Depression Treatment
Are You Unhappy But Unsure How To Feel Better?
Have you lost interest in the daily activities that once brought you joy? Do you often feel lethargic and physically drained? Are there times where you feel like a failure?
When you are dealing with depression, it can feel like a dark cloud has enveloped you. The physical symptoms of depression you experience—low energy, insomnia or excessive sleep during the day, lack of focus, weight gain or weight loss, headache, muscle tension, digestive problems—may further contribute to your feelings of sadness, irritability, and hopelessness. Your symptoms could be relatively mild, moderate, or severe, but regardless of their severity, you can tell something isn’t right.
In spite of how your life looks to others, you might still feel like you are not performing as well as you should be and you’re not meeting the expectations you set for yourself. Perhaps you feel undeserving of the successes that have come to you and harshly criticize yourself for perceived faults and mistakes. These distorted ways of thinking could be causing you distress and a warped perception of yourself and the world around you.
Persistent feelings of worry and fear may be impacting your behaviour at home, work, or even with your friends. Perhaps you have a low tolerance for frustration and are prone to impatience, irritability, and angry outburst. You may find yourself withdrawing from others and plagued by a constant sense of shame and embarrassment. After social interactions, you may worry that you’ve said something to offend someone or make someone dislike you. Or maybe you don’t perceive yourself as worthy of belonging and acceptance, so you deliberately avoid social interaction altogether.
Depression Is A Worldwide Issue That Impacts Many Of Us Throughout Our Lives
According to the World Health Organization…
“Depression is a common mental disorder affecting more than 264 million people worldwide. Depression is a leading cause of disability around the world and contributes greatly to the global burden of disease. The effects of depression can be long-lasting or recurrent and can dramatically affect a person’s ability to function and live a rewarding life.”¹
Depression is sometimes caused by biological changes to our brains’ chemistry which affect our mood and thought processes. In other instances, depression can be precipitated by an event such as the death of a family member, loss of a job, end of a relationship, chronic illness, the postpartum period, or other life-changing circumstances. Moreover, depression is often a sign of our lives being out of balance. When we suffer chronic stress and pressure, experience sustained isolation or loneliness, or our needs for connection in relationships go unmet, we are susceptible to depression. Ultimately, however it is unclear what causes depression—all we know is that it is much more complex than brain chemistry alone.²
Unfortunately, the stigma surrounding depression prevents many of us from seeking treatment. We are taught that mental disorders are a sign of weakness that must not be acknowledged or spoken about. This lack of acceptance regarding mental illness further perpetuates the problem and, as a result, many of us suffer in silence.
¹ https://www.who.int/health-topics/depression#tab=tab_1
² https://drgordonreid.com/
Misconceptions about depression often lead those of us who live with its symptoms to feel misunderstood or have difficulty understanding ourselves and our own experiences. For example, many of us were raised to believe that depression is a choice we make and something that we can snap out of if we try hard enough.
The good news is it’s possible to get back on track, restore balance in your life, and experience a deeper connection with others by seeking depression counselling.
Treatment For Depression Can Restore Your Sense Of Self-Worth
Our philosophy at Aligned Minds is that it’s important to separate the problem of depression from the person that you are. Learning to acknowledge this distinction and exercise self-compassion will be the first step on your journey to wellness. By offering a safe and nurturing space to openly explore your depressive symptoms in a non-judgmental way, we will help you to identify and extinguish distorted and self-defeating thoughts and beliefs you have about yourself and the world around you and replace them with more balanced positive thoughts and perspectives.
In initial sessions together we will get to know who you are by looking at your family history, lifestyle, and current relationships. We’ll identify the symptoms of depression you experience and develop a roadmap for treatment. Your unique hopes and goals for depression counselling will also be discussed. With a collaborative approach in mind, your therapist will help guide you towards achieving your therapeutic goals.
In ongoing sessions, you will gain a better understanding of how your symptoms have impacted the relationships you have with yourself and others. We will engage in reflective conversations which may involve redefining what’s important to you or examining unhelpful thoughts and problematic patterns in relationships. Your psychologist will offer you problem-solving strategies to better handle difficult situations as they arise and help you to face your challenges instead of avoiding them.
The core beliefs and behaviours you formed in early childhood sometimes contribute to struggles in adulthood. Although they served a purpose when you were young—helping you navigate through and feel protected from an otherwise complex world so that your emotional needs were met—these beliefs and behaviours may now hold you back and exacerbate your depressive thoughts. Identifying what these behaviours are, such as people-pleasing or perfectionism, will allow you to assess whether or not they still serve you.
No matter what your goals are, we want you to feel more hopeful about your life and your future. We might focus on strengthening your relationships so they are more fulfilling or finding the right balance between work, home, and leisure time. We will replace negative ways of coping—for example, food, drugs, or alcohol—with healthy alternatives for managing your stressors. The tools we provide will help you navigate a path toward healing.
The modalities we use to reduce negative beliefs and promote healthier coping skills include Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). Each approach can be effective for different reasons. CBT helps you identify how unhelpful behaviours and ways of thinking contribute to psychological distress and then provides you healthy strategies for coping. EFT explores how the emotional experiences throughout your life influence you now, allowing you to gain self-awareness. MBCT has been proven effective in preventing relapses of depressive episodes by promoting awareness and helping you observe experience without judgment or reaction.
With collaboration and great care, we strive to help you move from a place of discomfort to feeling good about yourself again. Our hope is that you will once again feel inner peace, self-confidence, and acceptance of yourself and of others.
But you may still be wondering whether depression treatment is right for you…
Isn’t therapy for depression expensive?
As registered psychologists, our services can often be covered by extended healthcare coverage available through various insurance providers. Typically, you will pay for services upfront, but you may be able to seek reimbursement based on your benefit package. Treatment for depression is an investment in yourself.
I’m aware I’m depressed but lack the motivation to do anything about it.
The symptoms of depression are insidious and often interfere with your ability to engage in activities that would help you feel better. mitigate your feelings of shame, guilt, self-loathing, crushing despair, and low motivation. It’s a vicious cycle where the symptoms themselves get in the way of your ability to manage the behaviours that keep you stuck. Taking the first step to getting the help you need is all that stands in your way to finding relief from depression.
I’m ashamed to admit I’m depressed. I have nothing to complain about.
Just because your life looks good on paper—perhaps you are well-educated, financially comfortable, and have a successful career—it doesn’t mean you’re immune to depression. In fact, because you’ve invested so much time and energy into developing your career and achieving professional milestones, your personal life may have been neglected and now depression has taken hold. We have worked with a wide variety of individuals who felt similarly—although they seemed to have it all together, they knew there had to be a happier, healthier way to live. We want to help you find what that way looks like for you.
It Can Be Possible For You To Live Your Best Life Again
Our goal is to help you feel more fulfilled, satisfied, and in control of your life. It can be possible to start loving yourself more and living with more happiness and confidence. For convenient, online booking, please feel free to contact us.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Warmly, Aligned Minds
"To be aware of a single shortcoming
in oneself is more useful than to be aware of a thousand in someone else."
Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama