Therapy for Depression

Most people have felt sad or depressed at one time or another in their lives. Feeling depressed can be a normal reaction to loss, life's struggles, or an injured self-esteem. It can be triggered by events that we believe should make us happy - like being newly married or having a new baby or for a teen, reaching senior year and being accepted to or going away to college. Our lives change overnight in ways that we could not have anticipated and it can feel overwhelming.

Sometimes when feelings of sadness last for days or possibly weeks it has moved beyond the 'normal reaction' state. I often hear clients say, “I am just not happy and I don’t know why”. The result of the feelings can be a lack of motivation, a loss of interest in things that one normally enjoyed, a feeling of melancholy and/or social isolation.

The good news is that Depression is the most treatable of all mental maladies. Past functioning predicts future functioning - meaning if someone was happy and well balanced before a depression, they will be able to get there again. That being said, psychological or mental health help enables people to return to their previous emotional state and become engaged and happy once again.

I work with adult clients (college age and beyond) and I use several Psychodynamic approaches to treat depression such as mindfulness, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Object-Relations, Self-Psychology, and Relational Therapies. These techniques are especially effective with individuals who may have struggled socially and emotionally as children and have had difficulty developing effective coping skills as adults which can sometimes result in depression. These approaches help heal old wounds and enable people to develop more adaptive coping skills and defenses. Research has shown these therapies to be effective in the treatment of panic disorder, depression, phobias, social anxiety disorder, postpartum depression and generalized anxiety disorder, among many other conditions.

It is extremely satisfying to see clients improve their ability to have healthy and happy lives. I take pride in approaching each therapy with compassion and I make every effort to exceed a client’s expectations for care.

If you would like to learn more, please text, call or email me. Thank you for visiting.

Dr. Sara Denman, Lic #Psy 19808