Depression Counseling in Columbia, MD.

I have a great deal of experience helping clients who are going through feelings and symptoms of depression and/or anxiety. I use a variety of ways to guide clients to feel more content and happy. I use cognitive therapy with clients who tend to be perfectionists and/or are self-critical. I use gestalt therapy with clients who need to more fully express their feelings. I use hypnosis with clients who need to get in better touch with their inner strengths. Everyone deserves to feel good inside.

I help my clients view depression as a mental, emotional, and physiological condition that can be treated with a full application of the tools, insights, and aids that are available from a variety of sources. These will include cognitive techniques to redirect unhelpful thought patterns, behavioral practices such as exercise, sleep hygiene, and life style adjustments, and social/relational interactions with significant others. We will also explore patterns of reactions to past and current life stressors that might perpetuate a cycle of depressive symptoms. If symptoms of depression are chronically severe, posing elevated risks to health or safety, I will help the client consult with a doctor to evaluate the potential use of a psychotropic medication to...(view profile to read more)

Although their are various symptoms attributed to depression, at its core it involves a loss of one's sense of passion and purpose in living. I help people recover their lost sense of passion and purpose by helping them look deep inside themselves for what they have lost. It is not easy work, but it is very rewarding. Once this work is done, the symptoms of depression are no longer needed.

Depression is a suffering that takes the joy out of life and seems endless and hopeless. It drains your self-esteem. It is a sign of a problem but it makes solving problems more difficult. Sometimes medication can help, but psychotherapy is more effective. There are several approaches to getting out of depression and I would use all of them. We can work to notice and challenge depressing thoughts. We can work with underlying trauma or loss where you may have begun to feel depressed. I can also support you to take the kind of actions that lift your mood. You will learn ways of being more nourished and fulfilled.

There are many forms of depression. Some people have a major depression needing both counseling and perhaps medication. Other people come in with low level depression or situational form following a loss or perhaps a trauma. Some people need to process their situation and see it from a different perspective along with exercise, connecting with other people, joining support groups, focusing on moments when they felt strong and competent. I will design, along with you, strategies to help manage the depression and bring hope back into your life.