or weren’t perfectly honest. The exception is if you are seriously considering harming yourself or others. Just like a doctor asks you questions that would normally be considered personal, please don’t be alarmed if a trained and licensed mental health professional asks you questions about your physical or mental health.
Shocking a mental health professional is pretty hard to do. If you have experienced something, there is a pretty good chance that you are not alone. The chances that your situation is the first of its kind in human history are slim to none. Counselors get accustomed to hearing about all kinds of situations and conditions, and while you may think we judge you and spend hours at home thinking about the outrageousness of your case, the truth is quite the opposite. If you need care we cannot effectively provide, you will be referred to someone else who hopefully can.
Scheduling for Columbus OH Depression Counseling is Convenient by Phone or Online for Those Looking for Anxiety and Depression Counseling Near You
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