Are You Struggling To Find Joy In Your Life?
Did you lose the vibrancy you once had? Most days, are you fighting the urge to stay in bed and hide under the covers? Are you feeling sad for no reason that you can immediately attribute it to?
For many people living with depression, this is the reality that they face each day., depression is far more than just feeling sad or down. It’s a persistent cycle of self-doubt and negative self-talk. Feeling stuck and uninspired, our minds keep us in the dark place as we fight to see any type of light or brightness.
Difficulties can become worse when people say things like, “Just be happy!” “Snap out of it,” or “people have it so much worse than you.” As if it is that easy to just be happy or like there’s a switch to just snap you out of it. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was? While most people know that there are people out there who do on the surface have it worse, that should never minimize what we are going through..
What Are The Symptoms of Depression?
Depression is far more than just being sad. While that is the classic hallmark sign of depression, there are a lot more symptoms associated with it. These can include:
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Feeling irritable
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Hopelessness
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Loss of interest in hobbies or activities
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Wanting to sleep a lot
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Difficulties concentrating/ remembering
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Being easily fatigued or always feeling tired
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Not wanting to be around close friends or family/social isolation
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Changes in eating habits (either eating too much or not enough)
What Causes Depression?
Depression is something that can affect anyone, at any age or position in life. What causes it though? That is complicated to answer because it’s different for everyone. Common causes of depression are:
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Life circumstances ( trauma, loss, burnout, constant pressure, lack of supportive environment, just to name a few)
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Genetics ( susceptibility can be hereditary, although there is no “gene” that you can pass down that causes depression.)
Unfortunately, society does not help with depression at all. There is an expectation that we always need to be doing something productive, that we have to contribute to society in meaningful ways, all the time. We are taught that you need to find your purpose in life and it better be a good one. Like so much else in life, society’s expectations of how we live often dictate how happy we are when we feel like we are not measuring up.
We are also living in a world that is constantly shifting. Things never seem certain. Job loss and the rising cost of living is just one of the many reasons why so many people are feeling stressed and down lately. When you compare low wages with these rising costs, it’s no surprise that many people are feeling stuck and hopeless.
In some ways, depression and its symptoms are about loss. Not just in relation to death, but to anything we mourn for. It could be a job loss or the loss of identity that can sometimes happen when we lose sight of who we once were. Loss over the “way things used to be,” even. Sometimes, the cause of depression isn’t immediately known - just that it is happening and you don’t know why - this is OK as we can also reduce the depression symptoms without working on their origins .
Coping with the effects of depression is a challenge that is hard to overcome because of this. However, with the right support through depression therapy, you can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel and find joy in your life.
How Can Depression Therapy Help?
More than anything, you just want to feel a spark of hope again. Or maybe you have struggled with a low mood your whole life and you don’t know if that spark even exists inside of you.
Counselling for Depression is more than just talking about your symptoms. It involves more than just taking medication to help lessen the symptoms you are feeling. It’s about getting to the root cause of depression in your life. Some people may think that answer is apparent, but it isn’t always.
Working with a therapist who specializes in the treatment of depression and other mood disorders can help you understand why you are unable; It’s a multi-faceted and solution-oriented approach. Not only do you work to find out the root causes of your symptoms, but depression therapy teaches you useful skills to keep them at bay.
Therapy helps you understand the triggers for depression. Maybe some of your triggers are in the past and you need support to heal these wounds. It could be from the negative self-talk or inner critic that we all have that can tell us things like, “I’m not worthy,” or “I’m going to fail.”
Beyond this, counselling can give you a chance to learn how to not only treat yourself with kindness but extend that compassion to other people. These are skills that you can carry with you, long after our work together is over.
I know how challenging it is to try and live your life when depression is taking aim at it. Once we understand why you are stuck in this place, I can help you find helpful ways to approach your low mood.
Treatment for depression involves more than just talking about your issues. I also apply specific approaches to help my clients when they start therapy with me. Depending on the client, I may use Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy(CBT) which looks at the way our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are all intertwined. In this way, it can help us see the pattern that is keeping you stuck.
Alternatively, if someone is dealing with past trauma that is causing depression, my approach with their therapy can include EMDR. EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing, is a specific approach using eye movements to reprocess and lessen the sting of a traumatic experience.
There is no one size fits all approach to depression that is guaranteed to help everyone. What I can say is that we can find an approach that will help you find that spark of light that you are missing.
I understand how challenging it can feel to reach out to someone when you don’t know them. Especially when you just want to be withdrawn from the world. However, you deserve the chance to find joy in your life, no matter what that looks like.
Because of that, I offer a free 30-minute consultation where we can talk about how depression is affecting your life. Not only so you can see how beneficial therapy can be for depression, but to make sure we are a good fit for one another. When you are comfortable, I invite you to reach out to me. Stay safe and take care of yourself.
