Depression

Everyone experiences periods of sadness, feeling down or experiencing disappointment. We can all feel depressed at times. Depression though is more pervasive, long lasting and distressing. Depression can invade every part of our life from our thoughts, our feelings and our relationships and can take over every hour of every day. There is no one cause for depression. At times is is easy to see a trigger for becoming depressed. For others it seems to come out of nowhere. How you think can have a big impact on how you feel and depression is affected by your thoughts. It can be linked to a family history of depression. It can also be linked to a trauma history and particularly to childhood trauma.

What does depression look like?

Everyone will experience depression somewhat differently but common elements are:

Feeling hopeless and helpless
Losing or lost interest in friends, activities, and things you used to enjoy
Feeling tired all the time
Sleep changes (too much or too little)
Appetite change
Concentration difficulties
Increased irritability, aggressiveness or temper
Increased alcohol or drug consumption
Everything feels like an effort
Feelings of worthlessness
Thinking is likely to be negative and pessimistic
You may find yourself sighing and slumping
You might experience fleeting or serious thoughts of suicide

Counselling for depression

Counselling for depression can include: Identifying what may be causing or contributing to the depression; becoming aware of and changing thinking patterns and beliefs that are contributing; working through or problem solving issues that are triggering the depression; increasing behaviours that will decrease depression such as activities that give a sense of achievement; addressing problems in relationships; addressing any past trauma and its impacts; and increasing resilience to future bouts of depression.