Depression Therapy

Depression Is Pervasive Yet Often Untreated

As prevalent as moderate and major depression are within America, seeking treatment is rare. Although in 2021, “an estimated 21.0 million adults in the United States had at least one major depressive episode,” less than 30 percent received treatment. [1] 

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Depression can be caused by various combinations of nature and nurture, including genetic, physiological, genetic, biological, and environmental factors. What’s more, epigenetic research has identified how the intergenerational trauma passed down within families increases the likelihood of depression. [2] [3] 
 

In addition to personal experiences, our legacy burdens—the emotional, psychological, or behavioral patterns passed down intergenerationally or through cultural background—are difficult to break away from. And on a larger societal scale, we’re still grappling with racism, patriarchy, materialism, and individualism, all of which may contribute to our sense of isolation and despair.

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Addressing Depression Symptoms Without Delving Further Is Limiting 

As the statistics bear out, many of us don’t seek therapy for depression. Instead, we might try to treat its symptoms with behavioral or management techniques—things like getting more physically active or trying to think more positively. Although these methods can provide temporary relief, our recovery will be limited without addressing core wounds.

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By combining Internal Family Systems (IFS) with other modalities, such as EMDR and art therapy, you can address depression from the inside out, leading to emotional breakthroughs and lasting change. With counseling, you can go deeper and discover who you are when depression isn’t influencing your worldview.

Depression Therapy Can Help You Cultivate A Deeper Understanding Of Yourself

If you’re suffering from depression or burnout and considering therapy, you’ve likely been on a journey of discovery. I can acknowledge that it takes courage and resilience to arrive at the realization that outside support is needed and deserved. As a counselor who specializes in depression, I have found that to address issues related to things like perfectionism, a low self-image, or people-pleasing, taking a deep dive within is the best place to start.

A significant part of healing involves restructuring both your inner and outer relationships. This transformation cannot be achieved solely by trying to think more rationally; instead, it requires a connection that is both somatic and deeply emotional. To truly heal, you must engage with your physical experiences and emotions, allowing them to inform your understanding of yourself. 

What To Expect In Sessions

Good therapy is, at its core, a relational experience. From our first session onward, I aim to establish a secure and safe rapport with you, ensuring I understand and support your hopes for therapy. 

We’ll collaborate to create attainable goals based on what is important to you as you learn about the art of healing. Depression treatment will also emphasize the value of being process-oriented rather than goal-oriented, finding a middle ground between attachment to goals and discovering your wants and needs. 

Taking an experiential approach, we’ll notice how you’re feeling and what’s important to you from moment to moment and remain open to self-discovery. I will encourage you to observe your experience objectively and let that guide what you want to work on. When appropriate and valuable, I will help normalize and bring perspective to your experiences.

Depression Counseling Offers Internal Family Systems And Other Modalities

Utilizing IFS therapy, you will come to understand the unique facets of yourself that comprise the whole. We do this collaboratively by reflecting on your self-narrative and noticing the parts of you hold onto depressive symptoms, being curious about what purpose they serve to protect you. 

There may be different parts within you that hold emotional wounds in drastically different ways. Becoming aware of these differences can help you integrate them more successfully, leading to deeper self-insights, more energy, better relationships, and a shifted worldview imbued with self-compassion.

Working within the IFS framework, we can then draw from various techniques to help you develop a more compassionate relationship with these aspects of yourself. These may include:​

• Art therapy to help you externalize your inner landscape; 

• Used within the context of IFS, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) can help edify and reframe “aha” moments and decrease mental blocks; 

• Mindfulness practices allow you to slow down and witness breakthroughs;

• Dialectal Behavior Therapy (DBT) provides tangible skills to meet your emotional needs more effectively; and 

• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) can help address distressing memories while regulating your nervous system.

Learning to befriend and find empathy for your depressed parts is the first step to releasing the weight they carry. With deepened self-awareness that extends outwardly, you can pave the way for a more profound sense of well-being and a different, more fulfilling life filled with more vibrance, joy, and possibilities.