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Depression
Everyone experiences sadness sometimes such as a short period of low mood, disappointments, or the loss of a loved one. This is different than depression. Depression differs from sadness in that it is more severe, prolonged, and has a greater impact on your life. Depression is very real and serious as it affects people's attitudes towards themselves, others and daily living. It negatively impacts well-being and changes the way people think and behave. Depression can lead to isolation, loss of interest in activities, inability to cope with daily living, feeling overwhelmed, changes to eating or sleeping patterns, suicide thoughts or self harming behaviours.
Symptoms of depression include:
Sleep problems, ongoing low mood, poor self esteem, low energy and difficulty managing daily tasks, consider or commit acts of self harm and suicide, overeating or craving carbohydrates, negative thoughts, unable to enjoy usually pleasurable activities, feelings of sadness, failure, hopelessness, despair, apathetic, numb, empty despondent, irritable or impatient, blaming self, feeling guilty without cause, pessimistic, anxious, tense, not able to cope with everyday stressors, difficulty concentrating, making decisions, low energy, loss of libido, not interested in sex or physical contact, misusing tobacco, alcohol or other drugs, mood swings, difficulty asking for support or isolating.
How Counselling Can Help Depression
Counselling works to help manage the symptoms of depression by changing internal and external processes. Changing the way you think can have an impact on the way you feel. Counselling helps ease the pain of depression while attending to feelings of hopelessness. Counselling also helps clients deal with issues of daily living, challenge unrealistic expectations, create positive life goals, and positive attitude towards self and others. Finally, counselling helps to develop better coping skills, stress management techniques, improve interpersonal relationships, communication skills, and create support networks.