Depression

Some Common Symptoms:

• Persistent sad, anxious or empty mood
• Loss of interest or pleasure in activities, including sex
• Difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions
• Restlessness, irritability, or excessive crying
• Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, helplessness, hopelessness, pessimism
• Sleeping too much or too little, early-morning waking
• Appetite and/or weight loss or overeating and weight gain
• Decreased energy, fatigue, feeling “slowed down”
• Thoughts of death or suicide
• Unexplained physical symptoms such as headache, digestive problems and chronic pain

Some Common Causes:

Depression can be due to a number of different causes or combination of factors including family history, hormonal fluctuations, loss of a loved one or job, loss of social support, history of abuse as a child, ongoing stress, use of medication(s) and interpersonal, genetic or other biological factors.

We can work together to:

• Clarify what thoughts, physical symptoms, feelings and behaviors that contribute to depression.
• Gain a new perspective about problems and make it easier to manage when they crop up.
• Learn approaches to discussing symptoms with people in your life.
• Learn new ways to respond to situations and challenge old ways of thinking.
• Apply problem-solving techniques.
• Create new goals that help to increase the positive aspects of your life.