Depression can affect far more than mood.
You may feel exhausted, disconnected, unmotivated or unable to enjoy things that used to matter to you. Everyday tasks can begin to feel disproportionately difficult. You may withdraw from other people, lose confidence in yourself, struggle to make decisions, or find yourself thinking that nothing is likely to change.
Sometimes depression develops after a clear event such as bereavement, relationship difficulties, illness, prolonged stress or another major life change. At other times, there may be no obvious single cause.
Whatever has brought you here, therapy can provide a space to understand what is happening and begin finding a way forward.
Depression affects different people in different ways.
You might experience:
You do not need to experience all of these symptoms for low mood to have a significant impact on your life.
When we feel low, it is natural to withdraw, avoid difficult tasks and reduce activity.
Unfortunately, this can sometimes create a cycle.
The less we do, the fewer opportunities we have for achievement, pleasure, connection and confidence. Negative thoughts can become stronger, which makes activity feel even harder. Gradually, the world can seem smaller and the future less hopeful.
Therapy can help identify the thoughts, behaviours, experiences and emotional patterns that may be maintaining this cycle.
I do not use one fixed approach for everybody.
My work draws on psychotherapy, counselling, clinical hypnotherapy, BWRT® and other psychological approaches, depending on the individual and what they are experiencing.
Therapy might involve:
Some people need time and space to understand what has happened.
Others already know why they feel depressed but find that understanding alone has not changed how they feel.
In those circumstances, we may work more directly with the emotional responses and learned patterns that continue to keep the problem active.
Sometimes depression is closely connected with experiences that have never been fully resolved.
Loss, rejection, humiliation, bullying, difficult relationships, childhood experiences or prolonged periods of stress can all influence how we come to see ourselves and our future.
You may intellectually know that those experiences are over while still carrying the emotional impact of them.
Where appropriate, approaches such as BWRT® can be used alongside psychotherapy to work with emotional responses linked to past experiences without requiring you to repeatedly relive everything that happened.
Depression can also emerge when life no longer looks the way we expected it to.
Relationship breakdown, bereavement, retirement, redundancy, illness, loneliness and other major transitions can affect our sense of identity, purpose and direction.
Therapy can provide somewhere to acknowledge what has been lost while also beginning to explore what comes next.
The aim is not to force positive thinking or pretend difficult experiences have not happened. It is to help you gradually regain a sense of choice, movement and possibility.
I have over 12 years' experience as a psychotherapist and clinical hypnotherapist.
My approach is warm, practical and non-judgemental. We will work together to understand what you are experiencing and agree what you would like to change.
There is no expectation that you arrive knowing exactly what is wrong or what you need.
Sometimes the first task of therapy is simply making sense of where you are.
I offer face-to-face therapy from Craven Clinic in Skipton, North Yorkshire, as well as online sessions.
Individual session: £89
Session length: 75 minutes
Choosing a therapist is personal.
I offer a free introductory telephone or online consultation so that you can tell me a little about what has been happening, ask questions about how I work and decide whether therapy with me feels right for you.
There is no obligation to book further sessions.
Book a free introductory consultation
Therapy through this service is not an emergency or crisis service.
If you believe you may be in immediate danger or unable to keep yourself safe, please seek urgent help through the appropriate emergency or NHS services rather than waiting for a therapy appointment.
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