Anxiety & Depression
LIfe can be so stressful and overwhelming at times. This can leave us feeling anxious and depressed. A big work load, relationship issues, holiday pressures and even seasonal changes can all contribute to increased anxiety and depression. Thankfully, therapy and counseling can help. Anxiety and depression are very treatable issues and respond well to interventions. When I am working with individuals who struggle with mood issues such as depression or anxiety, I use several approaches. My first action though is to listen and understand your story and your life. Sometimes just being able to talk through the challenges can be helpful.
One of the first things we can begin with is one's inner critic. Often our critical voices can lead us to feel worse about ourselves and our situations. I find it is usually very helpful to address this aspect of one's self to begin to feel better. Together we gently and persistently learn to understand these critical voices, quiet them and replace them with a more compassionate one. With this process one can then begin to learn and practice mindful self compassion, an approach to one's self and life that can be more soothing and understanding, rather than critical.
At times I will use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), which is an approach that helps us examine our core beliefs and the thought patterns that can come from those beliefs. We work together to develop a balanced way of thinking about your self and your life situations. Often, people report an improved mood by examining their beliefs and practicing more balanced thinking.
Sometimes, when it appears to be appropriate, we will examine your history and what happened for you as a child. Frequently people don't believe that their childhoods should affect them as adults. However, there are certain things that can happen to us as children that impact our adult outlook, relationships or self images. By being willing to look at those you can free yourself from that history which then allows you to not be as impacted by those events.
When you need help getting through difficult times, my compassionate attention can help you get through the depression you are feeling. You are not alone.
