Depression Counseling in Lucas Valley Marinwood, CA.

Frequently, the things we want or need to change serve a purpose for us. They become a part of our identity and while they can cause us distress, their removal from our lives threatens us at a deep level. We are constantly creating an identity for ourselves and the very idea of change represents a threat to that identity. I can help you work through your depression by getting you to focus more concretely on the issues and symptoms you face in a safe and supportive environment. Together we will process some of the various things contributing to your depression, and creatively collaborate on how you can use your internal strengths to change.

Clients usually experience a progressive decline in mood, which can impact their emotions, the quality of their sleep, relationships (they may even begin to withdraw from others), and have persistent negative thoughts. Many clients prefer to explore viable holistic and integrative strategies before trying medication. In our collaboration, we will design a plan to explore possible options, strategies to strengthen effective coping mechanisms, and identify a plan to enhance the opportunity for recovery.

Depression is a serious issue. I know it is difficult to seek help when you are depressed and you probably feel hopeless that there is any help at all. It is the nature of the illness that keeps you from getting the help you deserve. Psychotherapy can help! Depression is treatable and you can live a happier and more productive life. I provide a safe place to help you understand and deal with the depression and together we will create a plan to help you feel better.

Depression means feeling down or blue for at least two weeks and/or not finding pleasure in activities or relationships that typically make you happy. Nobody chooses to feel depressed, but those who suffer from it may blame themselves. The first step in recovering from depression is cultivating an attitude of patience and empathy towards oneself for feeling depressed. I offer therapy models this attitude and equips clients with the tools to help them cope. We also address the underlying beliefs that may be contributing to the depressive symptoms.

Oftentimes, if you scratch the surface of depression, you will find loss, anger, despair, a lack of meaning or purpose, a profound sense of disappointment with others, with oneself, with the way that one's life has been lived. These are the issues that I really try to get to with my clients that come in suffering from depression. I often find that depression is connected to childhood experiences of emotional neglect or inattention. I help my clients articulate and grieve these early experiences and offer them an attuned and empathic relationship that helps them to feel seen and validated. This helps them to see and to value themselves, which opens them up to invest more fully in their life.

Depression is the experience of being cut off from feelings, leaving a person feeling numb to life. I help people work through depression by helping them reconnect with themselves. I do this by helping them develop awareness, engage somatic practices to get into their body, do cognitive behavioral techniques to help manage negative beliefs, heal past trauma through the use of EMDR, and learn to sit with more difficult feelings, such as loss and anger. By having a space to process difficult experiences, I person can be free of depression.

Depression originates and presents in subtle ways that are unique to each individual person. Yet it is common to feel taken over with hopelessness and indifference. You may feel as though any other way of experiencing the world is inaccessible, if not impossible. While in it, it can be helpful and less isolating to have a therapist enter into this world with you, come to understand it's origins, it's nuances, how it gets perpetuated and together potentially feel something new.

Depression can set in when our emotions or negative thought patterns become overwhelming and too much to hold. Pain or hardship often is too much to hold alone. With my help, we can start to open to emotion, bring a wise awareness to thought patterns, and to find aliveness again. If we can make friends with our emotions, stop fighting them, and to recognize their purpose in regulating the nervous system or showing us what matters to us, tremendous resilience can be found on the other side.

Depression is usually very treatable. As an Oakland depression therapist, I help people with depression work through their pain and take steps to feel better again. I use traditional talk therapy techniques as well as empirically proven therapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness based therapy, and EMDR. Exciting new research is proving the effectiveness of combining meditation and cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, for depression, and I am excited to offer this therapy to my clients. As a somatic therapist, I am also able to help you work with your body to change the physical symptoms of depression. I help adults & children heal and recover from depressive disorders.

Depression is a mood disorder that can cause a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest that can interfere with daily functioning. Reaching out for help is a step towards wellness. Symptoms of depression can vary from person to person, but it is a very treatable condition. Therapy for depression helps you overcome the feelings of hopelessness and despair and to gain control of your life.

I believe depression is caused when we shut down our emotional expression. As in if we shut down one part of ourselves, such as our anger, or our desire, or our fear, or any other one part, we can't just shut down the one channel and we end up shutting them all down, leading to depression. The solution is to create the safety and trust needed for the person to finally be able to express and feel what they have been blocking and thus move past the depression into more aliveness.

I want to help you feel better, in a way that is deep rooted and lasting. When suffering from depression, it's difficult to believe that your outlook or life will ever improve. While the hopelessness you may feel is all too real, the bleakness of the future it points to is not. Whether your depression is long-standing or traceable to some recent situation, I believe a different reality is possible. I could not do this work if I didn't trust this to be true, or see evidence of it with others I've helped. My focus will be to help you find your own lost source of vision and contentment. Regarding medication, it's one option of many and not warranted in every case, but best discussed together.

Depression can make it even more difficult to come into therapy. Feelings of hopelessness and despair can lead to isolation which often only makes the depression worse. Even though it's difficult to come in and talk, therapy really can help to increase awareness and lift your feelings of depression which will help you to feel more engaged with your life. Take the first step to feeling better and we will collaborate to work through your depression and work towards generating awareness, emotional and psychological movement, and motivation in your life.