depression

Counselling for depression, stress and anxiety  can be extremely effective.

I believe depression can mask feelings we’re having difficulty expressing. For example, suppressed anger can lead us to feel resentful. Resentment is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die. Ultimately it only harms us. Depression can be about suppressed sadness too.  

If you feel many of these things the chances are you could be suffering from depression:-

Do you feel upset, numb, guilty or sad for much of the time? 

Have you lost interest in things you previously enjoyed ? 

Are you weepy for what seems like no apparent reason? 

Do you feel there’s little point to carrying on? 

Do you feel alone even when you’re with others? 

Do you feel on edge and irritated easily? 

Do you feel easily tired? 

Are you having difficulty sleeping? 

Do you wake in the morning and your only desire is to go back to sleep and stay there?

Have you lost your appetite or find yourself eating more? 

Are you losing your self-esteem?

Worrying what people think of you? 

Are you having negative thoughts and fearing the worst all the time? 

Does the future seem bleak?

Does everything seem like a tremendous effort?

Do you put off simple tasks? 

It may be an idea to seek help from your GP and a counsellor if you feel you can identify with the above check list. 

Anxiety can be a crippling thing to experience. 

Do you feel stressed, unable to relax, have difficulty sleeping yet feel very tired? This can be the result of prolonged stress. Counselling can help you to see if it is actually anxiety you’re suffering from and give you better ways to cope with it. It will also show you how you are perhaps unknowingly perpetuating it. 

It’s natural to find some degree of anxiety; for example before sitting an exam or going for a job interview, it’s when the levels get out of control that it can be very uncomfortable. People suffering from anxiety can have what’s known as “panic attacks.” These can be terrifying for some and even lead to the sufferer thinking they may be having a heart attack or that they going to pass out. 

Anxiety sufferers often have health anxiety, believing they have illnesses and disorders that they really don’t have. This is often unhelpfully labelled as hypochondria when in fact it’s something that can be very frightening and feels extremely real to the person experiencing it. 

Counselling can help you get things into perspective once again and work through the underlying fears. 

STRESS CHECK

Do you feel worried, stressed, tense, anxious, restless, frightened, have a general feeling of dread?

Does your heart pound/miss a beat?

Does your chest feel tight? 

Do you get “butterflies” in your stomach?

Do you feel giddy and like you’re going to pass out? 

Do your fingers or toes feel numb or have pins and needles? 

Have difficulty concentrating? 

Do you start projects and not complete them? 

Do you feel like your losing control? 

Do your legs feel like jelly sometimes? 

Do you avoid certain places/social situations?

Is this causing you to have time off work?

Do you smoke/drink more because of these feelings? 

Are you eating less/more because of this? 

Do you have problems getting off to sleep/staying asleep, or wake early and have trouble getting back to sleep? 

If you experience some or all of these problems, the chances are you are suffering from anxiety and could benefit from counselling.

Health Anxiety

Some patients that come to see me are suffering from health anxiety. Often unhelpfully referred to as “Hypochondria” this can be a very debilitating, scary feeling.  It often links back to a childhood experience. Counselling can help explore the causes and change this awful way of thinking. 

  

As with all physical ailments please do consult your GP in the first instance