Depression

While it is perfectly normal to experience short periods of sadness in our day to day lives, depression can manifest itself as prolongued and intense periods of feeling down that can affect your daily functions.

There are several kinds of depression and each one can have many different symptoms and many different causes, which makes coping and dealing with it hard.

Psychotherapy is an effective treatment for depression, whereby sufferers begin to understand their depression and learn to manage the habits and issues that contribute to it.

Elm Therapists use cognitive behavioural therapy to help their patients determine the causes and change their patterns of thinking so that they can begin coping and dealing with their depression.

Some of the many types of depression we provide treatment for are:

Clinical or Major Depression

Major depression can be defined as depression that is severe enough to require treatment. It usually consists of sustained periods of intense lows that normally affects the sufferer's day to day activities, causing them to lose interest or pleasure in them.

Dysthymia or Minor Depression

As opposed to Clinical or Major Depression where sufferers may experience single or infrequent waves of severe depression, those suffering from Dysthymia or Minor Depression always show symptoms of mild form of depression without seeming to change much.

Bipolar or Manic Depression

Bipolar of Manic Depression characterises in extreme changes in mood, energy and behaviour. Periods of low, unenergetic depressions alternate with excessive and vigorous highs in an unpredictable fashion.

Atypical Depression

Atypical Depression is more common in women and can often appear to get better and then get worse again. Symptoms include oversleeping, overeating, the occurrence of panic attacks and a sensitivity to rejection. This type of depression normally manifests intself in adolenscence and can persist throughout life if left untreated.

Psychotic Depression

The symptoms of Psychotic Depression can be hearing voices inside ones head, visual hallucinations and delusional thinking. People who suffer from this form of depression usually require immediate attention. Sufferers of Major Depression can also experience symptoms of Psychotic Depression.

Postnatal or Postpartum Depression

New mothers usually feel low for a few days after giving birth. However, when this low is extreme, prolongued and impedes a mothers ability to carry out daily functions, then this can be diagnosed as Postnatal or Postpartum Depression. If left untreated, it can last for months or years after giving birth.