Am I Depressed?
We all feel down from time to time and this part of our normal psychology. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re depressed. Depression is a pervasive sense of sadness, low motivation, and a loss of pleasure in things that used to bring us joy. Quite often people will feel worthless, hopeless, irritable or guilt ridden. It can become a clinical depression, or major depression, when it last for more than two weeks, stops you from doing your usual activities or is distressing for you. Some people don’t have severe sadness, like in major depression, but feel ‘not great’ (dysthymic). And this can last for months or even years. When we get depressed it can feel like we’re ‘stuck’ in a hole and nothing we do seems to help. It saps our motivation and can make it very difficult to recover from a depression on our own, even when we really want to. If this is what you are experiencing, psychological depression treatment can help. Therapy is one of the most effective ways of recovering from a depression.
Signs of Depression & Depression symptoms
If you are depressed, you may experience all, or only some of these depression symptoms:
- Feeling sad, most of the day, nearly every day.
- Loss of pleasure in things you used to enjoy.
- Putting on or losing a large amount of weight
- Sleeping too much, not sleeping enough, or waking very early in the morning.
- Feeling agitated or anxious.
- Feeling tired and worn-out, nearly every day.
- Feeling worthless or guilty.
- Trouble concentrating or making decisions.
Psychological Depression Help and Depression Treatments
Your depression treatment will be tailored to your individual needs and personality, meaning that you get the psychological therapy that works for you. For some people, their depression is a response to something stressful that is happening in their lives. Others have felt depressed for as long they can remember, and it is very difficult to find anything that gives them hope. Your psychologist will help you to manage the stresses that you face and find more effective ways of thinking, acting, and communicating with others.
Do you have trouble even getting enough motivation to book an appointment? That’s ok. Helping you find your motivation is one of key skills that psychologists are good at. You can even book and appointment online without having to talk to anyone. In the early stages of therapy, your psychologist will spend time getting to know how you view the world and assist to start taking small steps to build your motivation and hope for a better future.
Access Psychological Therapy for Depression
You can access depression help now by booking online, or calling to speak with your personal therapist. Alternatively, watch our introductory video to get a feel of what your psychologist is like.
Bonus tip for recovering from a depression:
Start slow, ridiculously slow. Motivation is a little bit like a snow ball. If you make the first step you take something that you almost certainly succeed at, it gives you a bit of extra motivation to move on to the next step. You might feel as though you aren’t accomplishing anything. But that’s ok. What you’re doing is kindling the fire of your motivation. So, start slow, and do a little bit each day, and every day.