Areas of Focus/Depression
Over 300 million people are affected annually by depression, making it one of the most common mental health conditions in the world. It is also one of the most misunderstood. Depression is not simply sadness, and it is not a failure of will.
ON THE SURFACE · WHAT YOU MIGHT NOTICE
BENEATH · WHAT MAY BE AT WORK
Depression can arrive gradually, so that by the time you notice it, it feels like the weather rather than a condition. Things that used to feel worth doing stop feeling worth it. Getting through the day takes more than it should. Many people describe a kind of numbness more than sadness, and a critical voice that narrates their shortcomings with great confidence.
Others keep functioning well on the outside while feeling hollow underneath, which can make it harder to take seriously, both for the person and for the people around them.
From a psychodynamic perspective, depression often has a history. It can be the residue of losses that were never fully grieved: a parent who was present but unavailable, a childhood that required you to grow up quickly, a relationship or a version of your life that ended without ceremony. It can be anger that had nowhere safe to go and so turned inward, becoming self-criticism. It can be the cost of living for a long time according to a picture of yourself that was handed to you rather than chosen.
None of this is visible from the surface. What is visible is the low mood. The work is to follow it down.
We go slowly. I am not interested in talking you out of how you feel; I am interested in understanding it with you. Over time, as we explore your history and the patterns in your relationships, the depression tends to become less of a fog and more of a story, one with specific people, specific disappointments, and specific feelings that were set aside because there was no room for them.
As those feelings find room, people often find that their energy and their interest in life begin to return. I can also integrate other therapeutic approaches when they are useful, and I am glad to coordinate with a psychiatrist or primary care physician when medication is part of the picture.
Sessions are 50 minutes, usually weekly, in my Burbank office or by telehealth. I cannot guarantee a specific outcome or cure; healing is a deeply personal journey. My role is to support you in it.