Clinical Focus

DEPRESSION is a serious illness that negatively affects how you feel, think and act. Depression has a variety of symptom such as depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure, significant sudden weight loss or weight gain, sleep problems (insomnia or hypersomnia), restlessness or being “slowed down” as observed by others,fatigue or loss of energy nearly every day, inability to concentrate or make decision, feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness or excessive guilt, recurrent thoughts of death, suicide or attempts of suicide*.

Depression is common. It affects millions of people each year.  It is important to note that depression can strike at any time, from childhood to adulthood, but on average, it first appears during the late teens to mid-20s. Depression can affect anyone, even a person who appears to live in relatively ideal circumstances. Fortunately, depression is very treatable.

Anxiety disorders are illnesses that fill people's lives with overwhelming worry and fear. These feelings are generally chronic, unremitting, and can grow progressively worse. It's not uncommon for a person to have more than one anxiety disorder. Fortunately, treatments for the condition can be effective at any age. Depending on the type of anxiety, a person can experience several possible symptoms, including: feeling shaky, jittery, nervous, tense, fearful, apprehensive, avoiding certain places or activities because of fear, a pounding or racing heart, trouble catching your breath when nervous, fear of losing control, going crazy, or fear of dying. 

Traumatic events are events that cause a person to fear that he or she may die or be seriously injured or harmed. These events also can be traumatic when the person witnesses them happening to others. Such events often create feelings of intense fear, helplessness, or horror for those who experience them. 

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a real illness. You feel stressed and afraid after the danger is over. It affects your life and the people around you. The condition can be debilitating, causing people to constantly relive the ordeal and/or feel emotionally numb. It tends to develop within three months after the event, but may not show up for many years. PTSD can happen to anyone, even children. 

Grief is something that everyone will experience at one time or another during their lifetime. Grief occurs in response to the loss of someone or something. Grief, itself, is a normal and natural response to loss. There are a variety of ways that individuals respond to loss, no two individuals experiencing grief will respond to the same loss in the same way. There are several stages of grief that may reflect a person’s reaction to their loss, allowing an individual to make sense of how this loss affects them. However, experiencing and accepting all feelings remains an important part of the healing process. Therefore it is important to work through the stages of grief effectively. Counseling will help you to deal with grief by helping you to recognize it, understand it, accept it and work through it. 

Stress is part of life. Recent economic aspects have assisted in increasing the stress levels of many.  Anything from a life-changing event to the birth of a child to just simply being too busy can cause stress. Since we all have it from time to time—the trick is learning how to deal with it. Life changes can be challenging because they force us to let go of what we are comfortable with and move towards uncertainty of the future with a feeling of vulnerability. Many people become anxious and fearful when their future is filled with questions, it is normal to feel afraid. Life stressors can be filled with a range of negative feeling, such as, anger, anxiety, and confusion. 

Your feelings might be out of balance. Intense emotions around life changes might be the result of attaching old fears and anxieties to new situations. On the positive side, transitions offer an opportunity to explore new horizons and to discover what you really want out of life. 

Change is an inevitable and natural part of life. Life Transitions can include moving to a new area, starting new employment, leaving for college, getting married, becoming a new parent, retirement, relocation, or the significant loss of something or someone important.

Counseling for life transitions can allow one to talk about their transition and receive advice for transitioning into the new phase or out of the old phase.

Marriage counseling is a touchy subject for most couples. Couple often seek counseling when they feel misunderstood, frustrated, deeply hurt, or an overwhelming sense of sadness in their relationships. They enter into a counseling session with the hopes of saving their marriage. Marriage requires work, commitment and agreeing to give up having to be the "winner" in the relationship. A marriage is a partnership, either everyone wins or everyone loses. When everyone is in agreement to win, counseling is the most effective. In many cases, counseling is the difference between a healthy marriage and a nasty divorce.