Addressing the Root of Your Depression At Shift, our therapists can help individuals nearby with mild depression, moderate depression, and clinical depression find the origin of their depressive episodes in a way that creates lasting change for the individual.
In combination with antidepressant medication or without, cognitive behavioural therapy and reconditioning via Exposure & Integration (REI) (more commonly referred to as Reprocessing), are skillfully woven into Shift’s protocol, to create a structured and highly effective treatment near you for a condition that may previously have been thought to be treatment resistant.
Common Depression Symptoms & Signs
Depression impacts more people than you probably think. Sometimes the symptoms of depression are easier to spot and sometimes, they are more concealed. There are many symptoms of depression but some of the more common ones include:
- Decreased interest or pleasure in all, or almost all, activities.
- Depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day.
- Weight loss when not dieting or weight gain or decrease or increase in appetite nearly every day.
- Feelings or worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt.
- Pronounced fatigue and/or loss of energy nearly every day.
- Insomnia or oversleeping nearly every day.
- Diminished ability to think or concentrate, or indecisiveness.
These symptoms will have been occurring during a consecutive 2-week period and demonstrate a marked change in an individual’s typical behaviour or functioning.
What causes depression?
There are actually a few ways depression can arise, and many ways that it can be made worse. The most common causes of depression are:
- Physiological dysfunction: This means depression results from issues or imbalances with serotonin, dopamine, and nor-epinephrine neurotransmitters. A lot of the time, medication can help in these cases, supplemented by psychological treatment for depression.
- Circumstance: In some cases, depression could be triggered by a specific event such as a loss of a loved one, divorce, or loss of job/career. These events can be very stressful because of the way these events are perceived in someone’s mind, and what they mean to them.
- Chronic stress: Large amounts of stress over a period of time can bring with it symptoms of depression. Remember that chronic stress looks different for different people; it’s not just job stress, it could be related to social anxiety, caregiver burnout, chronic illnesses, etc.
- Childhood experiences: Sometimes, a history of physical/emotional/sexual abuse and other “Non-nurturing elements” or Adverse Childhood Experiences can contribute to the development of depression later on in life.
There are also factors that can make depression worse. One of these factors is what we call ‘limiting beliefs,’ which are actually often at the core of a lot of individuals’ depression. They include beliefs like:
- I am not good enough
- I am worthless
- I am inferior
- I don’t matter
- I am unlovable
- I am a failure
- It’s my fault
- I am wrong
We address these beliefs as part of our approach to depression treatment here at Shift.
Depression Counselling At Shift
During the initial intake session, we will explore your risk factors and developmental factors together. We will create a results-driven treatment plan for your depression, to improve your overall mental health. Continued screenings for treatment progression and depression symptoms are present in all subsequent sessions, as well.
During therapy, limiting beliefs and dysfunctional needs are removed and risk factors such as isolation from friends and family, overloading with work, social interactions, or previous trauma is treated. Shift’s treatment is effective for children, elderly and adult individuals. Depression counsellors and psychologists nearby can help to remove the symptoms to allow you to get back to an enjoyable life.