Meet the Many Faces of Depression

Depression has many different faces, many different stories.

Tom lived without even being seriously depressed for most of his life. Tom’s depression began during a difficult year when his wife died and one of his best friends, John, was diagnosed with cancer.

John’s treatment went well, and he recovered completely. Nonetheless, Tom began to feel discouraged and hopeless about his future and to have more and more negative thoughts about his activities and himself.

In time, Tom lost his appetite, stopped doing the things that he enjoyed, and some days found it hard even to get out of bed in the morning. Tom’s depression began slowly and grew progressively until it put a dark veil over each day. Tom began to see life through “gloomy specs.” It is just like wearing dark-tinted glasses: everything his mind would see was dull, bland, negative.

Rose had experienced serious depression many times throughout her life. As a young girl, she had been sexually abused by her grandfather and was later abused by two different husbands. She had learned to think negatively about herself at a young age.

When Rose’s depression turned especially severe, she struggled with urges to harm herself: she even made a suicide attempt. Her recurrent depression was quite disruptive to her life and made it difficult for her to sleep at night. Sometimes her depression got so bad that she showed up late to work and had trouble concentrating when she was there; as a result, she was at risk of losing her job.

As Tom’s and Rose’s experiences demonstrate, depression presents itself in different ways. It may start quickly or slowly; can feel mild, moderate, or severe; may happen multiple times throughout your life or may even be always present in the background (even though you may pretend that it is not there).

In other words, everybody experiences depression differently. For some, it may even begin due to physical reasons (for example, hormonal fluctuations), thus not all in your head.

You Are Not Alone

If you struggle with depression daily, you are not alone even though you may feel like it. Would you believe me that experiencing depression is rather common?

Surveys from both hospital and community health centers show that depression is among the most prevalent condition in the world. In the United States alone, millions and millions of people (for example, up to 22% of women and up to 11% of men) have suffered from depression at some point in their lives. I previously struggled with depression – but with treatment, I have recovered from it. This has motivated me to help others to do the same. Yes, you are not alone!

How Do You Experience Depression?

If you currently feel depressed – or have been in the past – think of your own depression:

• Did it start quickly or slowly build over time?
• Does it have a mild, moderate, or severe impact in your daily life?
• Is this the first time you have felt depressed, have you felt this way before, or has depression been with you most of your life?

Regardless of your answers to these questions, counseling (a.k.a., therapy) can help you understand your depression and begin to take the first steps toward feeling better.

Counseling Can Help You Overcome Depression

Through counseling, you can learn about ways to help your depression. Counseling can help you lift the dark veil that depression has placed upon you. It can help you remove the “gloomy specs” through which you view everyday life.

In counseling, you will discover simple, yet powerful, practical steps you can take to overcome depression – and feel happier, calmer, and more confident.

To overcome depression, talking about your past, your problems, or how your depression started is not the only option. In counseling, you can also learn proven, effective, and powerful techniques and skills that you can apply NOW in your day-to-day life to help you lift the dark veil of your depression.

However uncomfortable and overwhelming depression might be… however unmotivated to seek treatment you might feel, millions of people have learned to overcome depression in counseling. Why not you?

Learn to overcome depression.

It may take just one phone call to start your journey toward recovery.

Life was meant to be enjoyed, not just endured silently!