Depression & Anxiety
Do you feel lonely even though you are in a room full of people?
Do you sense that something about you has changed or is lost? Depression and Anxiety are words that we hear frequently in our lives, and many of us have experienced varying levels of it, some infrequently and others experience it almost continually. The experience of Anxiety and Depression also vary not only from individual to individual but often our own experiences can vary from episode to episode. Sometimes we wonder what happened to our former happy, secure self. We sometimes give ourselves messages that we should just “get over it”, or “many people have it far worse than we do” as a way to put things in perspective and feel better, but instead those messages often make us feel far worse. Many times our well intentioned friends and family give us those types of messages, making us feel more alone and more a failure than ever before, telling us to get up and get over it, when we can’t even find the energy to take care of ourselves.
“I am bent, but not broken. I am scarred, but not disfigured. I am sad, but not hopeless. I am tired, but not powerless. I am angry, but not bitter. I am depressed, but not giving up.” — Anonymous
Having anxiety and depression can feel almost like having opposite thoughts and feeling occurring at the same time, being frozen, unable to move even though you want to participate, fearing failure, but unable to be productive. It’s wanting friends but not wanting to be with people, wanting to be alone, but not lonely. Sometimes it can feel like you are hitting a stone wall that you can’t go through, and your only option is to stop, sit down and recover and try to breath.
Life can seem to have lost its color.
Often we feel stuck in the grayness and numbness, there is a desire to get out but an inability to do it on your own. You know that it’s irrational but can’t move beyond it. Sometime the irrationality is the judgement from others and ourselves. Generally, we don’t have the words to describe that pain so that others and ourselves understand. We can’t make sense of it. With physical pain you generally know where it’s coming from, with mental pain we are often unsure or not aware of where the pain is coming from. The pain can be anything from numbness to incredibly intense. Sometimes that’s your heart pounding so hard that it literally can feel like a heart attack.
I Can Help!
The treatment I provide starts out with simple skill training to start relieving and reducing the symptoms of anxiety and depression. As we work together we begin to better unpack some of the core issues causing distress. I believe anxiety and depression are caused by many, many things from a continuum of physical to psychological and all points in between. Because of this I take a very customized approach to your treatment. I have done training in Integrative Medicine, or as it’s sometimes called Functional Medicine. That’s working with your body, not against it to heal from a cellular level. It’s using a variety of treatment modalities including looking at your thoughts and thinking that may be hurting you, and learning how to change those. It’s learning to set boundaries with others and better communicate your needs, thoughts and wishes. It's considering what is going on with you physically, are you having trouble sleeping, eating, are you having pain…Sometimes it includes supplements to help with overall healing. Anxiety and Depression can feel very debilitating, but the good news is that there’s so much hope and so much that can be done.