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Depression Counseling
Depression counseling is a very important treatment strategy for depression, especially among drug-free advocates who believe that if the appropriate and focused counseling is applied, medication is not an option.
Counseling for depression varies depending on the needs of the patient (type of depression, severity and patient response) and are administered only by authorized and licensed professionals. They include psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, marriage and family therapists, licensed clinical social workers and licensed counselors.
The main difference among therapy techniques lies on the “focus” of the counseling employed. The most common forms of counseling approaches include Behavioral Counseling (focus on patient behavior); Cognitive Counseling (how the patient think and feel about things); Interpersonal Therapy (how the patient relate to others); and Solution-Focused Therapy (how the patient perceives solutions to his or her problem).
Counseling may employ a mix of these approaches, and may add other activities (including academic and creative tests) to get at the basic emotional state and needs of the patient and ultimately find solutions for the depression.
Counseling
Counseling as a form of depression treatment provides an opportunity for the counselor to draw up deeply hidden causes of depression that the patient is not recognizing, voluntarily deleting from life, or embarrassed to admit and talk about in a public or uncontrolled environment.
Depression Counseling – Finding Help and Hope
A person can live forty days without food, seven days without water, and a few minutes without air; but he cannot live one second without hope.
Sometimes life can be so frustrating, confusing and painful.
There are times when we need someone to talk to who will listen, understand and care–times when we feel stuck and just do not know what to do. It can be something that has been going on for a very long time, or it might have come on suddenly and unexpectedly.
Either way, these are times when we need help. We need hope that things can change and get better.
We want to know someone cares, understands, and can walk alongside us to help and encourage us.
We may not know that depression counseling can provide the help we need and that we do not have to go through problems alone. Maybe fear or shame keeps us from reaching out. Still, most of us want to see better days ahead and live with a sense of purpose in our lives. We want to be whole and walk in victory. We want peace to rule in our lives, and to have confidence in who we are and what we can do. We want to have loving relationships with mutual trust and respect.
Oftentimes, there are things that keep us from living the life we want to live. We do not always know how to overcome obstacles on our own. We may feel stuck and not know what to do next. We might think we have run out of options or that things will never change or get better.
Depression counseling
Depression counseling can help us to get unstuck and renew our hope again. We can gain inner strength and faith that we can and will overcome obstacles and problems instead of letting them overcome us.
To benefit the most from depression counseling find a counselor:
o with whom you can be comfortable with and respect
o with expertise and experience in the area you seeking help for
o that you believe can help you reach your goals
There is hope and there is help. But we must be willing to take the first step. The first step may simply be saying that we need help. Then we must reach out and receive the help available to us.
Professional depression counselors offer their help. They are committed to walk alongside us as we journey through our life experiences.
They can help us achieve our goals and to live an abundant, fulfilling life.