Depression and Anxiety

I have a lot of experience working with patients who are suffering from depression as well as those suffering from anxiety.  The way that you and I address these struggles will depend a lot on the nature of the issue. Is this a chronic issue you've dealt with across your lifespan? Or did this come along during a specific phase of life? What does this look like for you specifically, and how does it stop you from living the life you want to live?

What are your specific symptoms of depression and anxiety trying to tell you? This is one of the questions we might work with in therapy. It might be that these emotions are a longstanding experience related to developmental trauma. It may also be that a particular event launched you into new overwhelming feelings. Sometimes depressive and anxious symptoms require us to make changes in the way we navigate the world, and sometimes they involve us making changes in the external world (like changing a job, or being more honest in our relationships). Because your feelings of depression and anxiety are entirely unique to you, the way you and I will come to understand it and the best path out of it will be unique to you as well. 

Depression can look many different ways––sometimes the volume knob on unwanted emotions (despair, irritability) is turned way up, and sometimes the volume knob all emotions are turned way down leading to feeling numb and disconnected. Depression often affects your appetite (which may go up or down) and your sleep (which may go up or down). You may find it difficult to find the motivation to do things, and that things you enjoyed aren't enjoyable anymore. Some people experience their emotions more physically (such as, a feeling of heaviness in the limbs) and for some people it might be more cognitive or emotional (such as being hounded by thoughts of regrets, of guilt, or of hopelessness). 

Anxiety, too, looks different for each person. You may find you're always trying to imagine the worst and then plan for it, or that you're generally tense and overwhelmed. You might have specific symptoms, such as panic attacks or fears about a specific object or situation. Like with depression, sometimes it makes sense to treat the symptom, and sometimes it makes more sense to work with you on more fundamental aspects of how you experience yourself and the world so that the world feels less scary overall. 

I am happy to talk more with you about what you're experiencing, and how I would initially approach it. Often over time in therapy, we learn more about why you are feeling the way you are and that helps us continue to refine our approach together.