Depression
Low mood, hopelessness, tearfulness, despondency, despair...
We can experience depression in different ways at different points in our lives. Descriptions often include feelings of sadness and hopelessness, and that life is meaningless.
Working with a counsellor can help to change this, restoring a sense of meaning in our lives, bringing back hopefulness and a belief in our own abilities and worth.
Experiences of Depression
We can experience depression in different ways at different points in our lives. Descriptions often include feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and that life no longer has meaning – a feeling of being under a dark cloud or that depression is like a black dog that turns up. Some days it can feel better just to stay in bed, not to face the world and the people in it, though this can bring other unwelcome feelings of not living your life.
Often with depression we can feel that the things we used to enjoy hold little pleasure for us now and that plans we make no longer bring excitement. Life feels cold and empty and there seems no hope of change. And with all of this, we can feel very alone - that no one cares or that those who do can’t help us.
For some, depression may come only rarely, leaving you feel unlike yourself – an unsettling, even frightening, experience. To others, it’s familiar, recurrent, an accepted part of how we see ourselves.
How Counselling and Therapy can help with Depression
Working with a therapist gives you the chance to talk to someone you won't be afraid of burdening and who has no expectations you feel you have to live up to. You won't be judged for what you say and feel.
Exploring your feelings with another person, someone independent who will continue to respect you no matter what you say, will allow your feelings to evolve, take their proper proportions, and no longer crowd out the good.