Do you find yourself not enjoying things you used to? Are you not texting or calling your friends back? Does life feel flat? Empty? Do you zone out on the couch mindlessly ‘watching’ TV? Is your sleep completely askew? Have you gained weight, or do you struggle to even eat? Are you inexplicably sad? Do you find tears well up without warning or at inopportune places and times? If you answered YES to even a few of these questions, you could be dealing with Depression.
Depression affects 1 in 3 adults at some point in their life. Depression can hit after an event or a trauma. Depression can also be pervasive for some individuals. Depression can be seasonal or even cyclical. Depression, like Anxiety is a chemical imbalance of neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin which are primarily, but not wholly, produced in the brain. These transmitters don’t fire properly and are not sufficiently produced. Thankfully, we now know things we can do practically to help the re-balancing efforts. Therapy, exercise, healthy living and in some cases medicine, can help re-balance the neurotransmitters. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, can be especially helpful.
This combination of practical proven strategies helps the body re-balance the serotonin and dopamine levels. I use the 6 prong approach to help stop depression in its tracks. Stephen Illardi, a Harvard researcher and author, created the six strategies through his 20 plus years of research and practice. His six practical steps found in his book, A Path out of Depression, can be implemented immediately. When working with my clients, I encourage a ‘Do it before you feel like doing it’ approach to these helpful strategies. In therapy, we will also process the events or trauma that played a role in triggering depression. Depression and Anxiety are debilitating. Get relief today.
Anxiety, with all its awful manifestations, is very closely connected to depression. It is not unusual that people deal with both; sometimes clients find they slip from Depression to Anxiety, and back again.