You might be feeling hopeless, disappointed, sad, irritated and lacking in self-trust and confidence.

You might find it hard to get out of bed in the morning or find meaning and purpose in your day-to-day life. 

You stop enjoying things you once loved and you withdraw from friends and family.

You think that you’re a failure and you believe that your friends and family would be better off without you. 

You worry these feelings will never go away. 

These are just some of the signs that you might be experiencing depression.

I believe there are many causes and ways we experience depression. 

I also believe it can sometimes be unhelpful to overly attach ourselves to and identify with depression, specifically if we then believe we have no agency over our experience and see ourselves as inherently broken.

Yes, it’s uncomfortable and inconvenient and often deeply painful to feel emotions, yet grief, sadness, disappointment and frustration are part of the day-to-day human experience. We’ve just become really bad at at acknowledging and talking about it. It’s actually normal and healthy to feel these things and it’s a myth that people are meant to be happy all the time. But what’s not normal or healthy is avoiding or shutting off our feelings. Overtime and left unattended we find ourselves deep in the well of overwhelming thoughts, feelings and emotions and, understandably, we shut down. We become emotionally paralyzed.

If this sounds like something you’re struggling with, therapy can help. We will begin to tune into your emotions not just by talking about them but sensing them physically in your body. Once we understand what you’re feeling we will start to build your tolerance and capacity to actually connect with them so that you can understand their purpose, and allow them move through you. My hope is that you move from a state of shut-down to one of connection with yourself and experience your depression as a catalyst for change.