Finding Your Way Out of the Hole – Depression Counselling in Newcastle

Finding Your Way Out of the Hole – Depression Counselling in Newcastle

Depression has become more common in recent times due to increasing stress at work, school, or university, increased pressure on having the right relationships, and an increasingly higher paced lifestyle as we move into the new decade.

Though it is important to recognise the difference between sadness and depression, do hold in mind that if your feelings of sadness last, or are accompanied by a lack of interest, hopelessness, poor motivation, or feelings of being alone, you might be starting to suffer from depression.

Depression counselling in Newcastle can help you identify and improve the cause and symptoms of your depression. Therapy and counselling for depression is a specialist field, requiring specialist training and everyone’s therapy is different.

If you are suffering from depression or low mood, here are some ways that our Specialist Counsellors and Psychologists at Newcastle Psychologist & Counselling work when providing counselling for depression. Try some of these tips before contacting us to see if they can help you climb “out of the hole” and avoid seeing a depression counsellor or psychologist.

Find the Cause of Your Depression

Although people might know they are suffering from depression, it can still be difficult for them to pin-point the root cause of the problem by themselves. Feelings of lack of control and helplessness can often increase symptoms and make the person feel worse.

When you first see someone for depression counselling, part of the initial work might focus on helping to identify the causes or issues impacting on your mood. Your psychologist or counsellor can identify and help you to reflect on patterns of thinking, behaviours or habits that are keeping you stuck.

If you are trying to find the cause of your depression by yourself, think about when your problems first started. Good questions to ask yourself are: What was going on in your life at that time? Did you experience an upsetting or traumatic incident or did your depression build up over time? Being able to identify the cause of your depression can refocus you towards solving the problems that are impacting on your mood.

Notice Patterns of Thinking that are Making You Feel Depressed

Working with a specialist depression counsellor makes it easier to start breaking down problematic ways of thinking and develop effective ways of solving your problem. It can also help you to reduce being self-critical and change the way you view the world, yourself, and others.

It is important to highlight that talking therapy and depression counselling doesn’t involve being told to “think positive” – it focuses on understanding and helping to overcome your difficulties whether these are caused by your situation or the way you are thinking to improve the way you feel.

Through specialist depression counselling, you can learn to deal with situations more effectively and manage negative thoughts and feelings that are holding you back. Identifying critical and negative thoughts and listing evidence against them can be a helpful way of challenging negative thoughts, as can talking about the way you feel.

Talking to Newcastle Psychologist & Counselling’s team of counsellors, psychologists and therapists is completely confidential which allows you to express feelings and emotions that you might not feel able to share with friends or family. All of our therapists are registered with their relevant body (BPS, BACP and/or HCPC) and we hold confidentiality paramount in our work with you.

Keep a Journal or Diary

Some specialist depression counsellors and psychologists might ask clients to keep a thought or experiences diary between sessions.

Such diaries and journals can be useful for several reasons – as a record to remind you of positive times which challenge negative thoughts, to reflect on important situations that you want to talk about with your counsellor or psychologist, and to allow you to think about and break down your problem in more detail.

When keeping such a diary at home, it can be helpful to include strengths, skills and things that you like about yourself as well as activities that help you feel good or, at least, less depressed. When suffering from depression it can often be hard to notice small achievements or successes, but it is important to do so.

Keeping a journal can remind you of the positive experiences of life, and helps you learn to become more in touch with your feelings and can be a step in helping you to feel okay about expressing your feelings more freely in the future.

Contact Us for Specialist Depression Counselling

Though the above tips can be useful, it can be difficult to overcome the symptoms of depression by yourself.

Though there are many self-help books, guides, and videos available the research in the field shows that recovery is quicker, longer lasting, and more effective when working with a professional therapist, such as one of our specialist depression counsellors or psychologists at Newcastle Psychologist & Counselling.

If you can relate to the feelings discussed in this article, contact us using the box below to discuss whether depression counselling in Newcastle with our team of Specialist Psychologists and Counsellors might be helpful.