Depression
Everyone experiences periods of sadness, feeling down or experiencing disappointment. We can all feel depressed at times. Sometimes 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. Like having a recent traumatic or disturbing experience in life like the breakdown of a serious relationship.  Loneliness is a major cause of depression in our society because despite being digitally connected, as a society we are less and less connected to real people face to face. And research confirms digital connections are no substitute. Or depression might be the result of challenging circumstances like being in a job you hate and have no autonomy within, and so on. For yet others it seems to come out of nowhere.  For a very small percentage of people there may be some biological cause. Also some medication may cause depression symptoms.
​It can be linked to a family history of depression however there would need to be some factors in the environment to turn on any genetic susceptibility . It can also be linked to a trauma history and particularly to childhood trauma. 
In places like Melbourne and anywhere farthest from the Equator, a small percentage of people can also be affected by Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). This is real and affects more women than men. It appears to be caused by lack of light in the right frequencies and the impact on our circadian rhythms. For more details HERE. For those affected it may be worth investing in a light box built specially for sufferers. Not just any old light will do. See this LINK for suggestions by the Mayo Clinic.

What does depression look like? 
Everyone will experience depression somewhat differently but common elements are:
  • Feeling hopeless and helpless
  • Feeling of heaviness like you are schlepping around a weighty burden
  • 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
  • Motivation is very low
  • Feelings of worthlessness
  • Your thinking is likely to be negative and pessimistic
  • You may find yourself sighing and slumping
  • You might experience fleeting or serious thoughts of suicide 
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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.