Depression

Depression is often caused by being stuck in the past, whereas anxiety is often caused by being stuck in the future. Wouldn’t it be great to just live in the moment? Symptoms of depression can include sad mood, changes in appetite, sleeping more or less than normal, isolating from others, lack of motivation (procrastination), feelings of guilt and shame, and even thoughts of suicide.  Depression is not always observable to others.  Many people often “put on a mask” around others and they may appear happy when others are around so as to not let others know they are struggling. This can make the depressed individual feel even more depressed because they are alone in their depression with no one knowing what they are really going through. How we think often determines how we feel. If we think we are “worthless” or “not good enough” or “I should have known better” or “I have to please everyone” these types of commonly held beliefs can cause us to become depressed. Depressed people may cope by eating, sleeping, substance use, or engage in risky behaviors. Your therapist will help you identify your current thinking patterns, identify where they came from, and challenge these thinking patterns with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT) or other effective treatment modalities.