How Can Therapy Help With Depression?
Is your low mood making it difficult to find joy in your life? Do you feel so fatigued or irritable that it is hard to get started on projects? Are you becoming disconnected from the people and activities that used to bring you joy?
Depression can feel like a dark cloud that follows you around. The sun may be shining for everyone else, but when you are depressed, it can be difficult to see beyond that cloud.
Depression can affect not only your mood. It can also affect your motivation, energy, relationships, and ability to engage in the activities that once gave your life meaning.
One of the challenging things about depression is that it can create a cycle that keeps itself going. When we feel depressed, we may naturally withdraw from people and activities, stay in bed longer, or put off things that feel difficult. While withdrawing can provide temporary relief, it often means we have fewer opportunities for connection, enjoyment, and other positive experiences. Over time, this can reinforce the depression and make it even harder to get started.
Breaking the Cycle of Depression
Therapy can help you begin to break this cycle. One approach we may use is behavioral activation, which focuses on gradually reconnecting with activities that are meaningful to you - even when you don’t feel motivated to do them.
We identify the people, activities, and experiences that are important to you and develop manageable ways to begin moving toward them. The goal isn’t to wait until you feel better before getting active. Instead, we work on taking meaningful steps even while depression is present.
At first, this can feel difficult. Depression may tell you that you don’t have the energy, that it won’t be enjoyable, or that there is no point in trying. But as you begin to re-engage with your life, you can create more opportunities for connection, accomplishment, and enjoyment. Over time, these experiences can help lessen depression’s hold on your life.
Understanding How Depression Affects Your Thinking
Therapy can also help us understand how depression influences the way you see yourself, the world around you, and the future.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) recognizes that depression can be associated with patterns of negative thinking in three important areas:
Negative view of yourself:
You may begin to believe that there is something fundamentally wrong with you - that you are worthless, incompetent, unlovable, or somehow not good enough.
Negative view of the world:
Depression can lead you to interpret situations and other people’s actions more negatively. For example, you may be more likely to interpret an unanswered text as rejection or assume that someone is upset with you when there may be other explanations.
Negative view of the future:
You may begin to believe that things will not get better or that your current suffering will continue indefinitely. When the future feels hopeless, it can become even harder to take steps toward change.
In therapy, we look at how these patterns of thinking may be contributing to your depression.
We examine the evidence for these thoughts and work toward developing a more balanced and flexible perspective.
The goal isn’t to force yourself to “think positively” or dismiss difficult emotions. Instead, therapy can help you recognize when depression is shaping the way you interpret yourself and your experiences and develop more helpful ways of responding.
Moving Toward a Life That Feels Meaningful Again
Depression can make it difficult to imagine feeling differently, and it can be hard to take action when you already feel exhausted, disconnected, or discouraged. You don’ have to wait until you feel motivated to begin making changes.
Therapy can help you understand the patterns that are keeping you stuck, take manageable steps toward reconnecting with your life, and develop skills for responding differently when depression returns. Together, we can work toward not simply reducing your symptoms, but helping you reconnect with the people, activities, and values that make your life meaningful.
Looking for Therapy in Maryland?
If you’re feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or unsure where to start, depression therapy can help you move forward with clarity and support.
Reach out today to learn more about anxiety and stress therapy in Maryland.