Redefining Your Life: Overcoming Depression in Birmingham and Solihull

Getting help for depression from a clinical psychologist can be beneficial. Nearly 1 in 6 people in the UK report suffering from depression or anxiety. Depression, the so-called common cold of mental illnesses, affects many people at all stages of life. Though depression subsides as life proceeds, many times, it can be disruptive and prevent us from living our life fully. If you live in Birmingham, Solihull and the City of London, there is a psychotherapist near you who can help.

There are many psychological treatments for depression. Countering depression from its roots begins with counselling and therapy from an expert therapist how knows how to the many different treatments work and how they combine to give you the best chances of recovery from persistent low mood.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or CBT for Depression is the first type of depression therapy for depressive disorder. In CBT for Depression, the psychologist helps the patient observe their thought patterns at first. Then, they help them see things from a different point of view. Learning during therapy how certain thoughts lead to creating negative emotions and depression, can help patients change their thinking style and approach towards life.

Interpersonal Therapy or IT for Depression can be used instead of or alongside CBT. It is another treatment with substantial evidence that it works well in alleviating depression symptoms. This type of therapy focuses on how the patient communicates with other people in their life. This type of counselling can be particularly effective if the depression is because the patient has problems in their relationships. It is well documented that, many depression sufferers, when low in mood, they exhibit social avoidance or poor ‘people skills’.

While therapy for depression disorder focuses on eliminating the psychological root causes of depression, medication helps patients live their everyday lives better by reducing the symptoms. Medication can be very helpful for some, but unhelpful for others. There are also significant side effects and withdrawal effects if someone stops abruptly and without appropriate advice. The main medications for low mood are called anti-depressants. Anti-depressants can be very helpful for treating severe depression, but they are not very good at helping people with low and moderate depression. Depression patients often experience suicidal thoughts, and some medication can increase the risk of suicide in the early days of the treatment. Anti-depressants work by making the sufferers feel better and can be used alongside psychological interventions for depression.

Severe depression takes longer to cure than moderate and mild depression. The duration of the course also depends on how long the sufferer has had depression. Most people start to feel less depressed within the first few weeks of counselling sessions. A psychologist will help you identify goals for improvement. It’s essential that you feel comfortable with the psychologist and express yourself to them freely to get the best results from therapy.

Most experienced clinical psychologists will make you feel at ease. However, if this does happen between you and your therapist, you should openly discuss this with your therapist. Sometimes the cause of unease is easy to overcome, and the psychological roots of this difficulty can also be addressed in therapy. Usually, three to four sessions are sufficient for you to understand if your therapeutic relationship with your psychologist will help you improve. This said, if you find it very hard to trust others, it may understandably take longer.

Depression therapy is helpful for the mature and young alike. When you visit a clinical psychologist in Birmingham, Solihull and the City of London, the counselling session begins by first analysing whether the patient suffers from depression or not, and this is called a diagnostic assessment. After the diagnostic evaluation, a process of educated exploration starts. Then, the psychologist begins implementing different established psychological interventions in identifying what works best for the depression sufferer.

Talking during therapy helps because expressing to a stranger, who is also an experienced professional, is much simpler than expressing to someone you know and may fear they will judge you. There are also many different therapies for depression. Your psychologist will make an assessment and make a decision about which treatment would work best for you. It’s essential that patients don’t give up hope if one method of therapy fails to give results. Dr Nick knows how to use many different psychotherapies and will change his approach if needed. It is crucial, however, that if you feel like this, you discuss this with your psychologist who will be able to advise you. Often, therapy does not work as fast as medication; however, unlike the positive effects of medication, the positive effects of psychotherapy can last a long time.

If you have other mental health problems, such as anxiety, insomnia or personality difficulties, Dr Nick will adjust the treatment to help you with these too.

Dr Nick is an experienced psychotherapist in Birmingham, Solihull and the City of London. He has helped many with Depression with psychotherapy. If you are living in these areas, you are likely to prefer to see a psychotherapist near you.