Anxiety & Depression

Recently, depression and anxiety have come to be seen more as two sides of the same coin rather than totally different issues. When our system is overloaded with stress until it breaks, and we have a deficit of coping mechanisms for stress, anxiety and depression can result.

Anxiety is the looking to the future with worry about the possibility of dangerous things coming. Depression has that with the addition of hopelessness about one’s ability to cope with the future based on past results with shutdown seeming like the only option.

It’s best to use a variety of interventions to treat anxiety and depression.

First, I will help you to increase your coping skills that are stressing your system. Second, we will look at the limiting beliefs and negative self-talk that further decrease your capacity to overcome the burdens and stresses of your life. And, we will be curious about lifestyle choices that may be further inhibiting your system. Self-care behaviors like exercise, nutrition, and good sleep habits are difficult to achieve for the over-stressed, so addressing self-care will help you feel strong enough to shift your orientation towards hope.

Mindfulness with a sense of gentle curiosity and a big dose of compassion will allow the origins of depression and anxiety to reveal themselves to be addressed. We will work on the mental, emotional, and physical levels to find the exact recipe for a life of balance and positive perception.

Somatic work doesn’t recognize that there is separation between our mind and our body.  If issues seem intractable, often turning our attention to the body can free up stuck patterns. I would be delighted to guide you inward toward the connection between your body and your mind to explore whether a disconnect there is contributing to anxiety and depression in your life.