Do You Feel Overwhelmingly Lost, Lonely And Lethargic?
Are you struggling with a heaviness that hangs over you like a cloud that won’t let up no matter what you do? Are you often overwhelmed with feelings of loneliness, helplessness or hopelessness? Maybe you feel guilty, ashamed or confused by your inability to connect with loved ones or to engage in activities that you once enjoyed. Or perhaps you feel like you’re just going through the motions of life without feeling any real desire to connect to the people or world around you. Is it challenging for you to focus, experience productivity at work or complete routine daily tasks? Do you often feel like you’re a leaf in the wind getting pulled in every direction, without any real control over where you go or what you do? Do you wish you could experience more inspiration, motivation and pleasure in your life and find a meaningful path forward?
Living with depression can an isolating, painful and self-defeating experience. It may feel as though life is kicking you while you’re down and, without giving you a chance to recover, it delivers another blow. You may have lost connection to others and feel ambivalent about events, ideas and activities that once excited you. Your sleeping and/or eating patterns may have changed, and every day may feel like a struggle right from its onset. The heaviness and lethargy that depression creates can make you feel like you’re dragging yourself through life. Every day may feel like you’re trying to climb a mountain that’s covered in ice and no matter what you do, you just keep slipping.
Depression Is Becoming Increasingly Common In Our Culture
Due to a variety of factors, the number of people suffering from depression continues to climb. Depression is one of the most commonly diagnosed mental health issues in the U.S., affecting an estimated one in 10 American adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). But, that number – an estimated 10 percent of the U.S. population – doesn’t include the huge number of people suffering from depression who never get diagnosed and treated.
There are many causes for depression and it varies in terms of severity. Some people are biologically predisposed to developing depression. Symptoms can also manifest following a loss, major life transition or trauma. Depression can present as a low-level heaviness that’s hard to shake or become so severe that it makes every thought, feeling and action a struggle.
The good news, however, is that while depression is one of the most commonly diagnosed mental health disorders, it is also one of the most commonly and successfully managed and treated. While you can’t control what life throws your way, a skilled therapist can help you improve your ability to respond to the present moment, find balance again and get back on your feet.
Depression Treatment Can Help You Find Purpose, Perspective And A New Path Forward
Depression treatment through a mindfulness-based approach can be extremely effective. Many people experience relief and begin working toward positive change fairly quickly.
In our sessions, I’ll teach you how to use mindfulness skills to make real and sustainable changes in your life. Mindfulness meditation helps you to nonjudgmentally focus your attention on what you are experiencing in the present moment. Most of the time, the human mind is focused on what happened in the past or what may happen in the future. Learning to be present with what is happening right now can help to alleviate many of the fears, worries, regret and guilt that may be fueling your depression.
We’ll also work together to identify and address the root cause(s) of your pain. We can immediately explore practical and manageable actions that you can take now to change how you perceive and engage with yourself, others and situations in the present moment. We’ll also explore new possibilities and the choices you can make to break unhealthy habitual patterns of thoughts and behaviors. So many people with depression are extremely hard on themselves and have adopted a highly developed self-critic. In sessions, you can begin to quiet your inner critic, learn that you are more than your thoughts and adopt more self-compassion and awareness.
With the support and guidance of an experienced and warm therapist, you can begin to build personal resilience, get back in touch with your core values and find grounding and meaning in your life. You have valuable, resourceful strengths, which you can identify and build on. With help, it is possible for you to shift your perspective, manifest your potential and find a positive path forward.
Although you know that you could benefit from help, you still may have questions or concerns about depression treatment…
What is mindfulness meditation? Is it religious?
Mindfulness meditation is the practice of focusing your attention on your experience of the present moment. It involves exercising your ability to observe your thoughts as they come up without reacting to them in habitual ways. You learn how to respond instead of react to your thoughts. Like all exercises, this takes practice. While mindfulness was originally developed as a Buddhist practice, the practice I teach is a purely secular one. This doesn’t mean our work can’t include your own sense of spirituality, of course. But religion and spiritualty aren’t necessarily the same thing. And neither religion nor spirituality are in any way essential parts of our work together.
I’ve already gone through therapy and I really don’t want to dig up all the details of my past right now. Do we have to do that?
Not necessarily, but the past may be important to what we are working on. In general, I limit our discussion of the past to the parts that are relevant to what you are dealing with today. For instance, if past issues are getting triggered by whatever you’re currently dealing with in your life, then we may explore the roots of those triggers, see what we can learn, and develop and effective plan to manage your experience today. But I don’t generally start my relationships with clients by jumping into an extended retelling of story from the beginning. I prefer to start with where you are today.
I’ve heard depression treatment can take a long time and be really expensive.
This isn’t necessarily the case. I often say that one of my main goals with clients is to put myself out of business; it’s my goal to get you feeling better and not needing me anymore. My clients almost always leave our sessions with concrete, actionable goals to work on between sessions. My emphasis is on helping you make changes in the present moment. Insomuch, many of my clients have reported feeling an improvement of symptoms relatively quickly, and are then able to drop back to seeing me only monthly or even quarterly.
I invite you to contact me to set up your first appointment to discuss your specific needs. Feel free to email me to ask any questions you have about depression treatment, mindfulness and my practice.