Depression Counseling in East Palo Alto, CA.

Our understanding of depression and its origins has deepened in recent years, especially with the much more nuanced knowledge we now have about the influences of both our early lives and neurobiology in shaping how we experience and respond to stress and adversity. If you are depresses, it is important to understand whether it is a response to situational, and possibly temporary circumstances, a biological tendency, a response to long-term trauma or a combination of triggers. If you wish to explore how I could help with your particular situation, please call me at 415-533-9724.

Depression is different from grief, sadness, or challenging transitions. If you find yourself feeling stuck in states of low energy, low motivation, and apathy, it is time to seek help. I primarily use Hakomi Experiential Therapy to help you uncover old beliefs and patterns that may have been adaptive in your family, but that aren't serving you anymore. I can teach you practices to use all your sensory awareness to bring pleasure to your life again. This discovery process can bring capacity for new choices, new feelings of energy and creative vitality.

Depression affects millions of people worldwide. Depression can leave you feeling disconnected with yourself and others, frozen in time, and without purpose. Therapy for depression starts with understanding how your symptoms are affecting you. Behavioral activation is a tool for helping to lift your mood. Understanding what may be causing your depression will help you move toward change, self-expression, relief, self-awareness, meaning making, and growth. Healing from depression will result in more vitality, direction, appreciation, and joy.

While most of us feel gloomy sometimes, for many, these feelings don't last very long. With depression, these feelings can affect your daily life and ability to function, and they can last a long time. Without help, depression can impact your relationships, job peformance, and other aspects of your life. Since depression doesn't always look the same or start for the same reason, I can help you identify and understand your own triggers as well as develop effective pathways to recovery.

Grey Matters International, Inc. and the work of Kevin J. Fleming, Ph.D. handles depression and other emotional disorders in a very unique way. Most of therapy or counseling processes utilize validation, unconditional positive regard, and reframing as common techniques to get someone to heal from their depression. Though this can be helpful, it rarely fixes the core problem behind it and for tough cases we then refer them usually to a psychiatrist for medication which can have tons of side effects. Instead, why not try a natural and arguably more effective way to not just change your mind, but change the brain--where the depression is rooted. Contact us at kevin@kevinflemingphd.com.

It can often seem like society expects us to be happy and positive at all times, that any admission of sadness or a loss of motivation, energy, or engagement with life is a personal failure. But Depression isn't a personal failure, and it is also more than just "feeling sad". If you find yourself down in the hole of disconnection, surrounded by a fog that is interfering with your life and relationships, you need a hand to help you climb out. A trained therapist understands the mechanics of depression and can help you understand it and find strategies to make your way up and out of it, and back into the light. Please contact me so we can begin to work on this process together.

In treating depression I explore your history, is your depression in your family or only your experience. Did it start with some incident or repeated incidents - abuse, bullying, trauma? Then we target the negative beliefs contributing to your depression using EMDR or Energy Psychology - EFT Tapping, or HealingCodes. These methods enable us to reduce the depression and give you an ongoing tool to use to be able to manage and even possibly eliminate it all together.

Depression can be so difficult to manage. It can also look very different for different people. One thing is for certain, our society still doesn’t fully understand depression, and so many people suffering from it can get blamed and shamed for their behavior. This can end up making the person suffering feel even worse. I would like to help you move out of the dark and into the light. Let’s take a look at what you are feeling and experiencing and see how we can make a customized treatment plan just for you. No one deserves to suffer.

Depression is an overused word, and therefore misunderstood. I will work with you to help you understand if you are truly depressed, caught in grief, or going through a rocky life-transition. How we respond to our life is as, or even more important than the facts of our life. Our reactions to our circumstances will guide our emotional path in either a positive or negative way. Let me help you embrace the parts of yourself that are unknown, even to you. Bringing your darkness to light, will help you to see yourself in a much more empathetic way.

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 and chronic worry often go hand in hand and both leave us feeling helpless and alone. I work with people who are locked in cycles of repetitive, negative thinking to see that the wisdom of the body can be harnessed to help change the cycle. You can learn to listen to your body-mind's need for being accepted, encouraged, and loved, rather than harassed, put-down and pushed. Depression is the fear of doing things on the job, in relationship or in life less than perfectly. And yet perfection isn't possible. We can work together to release you from the bonds of skewed thinking. You can practice new skills, especially acceptance of yourself, other people and our human frailties.

Depression is usually caused from helplessness in the face of overwhelming situations. This can be a learned response from unresolved traumas in your past. My approach to depression is multifaceted, beginning with getting to know you and understanding your life and its hardships. Very quickly, I like to move into using Somatic Experiencing to help resolve past trauma and retrain your nevous system to be able to re-regulate itself in the face of what used to be overwhelming circumstances. I have seen a lot of people rise up out of the hell of depression, with and without medication, to live the lives they were meant to live.

When you are waking up sad or feeling heaviness, or irritable much of the time you might benefit from some help with this. Therapy or counseling can make a difference. It may take you out of being by yourself and thinking blue thoughts or feeling less power than you really have to allow interest in feeling good again. I want to be present for you to give you ways to lighten the leaden or deeply sad feelings and restore a sense of hope. Your mind/body can respond to ways to clear what is stuck and gain a sense of strength and caring for yourself, which is what I am right here to provide guidance through. With some solid professional assistance, brightening can happen for you: really!

Has anyone ever implied you should just "snap out of" depression? Oh, boy, do they not understand! If depression is keeping you from living the life you want, I can help. I understand that depression is a complex emotional, physical, and psychological disease. Often historical, genetic and environmental factors contribute to depression. Together we can sort out those complex factors and address them one by one. Depression is not your fault, nor is it a moral failing. You can feel better. You can feel alive again. Studies show that even contacting a therapist can give you hope. Give it a try. I'm waiting to hear from you.

I work with a depressed nervous system by working with the body. Often we struggle to sleep, eat, or accomplish relatively simple tasks. Our bodies are stuck with the brake on. When our body thinks it is futile, out mind follows quickly thereafter and we begin to tell ourselves how pointless things are and how worthless we are. I work with the whole body to re-regulate the body to enable you to get back to a whole integrated self.

I use a blend of cutting-edge therapeutic techniques such as sensorimotor psychotherapy, internal family systems, and object-relations psychotherapy to create a personalized healing journey. Focused on working with individuals who desire more permanent solutions to their emotional pain, my approach to depression therapy is as compassionate as it is transformative. By engaging with these specifically tailored methods, clients find themselves nurtured, understood, and empowered, unlocking new pathways to well-being and joy. This personalized care provides clients with a value-driven and life-enhancing experience that goes beyond traditional therapy.

Are you struggling with sadness, loss of motivation, low energy, feeling down, hopelessness or helplessness? Life these days are not easy and can bring on depression and loneliness. I want to be a support to you and help you through this part of your life. I will help you find hope and identify coping skills to manage your symptoms. It would be my pleasure to walk by your side and find a new path of hopefulness!

Depression feels like walking through mud. We lose ourselves and wonder if we will ever be found again. Often depression is a result of unexpressed negative emotions (which we were never allowed to safely express in our family of origin - so we swallowed it instead). I am very comfortable with the shame and humility that the human condition sometimes hands us - and I can sit with my clients while they work through unexpressed sadnesses - and ultimately find joy in their lives.

Depression is a common mental health disorder, affecting all age groups, that causes intense & persistent feelings of hopelessness, sadness and personal emptiness. Depression affects how you feel, think, behave and could lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems, left untreated. If you are struggling with depression you don't have to be alone, seeking help is the first step to improving your symptoms. Psychotherapy has shown to improve the symptoms of depression. Together will develop a comprehensive treatment plan specific to your concerns, needs and symptoms to improve the quality of your life.

Research shows that the most effective treatment for depression is psychotherapy. Depression can range from feeling down to major symptoms such as having trouble even getting out of bed or contemplating suicide (if you have suicidal thoughts or plans, call the National Suicide Prevention Line at 1-800-273-8255). Online counseling is effective for depression because it is easy to access: you can start treatment without even leaving the house.

Does life seem bleak right now? Have you lost interest in the things you used to enjoy? Do you feel sad most of the time? Do you have little to look forward to, and a lot you’d prefer not to look back on? When you are convinced that things will never get better no matter what, you are depressed. I can give you tools and teach you how to use them to dig yourself out of the emotional ditch you’re in. It is possible to feel hope again when you know how.

In depression treatment with me, you will feel that you are deeply heard, that your symptoms are understood, and that your process is respected. Initially, I will teach you some valuable skills to help you take the edge off of your depression to make way for deeper healing. By experiencing compassion and receiving effective coaching in sessions, you will be able to begin to process your pain more effectively so that you can let it go and move toward more consistent happiness and satisfying relationships. Call me with any questions or to schedule an initial appointment.

Depression manifests in many ways but the overriding symptoms in children are irritability, changes in sleeping and eating habits, low energy, not seeming to enjoy things that once were fun and isolating. Some have feelings of hopelessness. I work with my clients, to gain an understanding of what they feel. We work together to uncover the deeper reasons for the feelings, the thoughts and behavior. And then begin to learn ways to change the thoughts and feelings so they can once again feel more confident that things will work out for them.

I help clients explore the root causes of their depression, which can often be complex and multifaceted. By uncovering underlying issues, clients can gain a deeper understanding of their emotions and behaviors. Clients learn strategies to manage and regulate intense emotions associated with depression. These skills empower clients to navigate emotional challenges more effectively. I offer tools to cope with stress and life challenges, reducing the impact of stressors on depressive symptoms. I use CBT, acceptance & commitment therapy to help break negative patterns for my clients who are dealing with depression. When depression is tied to past trauma, I also use EMDR.

Free 30 minute zoom call - Depression often really just means "repression". It is usually a sign that the human system is overwhelmed with thoughts & emotions that have become unmanageable. People with depression are often stuck & unmotivated. A shift in circumstances is usually needed for people suffering from depression AND expressing emotions through a variety of outlets is extremely helpful.