Depression & Anxiety

Counselling For Depression

Feeling low? Hard to enjoy anything? Feeling blah? Feeling tired all the time? Easily agitated or irritable? Avoiding your friends/family and isolating yourself?

Here are some other symptoms of depression:

1. Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. A bleak outlook—nothing will ever get better and there’s nothing you can do to improve your situation.
2. Loss of interest in daily activities. You don’t care anymore about former hobbies, pastimes, social activities, or sex. You’ve lost your ability to feel joy and pleasure.
3. Appetite or weight changes. Significant weight loss or weight gain—a change of more than 5% of body weight in a month.
4. Sleep changes. Either insomnia, especially waking in the early hours of the morning, or oversleeping.
5. Anger or irritability. Feeling agitated, restless, or even violent. Your tolerance level is low, your temper short, and everything and everyone gets on your nerves.
6. Loss of energy. Feeling fatigued, sluggish, and physically drained. Your whole body may feel heavy, and even small tasks are exhausting or take longer to complete.
7. Self-loathing. Strong feelings of worthlessness or guilt. You harshly criticize yourself for perceived faults and mistakes.
8. Reckless behaviour. You engage in escapist behaviour such as substance abuse, reckless driving, excessive gambling or dangerous sports.
9. Concentration problems. Trouble focusing, making decisions, or remembering things.
10. Unexplained aches and pains. An increase in physical complaints such as headaches, back pain, aching muscles, and stomach pain.

There are so many causes to depression, which boils down to a natural response to life experiences (a defence mechanism). Each situation warrants a thorough investigation into the exact root cause. Depending on what causes a specific incidence of depression, counselling can help you to develop a treatment plan to help you to deal with your emotions.

Counselling for Anxiety

Panic attack? Fidgeting? Not comfortable in social setting? Having phobia about certain things or situation? Nervous about going to new places? Worry about the future and what other people think of you?

Here are the common symptoms of anxiety:

• Feeling nervous, restless or tense
• Having a sense of impending danger, panic or doom
• Having an increased heart rate
• Breathing rapidly (hyperventilation)
• Sweating
• Trembling
• Feeling weak or tired
• Trouble concentrating or thinking about anything other than the present worry
• Having trouble sleeping
• Experiencing gastrointestinal (GI) problems
• Having difficulty controlling worry
• Having the urge to avoid things that trigger anxiety

People can show signs of anxiety in many ways. Anxiety can cause intrusive or obsessive thoughts. A person with anxiety may feel confused or find it hard to concentrate. Symptoms of anxiety can also be physical.

If you or someone you know is experiencing anxiety symptoms, it’s never too late to seek help. Anxiety disorder is treatable, and without treatment it can just get more severe over time. I use an integrated model (CBT, ACT, DBT and mindfulness) to help my client to identify the anxiety thought pattern and then change the thinking patterns associated with the anxiety and associated feelings, decrease the occurrence of negative feedback loops, and change the way individuals react to their individual anxiety triggering events.