Depression
Depression is often misunderstood and many people can think it is basically “having the blues” for awhile or just feeling down about life like many people feel and experience at one time or another in their lives. True Clinical Depression is a serious medical illness and it can take various forms of severity and type.
Following an initial assessment my therapeutic approach with Depression is to refer clients to their primary care doctor (if this has not been done) for a physical exam to rule out possible physical causes for their depressive symptoms. Once ruled out each client’s treatment plan is individualized. Treatment can be short term or longer depending on each client’s needs. Therapies can include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy and Psycho-education. If at initial assessment clients are experiencing particularly severe symptoms of Depression or after some time therapy alone does not seem to be effective I will refer to a psychiatrist for a medication evaluation. Depression can be successfully treated with proper professional care.