Therapy for Depression

Depression’s Effects

Depression can make even ordinary life feel heavy, flat, exhausting, or joyless. Therapy helps you understand the patterns that keep you stuck and build connection, clarity, and vitality over time.

What Depression Can Feel Like

Depression is more than feeling down. It can feel like a persistent internal weight that dulls emotion, motivation, energy, and connection, even when nothing outwardly “bad” just happened. You may notice:

• A lingering low mood, emptiness, or sadness

• Loss of interest or pleasure in things you once enjoyed

• Fatigue or slowed thinking

• Trouble concentrating or making decisions

• Changes in sleep or appetite

• A sense of hopelessness, worthlessness, or self-criticism

These experiences are distressing on their own, and they often compound one another. Depression doesn’t just affect your mood, it affects how you relate to yourself and others.

How Depression Shows Up in Daily Life

Depression shows up in how you feel inside and how you live outside. Common ways it shows up include:

• Canceling plans or withdrawing from relationships

• Feeling like a burden to those you care about

• Difficulty starting or completing tasks

• A sense of being “stuck,” numb, or disconnected

• Inner criticism or shame about struggling

A painful yet common pattern is believing that others would be better off without your struggles or that needing help means you’re weak. These thoughts can in turn deepen isolation and emotional pain.

What Therapy Does and How It Helps

Therapy isn’t “just talking.” It’s a supportive process where we explore the meaning behind your experience, not just the surface symptoms. In our work together, we will:

• Understand how your depressive experience developed and what maintains it

• Explore thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that keep you in patterns of withdrawal, self-criticism, or numbness

• Practice ways of reconnecting with things that matter, even in small steps

• Build compassionate self-understanding rather than self-blame

We use a mix of approaches (including psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, acceptance, and relational work) tailored to your needs. What matters most is moving toward sustainable change rather than quick fixes.

Why This Work Matters

Depression can distort how you see yourself: your value, your potential, your relationships. It can make you feel like you’re watching life instead of living it.

Therapy creates a space where your experience is met with curiosity rather than judgment, where you can recognize familiar patterns and choose how to respond to them rather than feeling trapped by them. This isn’t about “just being positive.” It’s about building clarity, strength, and agency in the face of something that has felt heavy and persistent for too long.

Who This Work Is For

Therapy for depression may be right for you if:

• Your mood feels persistently low or flat

• You feel stuck, tired, or disconnected most days

• You’ve lost interest in people or activities you once cared about

• You’re harder on yourself than you want to be

• You want deeper support with understanding yourself and building change

What to Expect

In our sessions together, we will:

• Start where you are without pressure to “be better” instantly

• Explore your experience gently and honestly

• Develop personalized strategies that actually fit your life

• Adjust direction based on what feels most helpful to you

Progress with depression often comes through small, consistent steps, slowly expanding what you can tolerate, engage with, and enjoy over time.

Ready to begin?

The first step is to schedule a 15-minute consultation call so we can discuss what you’re looking for help with, any questions you may have for me, and whether we might work well together and be ready to schedule our first therapy session.