Depression is an insidious condition. It steals your joy, your self-belief, and your emotions and tosses you out leaving hopeless, worthless and alone. It needs your strength and your will to beat it, the very things that it robs you of.
Sufferers talk of being anxious, finding it tough or impossible to deal with stressful situations, all leading to self-doubt and pushing you further into depression. If anything could make it worse it is perhaps the attitude of many in society who think that you are just a little bit down and you need to ‘get a grip’ or ‘pull yourself together’ almost as if you would choose to be in the emotional state that you are.
While medication can help with depression (& as always your GP is a good source of support when talking about depression), one of the most effective ways of treating depression is through talking therapies. Many studies including those by NICE have shown it to be effective. The obvious question is why?
Counselling aims to give insight into the way that you work and the way that you process your experiences. By offering a safe, space free of judgement you can explore the emotions and experiences that are or have happened to you. You can begin to explain to another person just what has been happening for you and perhaps gain perspective.
Clients often describe the outcome of the process in quite dramatic terms, “I felt that I had the real me back”. I realised what I was missing and began to be able to live again, taking an interest in food, clothes, my family everything.
While therapy is not a magic pill that will cure you overnight, indeed it can take a number of sessions to be effective. It can and does make a difference and while every case is different surely you deserve the chance of that life, the chance to feel better.