Therapy for Depression

      Depression is often called the common cold of mental illness. However, clinical depression is more than normal sadness or feeling down in the dumps. It is a serious disorder which disrupts lives and relationships and puts sufferers at increased risk of accidents, homicide or suicide.

      If you experience five or more of the following basic symptoms for at least two weeks then it is likely that you suffer from clinical depression. It is time to seek help from a mental health professional.

• A depressed mood most the day.
• Markedly diminished interest or pleasure in all or almost all activities of the day.
• Significant weight loss or weight gain.
• An inability to sleep at night or you sleep too much during the day.
• Your body is slowed down or agitated nearly every day.
• Feelings of fatigue or loss of energy.
• Feelings of worthlessness and guilt every day.
• A diminished ability to think, concentrate, or indecisiveness.
• Recurrent thoughts of death or recurrent thoughts of suicide.

      In spite of this list, depression is not a fixed thing. And despite the oversell of drug companies, treatment centers, talk shows, and books that suggest you think of depression as an illness "just like diabetes,” the best evidence to date suggests that for most people depression is not a biologically based disease. The "disease model” of depression and the value of the anti-depressant medications have been grossly exaggerated. Biology is only a part of the depression story, and at best, anti depressant medications are only part of the total solution. Research shows that changing the way you think offers the most lasting solution.

      For most people, depression is the product of a hurtful way of interpreting and responding to life experiences. Depression involves an intricate set of projections about yourself, life, the Universe, everything. By projection, I mean the way you interpret the meaning of something that is ambiguous or unclear.

      For example, a person leaves a message on a friend’s answering machine. After two days they get no reply. This is an ambiguous situation. A healthy person would think to themselves "may be the person didn't get my message" or "maybe the person is really busy. That is why they didn’t get back to me." While a person prone to depression would think: "that person is mad at me, I did something wrong and that is why they didn't call me." In their mind they would go over and over the last time they saw or spoke to their friend. Thinking of everything that could be interpreted badly, they get depressed.

      Dr. T. offers group psychotherapy for people prone to depressive patterns of thoughts and actions. Topics such as: think less, act more; guilt and responsibility; boundaries, and the victim mentality are addressed.