Depression

Depression sucks. It sucks the life out of everything leaving the sufferer feeling flat, empty, and exhausted, like every task requires herculean effort. Like most mental health issues, it exists on a continuum from a persistent low mood and brain fog to in an incapacitating lethargy and hopelessness.

Neuroscience Approach

The causes of depression are multifaceted. Neuroscience has made great strides in understanding the various brain regions, neurochemicals, and circuits involved in creating a pattern of depression. Learning about how your brain works and how the depression is held in place can give you the insight and the power to make changes. We’ll explore specific steps you can take that alter brain activity and interrupt the depression cycle.

Looking at Past and Current Influences

A brain circuitry approach to treating depression is, however, insufficient. Depression is deeply contextual…whether your brain develops depression or not is heavily dependent on what has happened to you in the past, the meaning you have made of it, and whether your current circumstances are life-giving or not.

Depression is a normal reaction to ongoing, painful, disconnecting circumstances, both current and in the past. When past experiences are at play, treatment involves looking back at those experiences, uncovering and healing them. I often use an Internal Family Systems approach for this, and clients routinely experience relief.

When depression is more rooted in current happenings, I often use a psychodynamic approach. Despite its complex sounding name, it simply means exploring the psychological and emotional “dynamics” that interact in a person’s mind, or more simply put, the patterns of their thoughts and emotions. This exploration improves self-awareness and supports developing more adaptive ways of viewing oneself and the world and strengthening one’s sense of self.

Hope

A key aspect of lifting depression is bringing back hope. We will look at where your sense of hope has gotten bogged down and explore aspects of your spirituality and how you make meaning of what has happened to you and how you see life. I can also recommend new practices you can experiment with that often facilitate the return of hope.