Depression

“It feels like everyone else is moving on with their lives while I am stuck here in this hole that I can’t climb out of.” – Anonymous

“I’d pull up my socks and get going if I could just find my socks.” - Anonymous

There is little that is more lonely, painful or misunderstood than depression. The shame that many of us feel when depressed keeps us from saying; “Yes, I have depression. No, I can’t just ‘get over it’”. This shame often keeps us lying to ourselves and others. When asked if we are OK, we hide and smile in spite of the feelings of despair and emptiness deep inside.

Depression is not a choice; it is a disease, and like all other diseases it can only be healed with deep compassion and gentle care. By the time the disease of depression has settled into the very core of our being, we often do not have the capacity left to surround ourselves with the compassion and care we need to find our way through. In fact, Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn (The Mindful Way through Depression) cautions us that it is often the heroic attempts to ‘get out’ of depression that exhaust us and sink us deeper into the ‘quick sand’ of depression. At times like this, well trained professionals are often needed to accompany us back or help us find our way through a chronic depression that has been with us our entire lives. As a psychotherapist, I can help to lead you or your loved one toward the skills and resources deep within that will help access the many rich lessons which the wilderness of depression has to offer. Usually the path into the disease of depression has been long and complex; therefore, the path out of it to recovery will likewise be long, requiring a patient, gentle approach.

Tools

The tools I would offer as I accompanied you on this journey could include:

1. Effective talk therapy which assures you that someone understands what you are feeling. Talking also helps us begin to understand, to the best of our ability, the roots of the depression. Observation is 98% of the healing process.
2. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy which helps you develop a full list of the gifts, skills and values that you already possess, though may not be able to fully appreciate or access because of your depressed brain.
3. The Genogram, which provides an overview of the dynamics of your family of origin and the key relationships which were part of your early psychological development.
4. An introduction to mindfulness meditation, a calming and focusing practice that centres your attention on following your breath to the core of your being, and your essential strength.
5. The energy-psychology of Emotional Freedom Techniques which frees up frozen emotions from past trauma.