How might Life Coaching help you to manage depression?

LIFE & WELL-BEING COACHING FOR DEPRESSION, STRESS AND ANXIETY

Coaching & Therapy for Depression

Missing your old care-free self? Feeling down, low or depressed can happen to all of us. Coaching and therapy can really help you feel more calm, clear, confident again.

Feeling sad and lost is exhausting. Your low mood might come in waves or seem ever present, like a mental brain fog clouding everything you do. You might not even fully comprehend why you feel this way. But we can imagine you’re pretty fed up with being tearful, tired, lonely and down.

And we hope that by the simple fact that you’re here, reading these words, there is a part of you that dares to believe it is possible to feel better...

I view what you are experiencing as a grieving process. A loss of something precious. Sometimes your loss is easy to pinpoint: the end of a relationship, a miscarriage, being made redundant, a friend or family member who died. But other losses are much more ephemeral. The loss of a dream, of something that could have been. A baby that still isn’t there. A love that never fully came into being. A career or house move that resulted in disappointment.

And let’s not forget, the loss of yourself. Your care-free, spontaneous, energetic self who seems to have disappeared. And in its place is an emotional, numb, lost or frustrated person who you don’t even recognise yourself. Let alone like! That missing of who you used to be, that longing for who you truly are can be overwhelming.

You might find yourself wondering who you are, what you want, why you feel the way you do, and how on earth to enjoy life again…

How might Life Coaching help you to manage depression?

You might have trouble sleeping, your body aches, it feels impossible to switch off your thoughts, you have lost interest in the things that gave you joy, and relationships seem to cost energy instead of recharge your batteries. Sounds familiar? At Vitalis Coaching & Therapy we believe that emotional overwhelm, or any form of grief really, is your body, mind and spirit trying to communicate something important to you. Depression is not here with the aim to make you feel miserable. It’s an expression of what matters to you, but which is not present in your life. Depression is, in all its raw pain, hopelessness and frustrating stuck-ness, an important part of life’s journey. If you try to numb the feelings with work, food, alcohol or drugs or if you avoid it by disappearing into screens, it will roar it’s ugly head when it is least welcome.

Giving yourself permission to take the time and space to process what’s happening, with the guidance of a trained professional, makes your unpleasant thoughts and emotions less scary. Instead of being at the mercy of a rollercoaster of events, you will feel a sense of control over your life and feelings again. And one day you’ll look back, and you’ll feel grateful that you gave yourself permission to ask for help. It’ll be thanks to this journey into the depths of your being that you’ll be able to open up to the fullness of who you truly are.

HAVING TOO MUCH ON YOUR PLATE Can a Life Coach help when you feel depressed? The type of depression that brings people to see a Life Coach or Psychotherapist is what we call a “reactive depression”. Meaning that the depressed feelings are a result of an external event; for example a bereavement, losing a job, medical diagnosis, long held anger, or a change in an important relationship. When you feel depressed as a consequence of something that has happened in your life, this might result in feeling lost or stuck, sad, tired and frustrated. It’s common to be more anxious and to experience a sense of hopelessness and helplessness. Thoughts around not feeling good enough undermine your confidence. It's often described as being in a dark place and feels as if you just want to hide under the duvet. And you might even experience some strange comfort in those feelings or believe you actually deserve them.

But a reactive depression means some good news as well. You haven't always felt like this. This means that there is no need to continue to feel this way. It can get better. You can feel good again. Clients often describe it as wanting their previous care-free self back. The journey isn't always an easy one, because certain unpleasant emotions need to be worked through. But once you come out on the other side, there isn't the ‘old you’ waiting for you, there’ll be a new you. Stronger, wiser, more compassionate and kinder to yourself and others than ever imagined possible.

Life & Well-Being Coaching can help with a reactive depression.

For what the doctor might label a clinical depression, Counselling & Psychotherapy is a better match.

Let’s face your challenges together. It’ll feel like a weight has lifted off your shoulders.