Do You Have Depression?
Do you feel like you go through the day feeling like none of the things and activities you used to love seem to matter anymore? Your mood is down and nothing cheers you up for long. Have you been having trouble sleeping? You may struggle to get to sleep or you wake up after a few hours and can’t get back to sleep even though you’re exhausted. You may not feel much like eating and food tastes like cardboard. Do you find that you don’t have the same energy you used to have or you can’t concentrate and can’t think straight? It’s hard to get any work done and whatever gets done isn’t up to your usual standards. You may feel like things just aren’t going right and it seems like they never have and never will. You can feel like you must’ve done something to deserve all of this. Sometimes the pain gets so bad you wish something, anything would just make it go away.
If any of this sounds familiar to you, you may be experiencing depression. Depression is an illness that affects people on a physical, psychological and spiritual level. The physical symptoms include: loss of appetite, insomnia, loss of energy, body aches and pains. The psychological symptoms include: loss of interest, loss of motivation, depressed mood, trouble concentrating, increased guilt, low self esteem and sometimes thoughts of suicide. The spiritual aspects include experiencing feelings that life has lost all meaning and that nothing matters anymore. Depression can be caused by a variety of factors including: traumatic experiences, sustained stress, other medical illnesses, stressful life experiences and genetic factors. Left untreated, depression tends to get worse over time and can sometimes result in suicidal ideation and behavior.
Fortunately, depression is very treatable. Most people who get treatment experience relief of their symptoms. Psychotherapy works by the therapist and the client working together to understand the ways in which the depression has changed the person’s thinking and colored their emotions. Together, they can explore the client’s psychosocial history and their patterns of thinking, feeling and behavior that cause and maintain the depression and work on developing more healthy patterns.
Sometimes, antidepressant medication that works on the level of the brain can be helpful with the physical symptoms of sleep disturbance, loss of appetite, energy level and mood. We can help you decide whether a trial of medication may be helpful for you and refer you to a physician who can prescribe medication if needed.
If you think you or a loved one may be suffering from depression, don’t suffer any longer than you have to. Call us today for an evaluation and get started on your road to recovery at:
609-921-6070