Depression Therapy in Augusta, GA
You’re showing up and doing life, but no matter what you do, you feel the same on the inside… empty and alone.
When you open up to others about your depression do you wind up feeling more alone because no one actually gets it?
Does it feel like things will never get any better so you might as well just accept life as it is even if you’re unhappy about it?
Do you constantly feel like somehow you don’t measure up and no matter what you do it’s not good enough?
Depression has been a part of your life for so long that you’re not even sure who you’d be without it.
You wake up with a hollow empty feeling. It feels like something is missing deep inside of you or maybe even like part of you is missing.
You go through the motions of living, but you don’t actually feel alive. Most of the time you feel numb and detached from the world (and people) around you. People seem to think you’re fine, but you know you’re not.
You don’t remember the last time you really felt anything. It’s like your emotions are frozen and every day feels the same.
Sometimes you can distract yourself doom scrolling or binge watching Netflix, but as soon as you’re done, that quiet emptiness comes back and it’s just you alone with that big empty hole inside.
No matter how heavy your depression has been, working with a therapist for depression can help bring relief.
You’re not the problem…depression is.
Most people are familiar with sadness, but chronic depression is different. Sadness is a fleeting feeling while depression is all encompassing and consuming. Sadness is directly related to a particular event while depression exists regardless of how good life is on the outside.
If you’re someone that has a “good life” this can make depression feel even worse because now on top of depression, you also feel ashamed or guilty for not being able to pull yourself up by the boot straps and just get over it.
Depression is lonely, like really effin’ lonely.
If you live in Augusta, Evans, Martinez, or Grovetown and you’ve been experiencing depression for any length of time, you know how isolating it feels. You know how hard it is to put into words what you’re feeling. Even if you could put it into words, you doubt anyone would really understand how painful it actually is. When no one understands, it’s easy to start believing that something really is wrong with you.
Depression can feel like you’re standing in the middle of a room of 100 people, screaming at the top of your lungs for help, but no one even bats an eye. When you’re in pain and no one seems to be coming to your rescue, you can start to believe you’re not worthy or good enough because if you were, surely someone would help.
Depressive Disorders are one of the most common reasons that people seek therapy. While it is very common, people can experience different symptoms.
Depression can look like going through the motions of life and doing things you know are fun, without actually feeling any joy or excitement. You can be physically present at an Augusta GreenJackets game or attending a show at the Columbia County Performing Arts Center, but depression keeps you from being mentally present.
It can make you feel bad about yourself as a person and leave you feeling hopeless for your future.
It can also affect people physically and impact their appetite, sleep habits, or make it difficult to concentrate.
However depression has shown up for you, working with a therapist for depression that serves Augusta and the surrounding Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) can help you feel differently. With the right support, depression can become a part of your experience without being the whole story.
Depression Therapy can help shine a light on the darkness that has consumed you for too long.
When you’ve experienced depression for years, it can be hard to imagine life without it. Many people worry that working with a counselor for depression won’t even help and that thought makes them feel even more hopeless.
It’s normal to feel nervous about starting counseling for depression. Talking about your depression can feel vulnerable especially when you’ve had experiences of trying to talk to friends or family only to end up feeling worse and more alone.
Working with a therapist for depression can help you understand what’s really going on underneath your depression. That understanding alone can help reduce your depressive symptoms, but working together often allows us to go deeper than just understanding.
When we work with the parts of you that have felt rejected or abandoned you can give them the attention they need and have craved, which allows them (and you) to truly heal. When you reach the point that depression isn’t weighing you down, you might have more energy to truly enjoy local events like the Masters Tournament.
What to Expect in Therapy Sessions
Before your initial session, you’ll be asked to complete new client paperwork through an online portal. This paperwork covers your history, current stressors, and what you want to focus on in counseling.
During our first meeting, my focus is to get to know you as a person and understand how depression has affected your life. We’ll create a plan for depression treatment together.
Throughout the process of counseling, we will continue to monitor how depression is impacting you and whether it seems to be improving. We’ll work on changing the thoughts that make depression worse, but also healing on a deeper level. We create space for the parts of you most affected by depression so you can learn to love those parts and feel whole within yourself.
My Treatment Approaches
I am a holistic and non-religious counselor that treats depression by integrating a mind-body-spirit approach with evidence based practices, including:
Internal Family Systems (IFS) helps us explore your inner world. We get to know parts of you that may have been rejected and help them to feel seen.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps you recognize and reframe the thoughts that make your depression worse.
Body-Based Awareness helps you connect to what is happening in your body when depression is weighing on your soul.
Polyvagal Theory (PVT) helps us understand what is happening in your nervous system when you’re depressed (shut down, numb). This helps us approach depression counseling in a nervous system friendly way and work with your body’s natural reaction instead of against it.
Reiki Healing (optional) is an energetic approach that helps lift the weight of depression so that you feel lighter. Reiki can be offered as a standalone service, but can also be integrated into in-person therapy sessions at my office in West Augusta.
Any combination of these approaches can help you lighten the load that depression has put on you.
The idea of starting to work with a counselor for depression can make you feel nervous and it makes sense that you might have some questions before beginning depression treatment.
1. What if this is just who I am and it never gets any better?
If depression has been part of your life for a long time, it’s normal to believe things can’t improve and it’s also normal to be scared to hope that they could. This is where language becomes powerful. Depression is something you experience, but it is not who you are.
When you begin to separate your identity from your depression, you start to make room for the real you to come to the surface. When the real you is at the surface, life near the Savannah River starts to look different.
2. Shouldn’t I be able to just get over depression on my own?
Chronic depression often involves feeling alone much of the time, so trying to heal in isolation can make the process incredibly difficult. Treatment for depression works best through connection. Connection with a therapist, with the deeper parts of your Self, and ideally with supportive people in your life.
3. What if I’m afraid that allowing myself to really face what’s inside of me, will cause my relationships to change and I’ll end up alone?
Therapy can help you understand what you actually need in relationships and how to advocate for those needs in a way that feels true to you. It can also support you in navigating any relationship changes that may arise and teach you how to care for yourself deeply, even if others don’t show up for you the way that you need.
Healing begins when you stop seeing yourself as the problem and start seeing yourself as someone worthy of care.
If you’re tired of the pain of depression and you’re ready to start depression therapy, you can Schedule a Session here.
If you have questions before starting or want to book a 15-minute complementary phone consultation, you can use my Contact Form.
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