919-306-1711 | christina@carynctherapy.com
Depression emerges from our response to thoughts, emotions, body sensations, and action urges. Often persistent efforts to deny emotional experiences can lead to hopelessness and despair and even numbness to positive emotions. From a behavioral perspective, Depression is the result of our inability to be with or have our emotional experience safely and effectively.
The first step in treating depression is to work on client’s behaviors in response to depression, which often includes acting on urges to avoid or isolate. These behaviors are not harmless. When done repeatedly they create new learning, and they become habitual. Frequently rumination is the activity of choice for depressed individuals and it is a powerful strategy for avoiding emotions but ineffective in treating depression. Activities that allow a depressed person to avoid experiencing painful emotions are so powerful, they can become habitual very quickly, generating a “numb” existence.
Many people have lived with depression so long they have no idea how they got depressed or what maintains the depression. Research shows that people with chronic depression tend to experience sadness much like non-depressed people, and yet may have more difficulty bouncing back. Depression can be treated by addressing thoughts and emotions and engaging in a more mindful and healthy relationship with them. Christina utilizes an evidence based treatment for depression called mindfulness-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.