Depression shows up along with other experiences like anxiety and irritability. It is an exhausting experience to go through and can even become physically painful.
Depressive symptoms can feel like you’re inhaling your own toxic fumes . . . it leads to more toxicity and hopelessness. Of course, it’s normal to feel angry and anxious when you cannot seem to do the things that you know would help. Meanwhile, the people you love and need the most may seem distant from you. As bleak as this seems, there is hope. Depression is highly treatable through telephone counseling or video chat and I’ll help you discover what methods work best for you.
How to manage depression:
- Talk therapy – Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy or Insight oriented therapy are most helpful. When partnered with a focus on building solutions, not just describing the problem, therapy builds a framework for success
- Exercise – According to Duke University, exercising 3-4 times per week for 30-minutes improves symptoms. It changes your brain chemistry and improves your outlook on life.
- Healthy Nutrition (and hydration) – Eating a balanced diet and drinking enough water improves brain function. This helps you manage depression. Talking to your doctor or a nutritionist is a great way to learn the meal plan that will help you the most. Today’s healthy meal delivery services make this easier than.
- Meditation – Meditation stimulates the left-medial prefrontal cortex of your brain. This area deals with joy, kindness, love, and focus. Meditating for only 3-5 minutes in the morning and evening helps you rewire your brain, and gives you improved perspectives on your life
- Massage – Yes, massage. Your body sends messages to the brain about how you feel, so helping your body feel good sends signals to the brain that we do, in fact, feel better. Have you ever noticed that you actually think and feel different when you get dressed up? Like exercise, massage helps clear the toxins that depression can deposit in the body.
- Medication – Quite often, medication is not needed to treat depression. But when nothing seems to help, it is a viable option to explore with your doctor. The benefits usually outweigh the risks. Talk to your doctor, or even better, to a psychiatrist about what medications may help you, and what to expect as you get them dialed in
We will examine your history and circumstances to build a plan for overcoming depression. While this may not seem possible while you are stuck in a depressive place, please get in touch with me anyway. It certainly won’t hurt, and it has a good chance of helping you recover from depression.
Questions about Depression Counseling
Why does depression happen?
Sometimes depression is just a genetic thing. This means it gets passed down from our parents. Other times we go through situations that cause us to feel the symptoms of depression like sadness, anger, difficulty concentrating, lack of motivation, and not enjoying things we used to enjoy.
But depression is not always something that needs to be diagnosed. For example, when you experience grief, one of the stages is depression. In that case, you aren’t diagnosed as having “depression,” but instead you are going through a period of depression that is explained by grief. It is the difference between diagnosed depression and symptomatic depression. One is chronic, the other is episodic.
Alcohol and/or drug use also cause depression. Either from the chemical itself (alcohol is a depressant, so it actually causes the chemical imbalance of depression) or from withdrawal symptoms when people stop using.
How many people deal with depression?
More than you may think. According to The National Institute of Mental Health, depression is the leading psychological diagnosis in the U.S. for ages 15 to 44. It actually impacts over 16 million adults in the US.
Sometimes people are ashamed of dealing with mental health issues like depression, so they may be depressed but pretend that they aren’t. You’ve probably seen the commercial for the antidepressant Rexulti that shows people carrying around a happy-face mask to hide their depression.
In other words, it is far more common than most people think. It is OK to ask for help, and talk therapy tends to provide triple the benefit than medications alone when treating depression.
What are the different types of depression?
There are a handful of different types of depression:
- Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)
- Bipolar Disorders
- Bipolar I
- Bipolar II
- Cyclothymia
- Bipolar disorders related to chemical abuse or other conditions
- Dysthymia
- Episodic Depression
- Chronic Depression
- Seasonal Affect Disorder
- Postpartum Depression
- Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder
There are some other, less common types as well (psychotic depression, atypical, etc.)
Can depression be treated?
Yes! As far as treating depression goes, most people are able to manage it without medication if they participate in talk therapy, exercise, meditation, and a healthy lifestyle. Counseling for depression will help you understand what is happening and how to change your lifestyle to gain control over your mood.
More intensive depressive disorders like Bipolar disorder may require medication to be fully managed.
Will I have to take medications to help depression?
Not necessarily. If you are dealing with very intense or persistent depression, medications may help you get over the hump. Most often, if people do take medications, the goal is to be asymptomatic for 6 months to a year, then begin to decrease the medication (NEVER stop meds cold-turkey without talking to your doctor! This can be extremely dangerous).
As mentioned in another question, depression treatment is three times more effective when done via talk therapy than medication. Medication can certainly help, and you should absolutely talk to your doctor or a psychiatrist about your options.
Is depression supposed to make my body hurt?
Physical symptoms of depression are common. Body aches, headaches, stomach aches, and muscle tension are the most common. Some people describe feeling physically “heavy” or “sluggish.” The chemicals involved in depression are powerful impact your physical body. The four main neurotransmitters associated with depression are:
- Serotonin
- Dopamine
- Norepinephrine
- Glutamate
Each of these has a direct impact on both your mood and your body. Depression therapy helps you make positive changes that bring these, and other chemicals back into balance. Sometimes medications help, but most people are able to make lifestyle and thought changes that help them beat depression.
Jonathan F. Anderson, LCMHC, LPC-s
Jonathan is dually licensed in North Carolina as a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (LCMHC, formerly LPC) and in Texas as a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor (LPC-s). He completed his Bachelor‘s degree at the University of Texas, Austin, in 1994, and his Master’s Degree at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, in 1997. Jonathan has been a leader in the teletherapy industry for over 20-years. He has written telephone counseling training protocols for an international teletherapy provider and was the lead trainer at the same organization. Jonathan has completed Level II of the rigorous Gottman Method of Couples Counseling, and is recognized as an advanced provider of Critical Incident Stress Debriefing and Management. He is happy to be able to apply his expertise of online and telephone counseling to his trauma response and to all of his counseling services.