Depression Counselling - Counselling for Depression in Chester

Depression

Depression is really common. It encompasses a range of symptoms and its sometimes only when people read the symptoms they realise what they have been feeling is depessed.

1 in 4 people will have a mental health problem in a given year. (MIND)

The word depression can mean different things to different people and while you might not know what's wrong but might have been feeling some of its symptoms for a while (more than a couple of weeks).

Depression affects one in 10 people so if you're feeling depressed you're not alone.

Signs of depression are:

• Tiredness - not-rested by sleep
• Negative thoughts for example - "all or nothing" thinking (black or white), catastrophising (it'll all end in disaster), personalising (when it may not be about you), having a negative focus, jumping to conclusions, mindreading/ predicting and living by rules which are too fixed and limiting. (Powell)
• Appetite change this can be increased or decreased
• Low mood
• Low motivation/lethargy
• Difficulty sleeping /early wakening

Depression can be reactive- to an event e.g. a response to a loss or bereavement.

Depression can range from mild to severe.

Depression tends to slow your system down and often your thoughts are occupied by looking back and going over things past which can leave you feeling even more down and self critical.

Things that make you more at risk of depression are: low self esteem/ punishing thoughts, being non assertive, being a perfectionist, feeling isolated/no support network and increased stress.

Sometimes you will give yourself a hard time in your own mind- your mind can become a foe rather than a friend to you. Whether it's your mind or others telling you to "pull yourself together" this doesn't really motivate or energise you and can leave you feeling powerless to change.

Challenging and changing your thoughts in counselling aims to help you feel differently and will help you to try out new ideas which can help you have more energy. In this way you can reverse the downward spiral.

Powell believes that seven keys to mental Health are to:

• 1. Take responsibility
• 2. Think flexibly
• 3. Confront rather than avoid difficulties
• 4. Look after your own needs
• 5. Express yourself
• 6. Have balance
• 7. Develop & maintain relationships

Counselling can help with mild to moderate depression by helping you understand the problem, challenge negative thinking, devise ways of increasing your activity levels, identifying and utilising support systems and becoming more assertive.

Severe depression may leave you feeling unsafe or suicidal and is usually helped by your GP / local Mental Health Team and perhaps medication prescribed by your Doctor/Psychiatrist.

Counselling can help you challenge beliefs that have been causing problems- These are known as "irrational beliefs"- and examples are: "I must be liked by everyone" or "I must be successful at everything I do".

These can lead you to have thoughts like: "I'm not good enough", "If people really knew me they wouldn't like me", "I'm rubbish at relationships" or "I'm a failure at everything".

Counselling about depression can help you devise home works or tasks to do in between sessions to challenge and destroy those beliefs that hold you back and to prove that these are only tricky thoughts not absolute truths.

Counselling can help you build new ways of thinking and develop patterns of behaving which can help you feel better about yourself instead of worse.

Counselling will aim to help you learn to look after yourself and become more compassionate to yourself- which is very different to feeling sorry for yourself (which is often self critical or other critical).

Sources:

www.mind.org.uk

The Mental Health Handbook: A Cognitive Behavioural Approach

Trevor Powell