Depression comes in many different forms and looks differently on different people. It can be expressed differently depending on individual characteristics such as gender, religion, career/profession, ethnicity, and even marital or parental status. For this reason, it can often go unnoticed when it fails to conform to media depictions and global assumptions about what depression is. Our therapists are trained to recognize the signs of depression even when the individual fails to see it themselves.

Did you know that not everyone with depression lays in bed all day with the ‘blues’? Many individuals with ‘high functioning depression’ get up and go to work every day. Some may even overwork to alleviate feelings of inadequacy. Others may fail to recognize the signs of depression because they assume you have to feel sad, and they don’t. Instead, they might feel numb, empty, or purposeless. Depression can affect your appetite, energy level, motivation, relationships, concentration, and mood. It can affect your performance in work and school and make it difficult to sustain relationships with others. If you suspect that changes you are experiencing may be due to depression, seek professional help. Before telling yourself that you are ‘lazy’, or ‘not trying hard enough’, talk with someone who can help you make sense of what may be happening to you.

Our therapists help treat depression by assessing your symptoms and determining the cause. We tend to classify depression in three main ways: situational, biological, or pervasive. Situational depression usually manifests as the result of a stressful experience or a serious problem. Usually when the problem resolves, the depression does too. Therapists will help clients with aggressive problem solving in order to expeditiously end the problem and the depression. With biological depression, there usually isn’t a specific problem to point to and often times people feel sad when “nothing is wrong”. This is because, biological depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. Therapists will work with clients to change brain chemistry through self-care habits, developing new ways of thinking, and creating new experiences to change the physical state. Sometimes our therapists will recommend and refer clients for medication management while helping clients accept their depression and better manage their symptoms. We do not prescribe medication in this practice. Other forms of depression may manifest as a result of serious pervasive stress such as poverty, oppression, trauma, and abuse. Therapists will work with clients to process their experience and learn to adapt to pervasive stress in a way that alleviates the physiological response.