Depression Counseling in Palos Verdes Estates, CA.

Depression feels like a giant weight, the glue on your body that binds you to your bed. It is hard to see out of the dark fog that surrounds your everyday experiences. Finding a psychotherapist is like finding an ally; you don't have to bear the weight of your problems alone. Psychotherapy for depression and anxiety can offer hope for a changed perspective and happiness.

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 stigmatized, leaving sufferers feeling isolated. Lack of education regarding depression causes others to assume its under the person's control; when often there are biological factors blocking healing. Callous terms like "Snap out of it" leave the sufferer feeling all the more hopeless, because they can't snap out of it any more than a diabetic can snap out of diabetes without medical attention or treatment. Depression can be the result of a depletion of significant hormones in the brain. The Word of God is a powerful tool I use with clients to stifle the negative cognitions of depression. I refer clients for medical intervention when depression is not responding to therapy.

One of the most common reasons that people enter counseling is the experience of depression. Depression is much more common than what people know. I will help you understand the nature of your depression, what the possible causes are, and a variety of approaches that my clients have found helpful over the years. Whether your depression is recent or persistent, there are specific treatment methods that work for many people. I am also more than happy to work with other healthcare providers to make sure that you benefit from a comprehensive approach. Working with me or with a team can help to maximize your ability to get symptom relief and help you lead a happier and fulfilling life.

If you tend to look at your past, present and future as painfully sad I can help you develop a plan to lift your mood and help you to become more hopeful. You will be able to measure your progress based on changes you can achieve and believe in, step by step. We can work together at whatever pace you need. Learn tools you can use for a lifetime. Taking the first steps by gettting expert help can make the difference.

When working with depression I take an eclectic approach. At the outset of therapy I work with the client to establish concrete goals. I employ various techniques including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and take a psychodynamic approach to examine the underlying causes of depression. I believe depression should be approached in a holistic manner and often times requires incorporating other techniques and interventions outside of the clinical setting.

Depression often results following some type of loss. However, often it is not the loss itself that causes the depression, but the person's assessment and thoughts about the loss that produces feelings of depression. Cognitive therapy, as practiced by Dr. Levine, can help reverse such clinical depression. It is normal to feel sadness following a loss or unexpected negative life event and cognitive therapy is frequently an excellent method for insuring that normal sadness does not morph into clinical depression. If medication might help in addition to therapy, Dr. Levine will help direct you to a competent psychopharmacologist to provide this additional assistance, if you choose.

Everyone experiences sadness at some point in their lives. How do we know if it is depression? You may be feeling sad, empty, anxious, hopeless, and/or irritable. You may feel sleepy or have difficulty in sleeping; changes in your appetite; a loss of interest in activities or trouble concentrating. Studies have shown that talk therapy can be as effective in treating mild to moderate depression as medications. In our therapy sessions together, I will help you explore and manage the feelings of defeat that you may have. In a gentle way, I will work with you to help understand some of the patterns you may have developed that are no longer serving you in a positive way.

You might be experiencing profound loss and feel isolated and alienated from those around you. Perhaps the loneliness you feel comes from a profound sense of not being fully known and understood. Because every human being and each individual's process is unique, I won't put you through a series of pre-determined exercises or fit you into some theoretical model. I work in collaboration with you to explore, discover, illumine, and heal the wounds that have kept you from expanding into the fullness of who you are meant to be.

Depression often results in a person believing that the only position to take is one of helplessness and hopelessness. Friends and family often cannot understand why their loved one cannot take action. However, to the person affected by depression, ruminating is the action they are taking which feels just as valid as any other type of action. Negative memories and negative interpretation of events dominante. It is difficult to accept the unknown and they under-estimate their ability to cope. Fatalistic beliefs, ambiguity and unfocused attention add to the overwhelming power of depression. In therapy, I help clients accept the unknown, focus attention, and transform the critical voice.

I have worked for many years with people who are suffering from depression. Depression can manifest in a number of ways- lack of interest in activities that previously made you happy, low energy, a decrease or increase in appetite, a sense of hopelessness, substance usage etc. When one experiences sadness which is pervasive it can be very troubling and frightening. One's outlook on life when depressed can seem very bleak and as thought it may never lift. However, talking about ones feelings about feeling depressed with a skilled caring professional is one way to help to start alleviate these feelings.

Depression is a crippling experience that often goes unidentified by ourselves or those in our lives for way too long. It is self-sustaining, as it causes us to withdraw from our lives and from possible support. Mild to moderate depression may be treated with traditional "talk" psychotherapy, although severe depression may require pharmaceutical intervention. I work with you both to make sense of your depression and take steps to challenge it and move through it, into a better quality of life. We will talk. We will work somatically, with your breath and your body, to move stuck emotions and energy and remove the blocks to getting back into your life. Depression IS treatable. Seek out help.

When a loved one dies many people experience depression along with their other symptoms of grief. As a bereavement therapist I understand that grief takes a long time and that it is very difficult to learn to live without your loved one. Through grief counseling we can together help you regain your sense of balance and begin to lift the depressive feelings that can be overwhelming.