Depression Help in Washington DC

You’ve always been able to push through difficult, stressful times both at work and your personal life. But now, it seems as if you’ve run out of gas. This week it was difficult to get out of bed and get anything accomplished. You find yourself crying every time someone asks you “how are you doing?”.

You’re finding it very hard to feel hopeful about the future, your work is no longer meaningful, and you’re self-esteem has gotten to the lowest point.

You have read self-help books, have reached out to your family and closest friends, and for months have waited for things to get better on their own.

Although you like to do things on your own, and don’t like to ask for help (even more from a stranger), you are willing to give therapy a try.

Symptoms of Depression Include:

Significant sadness on most days.
Difficulty with motivation, lethargy, or fatigue.
Self-doubt and self-critical thinking.
Thoughts of death or dying.
Hopelessness and helplessness.
Changes in sleep and appetite.
Lack of joy, pleasure, or loss of interest in hobbies or activities previously enjoyed,
Increased social isolation.

It is common to experience thoughts of self-harm or suicide during a depressive episode. If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts, and are not feeling safe:

Call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.
If you live in Montgomery County, you can call or go to the Mobile Crisis Unit
If you live in Virginia, you can access emergency services through this hotline.
Call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255.

Depression Counseling in Washington DC Can Help

There is this one set of symptoms that mental health professionals and researches call DEPRESSION. Although on the surface, depression looks similar for everyone, in reality, it’s a very unique experience brought up by our collective and individual histories, stressful and traumatic experiences, temperament, access to resources (internal and external), early experiences of losses, our cognitive styles, and biological risk factors.

Psychotherapy and Depression

In psychotherapy our focus is mostly internal, although we also acknowledge the negative impact that living under systems of oppression has on individuals, specially sexual, gender, and racial minorities.

For some our clients, therapy is largely focused on addressing a tendency to direct anger towards the self by being highly critical, minimizing accomplishments, and patterns of self-neglect and self-abandonment. Or learning to identify patterns of thinking that leaves them feeling hopeless and helpless. For others, therapy for depression is about having a witness to help bear painful feelings of grief from previous and ongoing losses, and deepening their capacity to fully experience their emotions.

How to Overcome Depression

Therapy rewires the brain in the context of a healing relationship. For this reason, for better results, therapy needs to be intentional and consistent. We recommend that therapy starts with weekly sessions, and to make a commitment for at least 12-weeks to see symptom improvement. We also offer time-limited therapy for clients after a thorough intake consultation when short-term therapy is considered appropriate. Long-term psychotherapy is recommended for complex cases, or for those whose wanting a life-changing journey.