Depression Counseling
in Scottsdale, AZ

The focus of depression counseling is to help increase insight into depression triggers, develop adaptive coping strategies to help decrease depressive symptoms, and find ways to make life changes to avoid unhealthy circumstances. Our psychologists and counselors use a variety of techniques to treat depression including cognitive behavioral therapy, relationship counseling, and life coaching.

In depression counseling, our counselors help the individual identify the triggers for their depression and help them begin to see the steps they can take to find healing and hope. Together, we seek to determine the source of the depression and then create a personalized treatment plan for each individual. For example, if the source of the depression is due to a medical condition, we coordinate care with a medical provider, or if the source of the depression is due to a history of trauma or distressing life events, we process through these events to decrease feelings of shame and self-doubt.

Depression is often described from the outside as sadness, and people who have it usually describe something different. Flatness is more common than sorrow: a muting of things that used to register, so that food, music, company and work all arrive at a lower volume.

Many people report exhaustion that sleep does not touch, a slowness in thinking and moving, and a heavy self-critical commentary running underneath the day. Some feel very little at all, which can be more disturbing than feeling bad.

Depression can start in our family. Negative family dynamics that were abusive, neglectful or unsupportive can create shame and self doubt in the individual. If we don’t grow up knowing what we need and what we are worthy of, we may never ask or advocate for things that would make us happy or keep us from being depressed.

Depression can start in our thoughts. Self-critical views, hopeless outlooks on life, and fear can create a cycle of negative thoughts that can make us feel depressed. In therapy, we may look at how our thoughts influence our experiences and how our experiences influence our thoughts. From a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) approach, we can learn to identify these negative cycles of thinking and re-frame to a more healthy and accurate view.

Depression can start in our emotions. Many bright, thoughtful, and insightful people can know how they are “supposed” to think, and yet they still feel sad, disappointed, and upset. Through an emotion focused therapy approach we can best understand how to change our emotions even when they defy all rational thought.

Depression can start in our relationships. So often our mood is influenced by the quality of our intimate relationships. When our marriages, relationships, and friendships are on the rocks, it becomes increasingly more difficult to view ourselves, our future, and our world in a positive light. When appropriate, our therapists can do both individual and couples therapy to help treat symptoms of depression.

Depression can develop from many different sources. Some depression can present from chemical changes that occur after a pregnancy (see: postpartum depression) or due to a neurological condition such as Parkinson’s disease. Other forms of depression can start from a history of trauma or negative relationships, while others can begin from a negative view of the self and hopelessness for the future. While there are many different etiologies for depression, our counselors create individualized treatment plans for each person they are seeing.

Depression usually includes at least 5 of the following symptoms:

• Depressed mood most of the day and nearly every day
• Decreased interest in previously enjoyed activities
• Changes in appetite or weight
• Physically feeling agitated, slowed down, difficulty “getting going”
• Intense feelings of worthlessness and inappropriate guilt
• Decreased ability to think or concentrate
• Recurrent thoughts of suicide or death
• Insomnia (difficulty sleeping) or hypersomnia (sleeping a great deal)
• Fatigue and loss of energy

Depression can often come after major life difficulties such as a loss of job or end of a relationship. Yet, depression can also put great strain on our relationships and responsibilities. While many are able to maintain their job, relationships and daily functioning, they do so with great struggle and effort.

Depression can often cause relationship difficulties as people tend to be more apathetic, frustrated, agitated, less empathetic and less flexible when depressed. Depression can also cause physical difficulties leaving people feeling sick, tired, and more prone to infection. Lastly, it can impact life satisfaction leading to feelings of worthlessness and lack of hope.

Left alone, depression also tends to narrow things. Activities go first, then contact with people, then the sense that either of those was ever enjoyable, and each withdrawal makes the next one more likely. None of that is inevitable, and it is the reason treatment earlier tends to be shorter and easier than treatment later.

The treatments for depression include talk therapy and medication management. Talk therapy will focus on the specific type of depression and will help the individual deepen their insight into their distress, identify the triggers for their depression, develop adaptive coping skills for these circumstances and look at overall life circumstances and how these may be adjusted to avoid feelings of depression in the future.

The talk therapy we use for depression is not one method. Cognitive behavioral therapy works on the thought patterns and the withdrawal that keep depression running, and includes behavioral activation, which rebuilds engagement in small deliberate steps rather than waiting for motivation to return first.

Interpersonal and relationship-focused work is used where the depression is rooted in a relationship, a role change or a loss. EMDR is used where depression sits on top of unprocessed trauma. Where medication is part of the picture, we coordinate with your physician or psychiatrist. We do not prescribe.

Many people choose to seek treatment for depression when they feel that their efforts to control their depression are no longer working. Yet, treatment for depression can also be very helpful when done before the depression becomes severe. When people are in a hopeful place, they may be in the best position to proactively make life choices to avoid thought patterns, relationships, and life choices that can lead to depressive symptoms. So either during increasing depression or before increasing depression, treatment can be very helpful.

Our psychologists and counselors are passionate about finding a treatment plan that is specifically tailored to each individual’s needs and circumstances. While in depression therapy, counseling will focus on helping the individual deepen insight into depression triggers, develop adaptive coping strategies to help decrease depressive symptoms, and find ways to make life changes to help avoid unhealthy circumstances.

Should medication management be desired, our psychologists and counselors will coordinate care with treating physicians to provide the best continuity of care.

Our office is in Phoenix at 6245 N 24th Parkway, near 24th Street and Camelback beside Biltmore Fashion Park, about 20 minutes from Old Town Scottsdale on Camelback Road. We have served the Scottsdale area since 2012. If the drive is more than you can manage right now, online sessions are available to any Arizona resident.

Yes. Online sessions are available to any Arizona resident, and for depression they remove a real barrier. When getting out of the house is the hardest thing you will do that day, a session you can attend from home is a session that actually happens. You can move to in-person later, or not. Call (480) 999-7070 to arrange it.

Biltmore Psychology & Counseling is an out-of-network provider and does not bill insurance directly. If your plan includes out-of-network mental health benefits, we provide a receipt you can submit to your insurer for reimbursement, and many clients are reimbursed for a portion of each session.

Fees vary by clinician and by the type of session, so call (480) 999-7070 and we will give you the current rate before you book anything.