1 in 10 adults in the United States reports dealing with depression, and 19.1% of the American population (that’s 40 million adults) struggle with an anxiety disorder each year. As per the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety disorders affect 31.9% of adolescents between 13 and 18 years old. If you or your child are experiencing one or both of these issues, you are not alone. Nearly 50% of those struggling with one issue also struggle with the other.
Whether you’re ready to make an appointment or still trying to decide if you need to see a therapist, we are here to help. Call 817.723.1210 for your free, confidential 15-minute consultation.
Depression
What Causes Depression?
Many factors can cause depression. Sometimes it is triggered by a traumatic event, but other times patients cannot identify an exact reason.
Depression can be caused by divorce, postpartum, grief, trauma, financial stress and many other factors. It is often intimately linked with anxiety, and patients who suffer from one often suffer from the other. If your family has a history of depression, you may also be at increased risk.
Symptoms of Depression:
- Loss of hope
- Not enjoying activities you used to enjoy
- Decreased appetite
- Insomnia or sleeping too much
- Seemingly unconnected physical problems with no other obvious cause
- Suicidal thoughts
- Anxiety
- Unexplained anger or crying
Depression, when left untreated, can result in serious life issues such as marital difficulties or loss of a job. It can cause you to have thoughts you’d never normally have and cause you to misinterpret everyday experiences, putting a negative spin on everything that happens to you and everything people say. Often, just getting out of bed can seem like an insurmountable task.
Treatment for Depression in Dallas-Fort Worth
Depression is one of the most common issues we treat. Many people struggle with it at some point in their lives. However, some believe depression is just normal sadness, and “everyone feels sad sometimes,” so they don’t seek help. Depression is not just everyday sadness. It causes an actual chemical imbalance in the brain so that your body’s chemicals that usually rush to the rescue are not as effective. Counseling provides the boost you need so you can do the rest.
Often, depression feels like a big shadow that has come over you or a giant weight you can’t lift. It often feels like a lingering, hopeless despair that you can’t seem to fight off. Our goal is to bear your burden with you, enabling you to find the strength to move on and defeat whatever underlying issues are causing the depression.
A variety of therapy techniques can be used to treat depression. Our trained, experienced counselors will listen to you without judgment or rushing to conclusions. We dig deep to unearth the root cause of your depression so you can move on with your life.
While antidepressants can be helpful for a short time, they can inhibit the body’s natural response mechanisms rather than strengthen them. Your body can grow to depend on the medications rather than its own built-in defenses. Therapy works through the underlying issues that are keeping you from being able to fight depression and empowers you to respond to your emotions and circumstances in healthy ways.
We are located in Arlington, TX, but also available virtually via Distance Counseling to anyone in Texas.
Schedule a Depression Counseling Session Today
Anxiety
Anxiety in its helpful form is a survival mechanism that enables people to cope with trying times – times of trauma, change or danger. However, the human body is not designed to live in a perpetually anxious state.
What Causes Anxiety?
Anxiety, like depression, is a feeling that everyone experiences at some point. With an anxiety disorder, however, anxious feelings may persist even when the triggering event is long past. For example, many patients suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or social anxiety triggered by past experiences.
Sometimes patients have difficulty tying their anxiety to a specific event. You may find yourself feeling anxious for a specific reason, but once that situation is resolved, your anxiety immediately shifts to something else — and the cycle just keeps repeating.
You may have a constant shadow of dread lurking over you with no idea what exactly you are dreading. You may feel afraid and have no idea what exactly you’re afraid of – or when you try to analyze it, you feel like you’re afraid of everything. When these feelings begin to interfere with day-to-day life, leaving you paralyzed and unable to make decisions or perform daily functions at work, it’s time to seek help.
Symptoms of Anxiety?
- Persistent feelings of unspecified dread
- A constant feeling of worry that shifts targets or has no specific target
- Irrational fear
- Panic attacks
- Social anxiety
- Obsessive-compulsive tendencies
- Nausea or breathing difficulties
- Insomnia
- Other physical symptoms with no obvious causes
- Weight loss or overeating
- Fatigue
- Brain fog/confusion
It can be tempting to think “it’s all in your head” and that you should “just shake it off,” but anxiety is a serious issue that you cannot afford to ignore.
Just like you would visit a doctor to combat a raging infection, you need to address anxiety before it causes even more difficulties. Panic attacks can mimic heart attacks. People who suffer from an anxiety disorder are 3-5x more likely to go to a doctor and 6x more likely to be hospitalized for psychiatric disorders than others.
Treatment for Anxiety in Dallas-Fort Worth
As with antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications can be helpful, but they usually cannot fix the underlying causes of anxiety or help an individual learn to cope.
All of our therapists possess deep training and experience helping people like you successfully work through and overcome anxiety disorders – whether social anxiety, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder.
Need more information? Have some unanswered questions? Call Us at 817-723-1210 for your free, confidential 15-minute consultation. We offer anxiety counseling in Arlington, but also available virtually via Distance Counseling to anyone in Texas.
We are located in Arlington, TX, but also available virtually via Distance Counseling to anyone in Texas.