Depression is one of most powerful human emotions.It is one of those emotions if you leave untreated, could lead to something more serious for those suffering from it severely.
Everyone has moments of feeling unhappy. That is natural. But clinical depression goes beyond that.It is a disease. But it is treatable.
I would like to offer some advice and tips that I have gained from my experience as a therapist in San Diego.
So when does depression become clinical depression?
Firstly, a person might start to feel like everything is hopeless and sad.This when someone feels like everything is pointless. Or life is not worth living. Which might lead to suicidal thoughts and feelings.
This usually can last for several weeks if not longer. When you have depression that lasts that long, you are moving into the clinical depression state.
And it is when you start hitting that point, you need to see a therapist.Don’t hit that point and leave this condition untreated.Take my word for it, I have learned this from my experience in depression counseling.
So once you are at that point, you have to do certain things. Because some depression is caused by imbalances in your body or the chemistry in your brain, you may need to treat it medically. You would treat it with antidepressant drugs.
Of course as a counselor, I prefer to treat it through depression counseling.A counselor helps a person start to get to the root of their depression and come to grips with it.
They can also try other forms of therapy like cognitive behavior therapy which addresses how you think.The objective is to confront those negative thoughts and turn them around to a positive.
A therapist can also help you use relaxation techniques. If the depression is caused by stress, using relaxation will help combat that form of stress.
Most of all a depression counselor will be the most effective person to find out what is causing the depression.
They are good at looking and seeing if a circumstance like a loss in the family is the cause.They can look and see if there is something in the past that is causing this.Or they can look to see if it is something that is caused by your body. Whether it is some physiological change.
Depression is a treatable condition.But when you don’t know what caused it, you will not be able to treat it.This is why finding a good counselor or therapist will help a lot.
