Depression treatment for when you’re so far past “sad.”
Are You Struggling With Chronic Depression?
Zero Energy or Motivation
You may have been depressed for so long that any non-depressed period of your life or anyone else’s seems like it might be a complete lie. You no longer have thoughts of things you should do, only a long list of things you feel like you’ve failed at. You may be so far past feeling guilty about it, that you’ve been experiencing suicidal thoughts for a long time.
Hopeless & Pointless
With chronic depression, you’re usually so far past “sad” that you feel nothing - just numbness. At this point, you may feel more like a shell of a person, just existing, barely, not even reacting to things you know should make you feel something. If you’ve felt this way for a long time, then even the mention of the possibility of change feels like a hopeless fantasy.
Harsh Inner Critic
Depression brings a sharper tongue than the worst critic you’ve ever met. With chronic depression, your critic has had a lot of time to perfect the art of making you feel ashamed of your mere existence. You may spend much of your time going back and forth between severe shame spiral and being completely checked out, as much as you can anyway.
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The Crisis Lifeline offers free, confidential support 24/7. You do NOT have to be actively suicidal to reach out for help. If it’s 2am and you just need someone to sit with you while you cry or just listen and not say the wrong thing - give them a call. Just let them know you need someone to talk to.
Top 6 Myths of Chronic Depression
Most people with Chronic Depression come up with the same strategies to try and manage it. Here’s a breakdown of some of the most common tactics, (along with explanations for why these don’t work long-term).
If you’ve been relying on these rules for managing your depression you might have noticed that you get short-term relief. However, you may have also noticed that over the long-term your depression has only gotten worse. You may be feeling more down, more tired, or having more severe suicidal thoughts than you did before.
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With depression, rest is actually counter-productive and more likely to keep you in a depression much longer. With physical fatigue from intensive labor, rest is both necessary and helpful. What our body needs during a depressive episode, is actually gentle activation in the form of baby steps to help our energy return.
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Depressed thinking is usually overly negative and unhelpful. While these thoughts may seem convincing when you’re feeling down, they’re more often a reflection of your physical state than a reflection of reality. Believing them is more likely to keep you depressed for longer.
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While this may work short-term to numb the pain, adding drugs or alcohol on top of depression almost guarantees you’ll stay depressed. The chemistry here doesn’t work in your favor and unfortunately you’re likely to reach a point where no amount will give you relief.
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This is classic depression logic. In reality, demanding too much of yourself when you’re not feeling well is a recipe for more depression. The trick for beating the overwhelm and fatigue is to set the bar so low you could almost roll over it - and use the tiny dopamine hit you get to build on tiny successes.
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Whether “it” is a good job, a loving partner, or friends - this is self-defeating logic that only keeps you depressed. In reality, we often have to fight for the things we want in life and rarely are they handed to us. By focusing on how “lucky” and “deserving” others are, you unintentionally keep yourself stuck.
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While this may seem like a short-cut to getting your energy back, in reality it keeps you stuck. If you have normal emotional pain about something you’ve been through, finding a healthy way to express it can actually help you move through it and get your energy back - trying to stuff it down and deny it just keeps you depressed.
It’s important to note that chronic depression often coincides with trauma and can be a common element of Complex PTSD. If this is the case, trauma therapy may be more helpful in treating your depression than depression treatment alone.
How Depression Treatment Can Help
When It’s Time to Call In the Pros
Chronic depression will inevitably affect major areas of your life - your relationships, work, finances, self-esteem, and your physical health. Everyone feels down, sad, overwhelmed, or lonely from time to time. Certain situations, such as feeling isolated after having a child or going through a divorce can cause major changes in mood that are often completely normal and settle on their own. Mood changes aren’t necessarily a problem that warrants therapy, as long as it’s mild and isn’t affecting your life. If you notice your depression symptoms have been going on for a long time, if they’re bothering you, or if they’re negatively affecting major areas of your life, it’s time to reach out. Read on to learn more about how our team can help.
“The bravest thing I ever did was continuing my life when I wanted to die.”
Repair Your Relationships
After successfully completing depression treatment our clients report feeling less like a burden to the people in their life. They often describe, sometimes for the first time, a feeling that they deserve to be treated with kindness and respect, something that would have previously often seemed ridiculous to them.
Our clients who successfully complete depression treatment also report feeling less hung up on the past and relationships in which they felt mistreated - allowing them to finally develop their own identity, separate from how they’ve been treated.
Raise Your Self-Esteem & Energy
Many of our clients who successfully complete depression treatment report feeling a healthier sense of self-worth. They can often name their positive attributes and the value they bring to the lives of those around them - something that never would have occurred to them before.
Depression treatment with chronic depression often involves processing suppressed feelings of anger and grief that have been long unresolved. This process can allow you to access something other than numbness. Moving through unresolved past pain can provide you with a new sense of energy and engagement in life.
Reduce or Eliminate Suicidal Thoughts
Our clients with chronic depression often report a long history of suicidal thoughts, as well as struggling with these alone due to fear of hospitalization. Depression treatment can help to decrease feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, and shame that often lead to suicidal thoughts. We have clients who report they are no longer experiencing suicidal thoughts for the first time in their lives, after decades of living with these thoughts.
Regain Your Ability to Think & Focus
Our clients often report that improved mood has made it easier to engage at work or return to work after a period of time out of the workforce. It’s not uncommon for clients with chronic depression to have been out of work for some time. Depression treatment has the potential to increase motivation, focus, drive, and self-worth, all of which are crucial for positive work experiences. Many clients report that returning to work also brings a renewed sense of independence and capability.
Ready to Get Started?
Get In Touch With Us
Perhaps one of the hardest steps you’ll have to make by yourself is the first step of reaching out to us. Send us your info and we’ll take it from there, supporting you each step of the way.
Complete a Free Consult
You might be nervous about making phone calls or not sure what to say - either way we’ll walk you through it step-by-step in about 15 minutes. We like to be sure it’s a good fit first.
Have Your First Session
We’ll set up your first session with your therapist to complete your initial assessment. This helps to ensure we have a solid game plan from the get-go so you can feel confident in the process.
References:
Mattick, R., and C. Clarke. 1998. Development and Validation of Measure of Social Phobia Scrutiny Fear and Social Interaction Anxiety. Behavior Research and Therapy 36:455–70.