therapies

Depression

How we respond to adverse events is key to lifting depression

Depression is not—contrary to popular belief—primarily a biological illness, nor is it caused by the setbacks, crises or tragedies in our lives. It is our response to those adverse events that determines whether we get depressed or not.

This means we can recover; we may not be able to change our circumstances but we can control how we react to them.

Do you tend to blame yourself when setbacks happen?
Do you feel like your whole life is ruined?
Do you feel like the setback will go on forever?
Do you continually think “Why did this have to happen to me?”,
“I’ll never be good enough!”, “Nothing ever goes right!”

If you feel this way you’re very likely to spend time ruminating and worrying about things. Though you may feel ‘flat’ and deflated your body is experiencing raised levels of Cortisol, a stress hormone, and you are actually in a state of constant high emotional arousal. This is exhausting.

You may lose interest in your usual activities, feel low and sleep badly, feel agitated or lethargic and have difficulty thinking straight. As you withdraw from activities and your emotional needs are not properly met, you then dwell on and worry about this and the cycle of depression is perpetuated.

You’re not alone – it is estimated that 1 in 6 people in the past week experienced a common mental health problem*

Do you tend to blame yourself when setbacks happen?

Do you feel like your whole life is ruined?

Do you feel like the setback will go on forever?

Do you continually think:
“Why did this have to happen to me?”
“I’ll never be good enough!”
“Nothing ever goes right!”

Depression is not—contrary to popular belief—primarily a biological illness, nor is it caused by the setbacks, crises or tragedies in our lives. It is our response to those adverse events that determines whether we get depressed or not.

This means we can recover; we may not be able to change our circumstances but we can control how we react to them.

Do you tend to blame yourself when setbacks happen?
Do you feel like your whole life is ruined?
Do you feel like the setback will go on forever?
Do you continually think “Why did this have to happen to me?”,
“I’ll never be good enough!”, “Nothing ever goes right!”

If you feel this way you’re very likely to spend time ruminating and worrying about things. Though you may feel ‘flat’ and deflated your body is experiencing raised levels of Cortisol, a stress hormone, and you are actually in a state of constant high emotional arousal. This is exhausting.

You may lose interest in your usual activities, feel low and sleep badly, feel agitated or lethargic and have difficulty thinking straight. As you withdraw from activities and your emotional needs are not properly met, you then dwell on and worry about this and the cycle of depression is perpetuated.

You’re not alone – it is estimated that 1 in 6 people in the past week experienced a common mental health problem*

HUMAN GIVENS THERAPY

As a Human Givens therapist – MHGI, HG.Dip.P. – I will immediately help you reduce your emotional arousal using simple relaxation techniques, in a therapy setting where you can feel safe, so that you can think more clearly. I will take time to listen to and understand your emotions but we won’t dwell on them – psychological research shows that doing this just strengthens the neural connections with negative thinking – we get better at sport or music with practice and, unfortunately, we get better at depression with practice too.

If there’s a trauma at the root of your depression we will de-traumatise it using the Rewind technique, a straightforward, non-invasive method that doesn’t require you to disclose any detail about the trauma.

Together we will use a mix of behavioural, cognitive and interpersonal techniques to help you acquire missing skills, identify beneficial behaviours and change thinking patterns as necessary.

We will rehearse putting this into practice at the end of each session; I always aim for you to leave feeling better than when you walked in.

With this help and these tools you can permanently change how you react to life’s setbacks.

You can view my profile – MHGI, HG.Dip.P. – on the Human Givens Therapist Register here and be assured that I work in accordance with the Human Givens Code of Conduct and Ethical Foundations which you can see here. I have full professional indemnity insurance.

You can find out how Human Givens differs from other therapy approaches here.

* Statistic from the Mental Health Foundation

TAKE THE FIRST STEP

If you’d like to take the first step we can have a no-obligation, no-charge fifteen minute chat on the phone or via email whichever you prefer, just to get to know each other and to help you decide whether you think I’m the right person to help you.

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