Depression

Depression is the medical term that describes long-term sadness which may be physically and socially debilitating.

Anybody can feel down following a sad event or when things just haven’t gone to plan but when you suffer from Depression you are likely to experience feelings of sadness for much longer, maybe for weeks, months or even longer.

Despite the widely held view that Depression is caused by chemical imbalances in the brain, there is little if no evidence to support this model.

This does not negate the impact that feeling depressed might have on a person’s life, but the suggestion that it is some sort of brain disease is highly contentious.

Talking therapies have been shown to be at least as effective, if not more so, for helping people to cope with Depression.

Depression, therefore, should be regarded as a real condition that can have a very serious impact on one’s life – sometimes the most serious of impacts, but also that it can be helped by learning how to manage unhelpful thinking styles.

The mind is MORE than capable of creating a wide range of REAL physical symptoms as well as being able to influence the neural make-up of the brain, both positively and negatively!

Symptoms of Depression

If you experience some of these symptoms for most of the day, every day for more than a couple of weeks then you should seek help from your GP in the first instance.

• A continuous low mood or sadness
• Feeling hopeless or helpless
• Low self-esteem
• Tearfulness
• Irritability & Intolerance
• Lack of motivation
• Difficulty making a decision

The majority of sufferers CAN make a complete and lasting recovery when they obtain the right kind of help.

How Do I Know if I’m Suffering from Depression?

Depression can affect people in a wide variety of ways and produce a large number of different symptoms (see above) from feelings of sadness or hopelessness and a loss of interest in things you used to enjoy (including a loss of interest in sex) through to much more significant problems such as total withdrawal from society.

It can lead to physical symptoms too, for example persistent tiredness, lack of ability to sleep and various feelings of aches and pains.

At worst (although this is actually rarer than most people believe) this problem can lead to such feelings of helplessness that suicide can seem like a viable option.

Take the PHQ9 Depression Test

The PHQ9 depression test is used by mental health professional to determine if depression related feelings and thoughts are present.

IF YOU HAVE SERIOUSLY THOUGHT ABOUT ENDING YOUR OWN LIFE THEN WE WOULD URGE YOU TO IMMEDIATELY TALK TO YOUR GP PRIOR TO CONSULTING US FOR HELP.

Therapy & Counselling for Depression

We offer a number of different types of therapy and counselling for Depression and mood-related problems.

Choosing the most suitable therapy depends on a number of different considerations including factors such as:

• How long you have had the problem.
• Your personal preferences.
• How your problem is affecting you today.

You can read more about the different types of therapy for depression on the following links:

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Depression
• Self-help CBT course for Depression
• Counselling for Depression
• Hypnotherapy for Symptoms of Depression

Although all therapies use slightly different approaches, the one thing they all have in common is the relationship that is formed between the client and therapist.

Furthermore, research also suggests that therapy relationship may be the most important factor in achieving a good therapy outcome.

Free Initial Consultations for Depression

We offer all prospective clients an initial consultation to discuss your depression related problems prior to commencing any counselling.

The consultation is free and lasts around 50 minutes.

During this consultation we will discuss the various types of psychological therapy that are available to you and make a considered recommendation based on your individual personal circumstances.

Initial consultations are also available as part of our online counselling service.

At Tranceform Psychology we emphasise the importance of the therapy relationship in helping people to bring about effective change, so its important to be able to ‘meet’ to discuss our change programmes BEFORE proceeding.

Our policy is to help people make a fully balanced & considered decision about undertaking Psychotherapy with us, including both the financial and personal implications.