Depression

I know depression. I know its pain. I know the feeling of desperation and feeling totally disempowered and frightened that often comes with depression.

I became a clinical psychologist precisely because I wanted to learn how to help people who suffer with depression as I have in the past.  It is black and it is lonely.  But it does not have to be allowed to take over your life.  You CAN take your life back by taking your mood back.  I can show you how to begin to do it.  

People too frequently say "I am depressed" when what they really mean is "I feel sad".  "Depression" is a clinical disorder, and it is only appropriate to say someone is "depressed" if they meet all the criteria for depression.  Find out if you meet the criteria for Major Depressive Disorder by taking the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) here.

The BDI will measure the clinical symptoms of depression but what does it FEEL like on a daily basis? When you feel depressed, you are not thinking about the clinical symptoms, you are thinking and feeling more along the lines of just being "stuck".

In fact the experience of depression is feeling "stuck in present pain." The pain is NOW, the feeling of not being able to get out of it is NOW, and the stuck "I can't get out of this" feeling produces discouragement, frustration, sadness, very negative views of ourselves, and hopelessness--all emotions that seem to cause us to sink a little deeper every day.  

I can help you get unstuck--contact me and let's begin to work to get you feeling more empowered, unstuck, moving forward again, and happier.

Anxiety

If the experience of depression is "stuck in present pain" then the experience of anxiety is "fear of future pain".  The core experience of anxiety is fear and fear is always about something in the future that we think is going to cause us pain as it gets closer and closer to the present moment and begins to become it.  

We don't fear things that happened in the past...no need to fear them as they are past events.  But, as we look at the future and as it becomes our present, we see what we think will hurt us and no one wants to hurt or feel pain.  So, we begin to dread these things and the pain we think they will cause us.  We begin to fear the experience of pain we are sure is going to happen.  

The symptoms of any of the anxiety disorders include not only emotional fear and dread but also behavior: avoidance of the feared thing, attempts to dodge it, saying/doing things to protect oneself from this anticipated pain, etc.  Find out your level of anxiety by taking the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) here.

Symptoms are also physiological: heart racing, sweating, feeling restless, fidgety, continuous chewing on thoughts about the feared thing in a vain attempt to "come at it from all angles" in our minds and so somehow lessen the impact we fear.  We can also have gastrointestinal problems (the GI system is very sensitive to anxiety), problems sleeping, relationship problems, shallowness of breath, sexual functioning problems, and a host of other physical complaints.

There are some very specific tactics you can learn that will help you manage your anxiety and take your power back in a way that restores a sense of calm--and I can help you learn those tactics.