Are You Struggling with Depression? Discover How Therapy Can Help You

‘Depression’, a term that you must have heard or associated yourself with, now synonymous with sadness, grief, and feeling down is in reality much more significant. Although significant, it doesn’t have to be the ‘it’ to control your life as there are ways to overcome it. It needs professional management, help, and attention for which depression therapy would be the answer. This blog will inspire and make you understand what depression is, the types, symptoms, causes, and the perfect therapy that will help you in your healing, and transitioning journey.

A Comprehensive Understanding of Depression

Depression is common in many people regardless of their age, sexuality, and gender. It cannot be defined under a single phrase such as  ‘mood swing’ or ‘feeling under the weather’. It requires proper medical attention and a helping hand. Depression tends to make people question their self-worth, the worth of living, and their sole purpose of existence. It is persistent in one’s life which hinders a person from enjoying life, feeling feelings of positivity or even neutrality. The weight on a person suffering from a prolonged episode or episodes of depressive disorder might lead to a threatening silent call for help. Even today there is a major percentage of people who would dismiss or consider the subject of mental health problems, including depression and therapy as a taboo which leads depressed people to not acknowledge their suffering.

Depression: Causes, Its Types and Symptoms To Watch Out!

The intensity and causes of depression vary from person to person leading to different symptoms. Some people might feel light periods of depressive episodes while on the other hand, you might be carrying the burden of the sickness for days, months, and even years which tends to get severe and worse over time. 

Causes

Depression is the result of many combined factors that are integral parts of human life and their daily routine.

• The factors can be social, physical, psychological, and biological which also go hand in hand with events and experiences a person goes through in their life.
• Severe, traumatic life events like the loss of someone close, failure, unemployment, poverty, body dysmorphia, etc., are more likely to cause depression.
• Depression also leads to heightened anxiety, stress, and thoughts of incompetence which disables a person to function in their daily lives.
• In many other scenarios, depression is also linked to and negatively affected by physical health like inadequate consumption of alcohol, and substance abuse. These lead to major life diseases like cancer, lung diseases, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. These diseases cause a person to lose the will to continue their living as an increase in self-hatred.

Depression is not unbeatable, or uneasy to get time. It might take time and patience but along with your own motivation and therapy for depression help create a safe and sound space for anyone who seeks it.

Types & Symptoms Of Depression

There are two main types: major depressive disorder and persistent depressive disorder.

• Major depressive disorder
  Major Depressive Disorder commonly known as MDD is the more acute form of depression that gets prolonged over two weeks. It is described by prolonged and continuous feelings of negativity, worthlessness, sadness, and hopelessness which might not go away over time.

• Persistent depressive disorder
  Persistent Depressive disorder previously known as dysthymia, is a chronic but milder form of depression. Its symptoms last more than MDD in the period, at least for two years as per the proper diagnosis. It affects a person’s life more severely because of the long time period.

The common and noticeable symptoms and signs to consider and look out for are:

• Loss of interest and productivity in daily life activities
• Feeling of hopelessness
• Feelings of low self-esteem and more self-doubt
• Loss of enthusiasm in daily life activities
• Memory loss
• Change in sleeping habits i.e., being insomniac or oversleeping
• Significant weight loss or gain
• Change in eating habits i.e., might lead to an eating disorder
• Fatigue and physical body aches
• Repetitive thoughts of death, worthlessness, or suicide

Tips & Strategies To Deal With Depression By Yourself

Battling with depression alone comes with many shortcomings which take away the pleasure of living a normal life. However, you can try to get back to some activities that you used to love or try to add new things to your routine for something new to kick in. Some activities that may help:

• Some physical activity like jogging or walking around the block can boost your mood. There is no strict time duration to follow, it can be just for 30 minutes.
• Try cooking as a hobby and prepare healthy food.
• Catch up with your friends and family and talk about what you are going through with the ones who understand.
• Pick up new interests such as reading, watching new genres of movies, gardening, etc, and see which is the one you enjoy.
• Try travelling to new places.
• Avoid alcohol and nicotine or any negative drug-induced substances. They are not a positive means of escapism.

How Do Counselors Help With Depression Therapy?

Counseling with different approaches can be a helping hand where one can unpack their feelings throughout, understand their causes of depression and triggers, and help develop ways to go through it in many healthy ways. Here is how they can be helpful:

• By creating a safe space: Opening up to friends and family can be daunting and sensitive for someone which leads to bottling up untold feelings which in turn leads to negative feelings about themselves and their lives. Counselors create and offer their space to be a safe zone for depressed people to talk about their bottled feelings with the assurance of confidentiality and without any judgment.
• Providing coping strategies: Each counselor has different people experiencing different life events which lead to them being depressed. Counselors develop different coping strategies for them to learn and use such as breathing techniques during anxiety attacks, stress management, and mindfulness of the surroundings if their depressive episode gets worse.
• Recognizing triggers and causes: With regular and honest sessions, counselors would be able to identify the causes and their association with a person’s depression resulting in providing coping strategies and how to use them. It will also be the first step in acknowledging one’s depression which most people dismiss or are scared to talk about.
• Strengthening social and creative mind: Counselors help reignite the creative mind by asking individuals to jump back into their favourite activities or hobbies with due time. There are support groups too where new friendships are formed by socializing with new people.
• Being an emotional support: People in their day-to-day lives might not be empathetic enough to sympathize or understand other’s melancholy which leads depressed people to not talk about their feelings and experiences whereas counselors provide empathy and emotional support, lend an understanding ear, and validate their feelings.

Different Approaches Used During Therapy Sessions

People go through different events and have different causes and triggers for their suffering and melancholic journey of depression. So therapists use different ways in depression therapy. 

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
  Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or CBT is a widely strategically used psychological treatment that identifies negative thought patterns and causes and helps in setting respective coping strategies and helpful goals for individuals to achieve in their due time. These help in rebuilding the lost self-worth and self-awareness. This would prevent them from relapsing and falling into the rabbit hole of depression again.
• Emotion-focused Therapy (EFT)
  Emotion-focused Therapy or EFT, as the name indicates focuses on the emotional well-being, growth, and identification of an individual which they might lack. Dismissal and invalidation of your own emotions lead to making drastic, irrational decisions. This increases the negative impact and thought process. EFT recognizes underlying causes of emotional detachment. Further, helps regulate and validate the causes which helps in improving their relationship with themselves and people.
•  Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)
  Interpersonal Therapy or IPT is a tailored and time-bound approach that is usually 16 weeks long. It mainly focuses on the well-being of interpersonal relationships of an individual and communication. It helps in identifying the root cause of strife in relationships or a loss that leads to depression and stress.

Tips To Choose The Right Therapist

There is no wrong time or place to choose the right therapist and therapy session for yourself. But, you should go through all available options near you before choosing. Prioritizing your needs and mental health will help you to narrow down your options. With today’s advancement of the internet, you can be a step forward while choosing the right depression therapy online.

• Registering to a trusted website
• Skimming through various therapists’ profiles and reading the reviews left by other people
• If you end up choosing a therapist, you can schedule a session

The best takeaway from booking an online session would be overcoming the constraints of time and location. Even the convenience of your own space might be a positive factor for you to open up.

Conclusion

Conclusively and evidently, counseling can be the first step for someone struggling with depression. Even if it is over the years or even for a short period. There is always a way to aid themselves in a better way of living where hope and positivity will help them to heal and live on.

If you are experiencing depression-related issues, Online Depression Counseling at TherapyMantra can help: Book a trial Online therapy session.