Our therapists provide depression counseling in Media, PA

Evan: My go to approach for working with clients who are coping with depression is person centered techniques, dialectical behavior therapy techniques, behavior therapy techniques, and solution focused techniques. I find them helpful with teaching clients how to manage their symptoms effectively as well as helping clients feel that they are being supported.Depending on the age of the client, the parents may need to be involved so they learn how to best to support their child. I also encourage clients who are coping with depression to discuss the role of medication with a psychiatrist / nurse practitioner / primary care doctor as that may help improve life and make using the skills learned in therapy easier to use.

Andrew: My general approaches to addressing a client’s needs in therapy are cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). CBT provides a more traditional approach for exploring the impact of thoughts on feelings and behaviors and working to process and manage those thoughts to reduce the impact on our decision-making. ACT utilized these skills and implements more mindfulness-based strategies to reduce experiential avoidance of uncomfortable emotions and focused on increasing values-based actions.

Evan: When it comes to working on depression, I focus on teaching the following skills which may include:

• Learning to identify triggers and bodily sensations that are associated with a depression attack.
• Scaling the depression on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the worst depression ever. This also includes identifying steps the client can take to help themselves feel better to reduce the depression.
• Prescribing the problem /Restricting the symptom: This is telling the person to allow themselves to be as depressed as they want for a set period of time each day and then ignoring it the rest of the day. A variation of this is setting aside a period of time each day that the person ignores the depression and engages in other activities instead of ruminating on how the client is feeling.
• Identifying coping strategies to use when they feel depressed to help them manage their symptoms.
• Happiness triggers: this is having environmental cues in the environment that can boost the client's mood. It can be pictures of their favorite vacation spot, favorite pictures, and being able to look at a bird feeder.
• Communication skills: learning how to comm

Andrew: I assist clients in building the following skills to meet their treatment goals:

• Emotional regulation techniques: To better manage physical symptoms of emotions to promote values-based action as opposed to emotional reaction. Examples include preventative strategies, physical coping skills, and grounding techniques.
• Cognitive coping skills: To assist with managing automatic thoughts that impact our emotions and to process core beliefs that impact our perception of the world we interact with. Examples include diffusion and the use of a thought record.
• Acceptance: Working with clients to identify what is outside of their control in the moment and working to shift focus to action on things that they can control.
• Mindfulness: Helps a client to be better grounded in the present moment, build observation skills of clients' internal and external experiences, and move past their judgments to see things and situations as they are.
• Communication skill: Promotes appropriate verbalization and reception of needs before they become larger issues.

Evan: I know therapy is progressing a positive direction in therapy when clients start to report a reduction in the intensity of their depression, and they report they are starting to effectively manage their symptoms when it is elevated.

Andrew: I know clients are making progress in therapy when they are less often moving away from uncomfortable situations and emotions and are more often moving toward their values and goals through actions. Clients are typically utilizing the skills learned in therapy outside of the therapy office to increase the likelihood of these values-based actions. Clients also tend to demonstrate a greater level of insight into their emotions and report a decreased impact of these emotions on their decision-making.

Evan: I encourage clients to spend their spare time practicing skills as well as tracking their mood to see if any patterns emerge.

Andrew: To supplement therapy, clients can practice and implement the skills learned in therapy in their day-to-day lives. It is also important to engage in preventative strategies, such as a regular sleep schedule, healthy diet, appropriate work-life balance, engagement with positive social support, and hobbies, as they can improve our overall emotional well-being throughout the day. While these are not possible all the time, the more we engage with them, the more benefits we receive from that action.

Evan: To prepare for the initial session, clients can generate a list of challenges that they want to work on. I also encourage clients to come with an open mind as change takes time.

Andrew: To prepare for their first therapy session, all an individual needs to bring with them is an attitude that is honest and open to alternative perspectives, as well as a willingness to try the interventions suggested in the session. It also can be helpful to have a general idea of what the client’s goals for therapy may be. The client should be prepared to answer some general questions about themselves to give the therapist a clearer picture of who they are.