Depression Counseling in Mill Neck, NY.

Depression is a feeling that can feel incredibly heavy to hold. Sometimes we experience challenging life events that leave us feeling much sadness, grief, inner pain and lack of joy, which interfere with our daily functioning. That is called depression. With Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (challenging unhelpful thoughts) and psychodynamic modalities, I can help you work through that sadness, heaviness and pain, so that you may begin the journey of healing work. This is the first step towards holding the sadness, addressing yourself in a safe space so we can slowly help you process and shift to start feeling lighter and start seeing the sunshine and tasting the small joys in everyday life.

Depression can present itself in many ways, together we identify symptoms that are specific to you, identify and explore what factors are contributing to the symptoms, we talk about how you can begin to improve these symptoms so that you can be on your way to a happier healthier life. For some talk therapy is enough and for others they may need linkage to other specialists.

Sometimes depression is a chronic feeling of loss of energy, sadness, and inability to take action. At times, it can be triggered by certain situations in life. Depending on the specifics for an individual, help may consist of working with internal beliefs or may consist of working to improve a life situation, or a combination of these. I get to know the client, finding out how they experience the depression, what is going on in their life, what may have first started the depression, and what thoughts they experience. I can also work in conjunction with a psychiatrist where needed. Therapy interactions help the client see and embrace more positive and effective thoughts and energies.

Depression leaves people feeling lethargic, unmotivated and often hopeless. It can be difficult to see your way out. It has been proven that with professional help your situation can look brighter. As your outlook begins to improve you will notice increased energy, developing enthusiasm and the return of prior interests. Finding a supportive, empathic professional you can trust is key. Don't go through it alone.

Depression can leave you feeling lonely and under motivated for change. Therapy with me can help alleviate those emotions and negative setbacks from depression. Furthermore, you will gain useful and important coping skills which will help you reengage with your friends, family, work and life. Depression can be scary but working with a skilled and empathic professional can help you live your life again.

Depression is anger turned inward or against yourself. As anger builds within, an individual has three choices: To channel the anger energy assertively by expressing the feelings attached to the situations causing one to feel depressed; to express the anger through outbursts that can be very destructive to the self and others; to internalize the anger and become more depressed and less functional with time. My job is to enable you to learn how to identify and express feelings that are causing you to feel depressed. The next step is to change behaviors associated with your feelings freeing you from depressive thoughts and feelings.

My approach to depression therapy begins with helping clients understand it is a treatable illness. I assess their symptoms (sleep, eating problems, lack of focus, irritability, anxiety, sadness) to determine their condition (major depression, situational depression, dysphoria). I also determine whether medication (administered under the supervision of a medical professional) may be necessary in addition to talk therapy. I employ compassionate listening to understand each client's issues and the root causes of their condition and develop a tailored treatment plan.

What makes depression tricky is that it manifests in brain chemistry as well as emotion. Deciding which came first is often a chicken and the egg question. Working together, we will explore the roots of the depression (even if you think you don't know what they are) and treat both the symptoms of the depression as well as the root cause (which I promise you are present somewhere).

In my approach to depression counseling and treatment, I provide a compassionate and holistic perspective, tailoring my interventions to the unique needs of each client. Drawing upon my 8 years of experience as a Board-Certified adult psychiatrist and specialization in Reproductive Psychiatry and Integrative Women's Mental Health, I offer evidence-based therapies and medication management.

I leverage a solution-based approach to clearly outline your primary challenge, work through an exercise to meditate on and define your future state and then work over 8 sessions to achieve it via homework and 1:1 sessions. Clients have experienced great success with this approach, my goal is to empower you - YOU have the answers and I want to help you find them.