Therapy for Depression

Are you feeling hopeless, isolated and not your usual self?

Do these thoughts often enter your mind?

• I am worthless and can’t do anything about it.
• I feel guilty for just wanting to eat, sleep and be alone.
• I hate who I am these days.
• I can’t stop crying, which makes me want to stay away from others.
• I feel gut-wrenching pain, but no one understands.
• My life and the world around me are dark. I hate it, but I can’t change it.

If you have had any variation of these thoughts and don’t feel like your usual self, chances are you may be suffering from depression.

I want you to know that you are not alone and there are people who can help. Many clients feel embarrassed by their suffering and try to hide it, often approaching the world with a mask that ultimately leaves them feeling even more alienated from others. Reaching out and seeing depression in a whole new light can help lift the stigma and isolation.

I invite you to see your depression as an opportunity to explore your inner world, one that takes you deep into the dark forest of your psyche. When you’re going deep “into the woods” of your being, it’s helpful to have a companion, a guide, and many tools along the way.

“The foundation of all mental illness is the unwillingness to experience legitimate suffering”.

-C. G. Jung

Your depression may be a signal that you have had legitimate suffering in your life that has been too difficult to bear alone. Often, throughout our childhoods, we learn not to feel our emotions. Unfortunately, not knowing how to have feelings leaves us vulnerable to life’s inevitable challenges. The therapy space is one where you can begin to uncover feelings long buried, and confront them for the first time one by one, with the support and guidance you need so that you are not alone anymore.

With depression, people often discover that they are repressing anger towards a loved one, and instead they have directed that anger towards themselves. They might feel that it was too threatening to express anger towards the person, and they found a way to experience the anger without the danger of the other’s retaliation. However, the cost for this compromise is high- it leads to depression and other symptoms as well. These kinds of “coping mechanisms” can be difficult to spot on your own, and challenging to overcome. However, once you are able to identify the source of the emotion, and express it in the safety of a therapy relationship, things can begin to shift.

Eventually, you acquire the ability to tolerate having your feelings, rather than stifling them. The cloak of depression can lift, and at that point, you’re left to explore how feelings can further enhance your life, and deepen your relationships.

If any of this intrigues you, you might be ready to begin therapy.

I know that when you’re feeling down, however, it can be especially hard to reach out- even just making that first phone call to a therapist can feel daunting. If calling is too hard, just send a short and simple email asking for more information about therapy. I’ll wait for you on the other side.

Consideration for Depression Treatment 

In any treatment, my goal is to alleviate your suffering and use interventions that work.  To accompany our therapeutic conversations, I take into serious consideration whether you will benefit from medication as an adjunct to treatment.  Together we will review the pros and cons of either introducing anti-depressant medication such as an SSRI or SNRI, or the use of Ketamine infusions.  I will refer you to the appropriate psychiatrists and/or clinics in order to pursue either route.