Therapy for Depression
The psychologists at Foothills CBT in Boulder, CO specialize in therapy for depression.
What is depression?
Are you feeling low or sad, especially in response to difficult or upsetting experiences? Are you sleeping too much or too little? Do you have little to no interest or motivation to engage in hobbies or activities that are usually pleasant?
While sadness is a natural is part of the human emotional experience, some people experience periods of low mood that are more severe, longer lasting, and more interfering with daily life than a typical sad mood, which may constitute depression. Major depressive disorder is one of the most common mental health disorders worldwide. In the U.S., it is estimated that approximately 8.4% of the adult population experiences a major depressive episode per year.
What are the symptoms of depression?
The core symptom of depression is low mood, sadness, or feeling empty and/or significantly reduced interest or pleasure in activities that used to be enjoyed. This can also be called anhedonia, or the inability to feel pleasure. If you are experiencing low mood, sadness and/or anhedonia, You may be coping with depression. The psychologists at Foothills CBT in Boulder, CO provide therapy for the symptoms of depression.
In addition to sadness, you may want to seek help for depression if you are experience significant sleeping problems (sleeping much more or much less than is usual for you), significant appetite or weight changes (significantly increased or decreased appetite and/or gaining or losing significant weight unintentionally), “psychomotor” changes (moving much less/more slowly than usual OR feeling usually restless), difficulty concentrating or focusing, feeling fatigued/tired/low energy most of the time, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, and thoughts about suicide (i.e., suicidal ideation).
Depression does not need to be significantly distressing or interfering with your daily life. Counseling for depression can help you get out of the rut of depression and back to doing things you love to do.
Our expert therapists in Boulder, CO can help you figure out if your symptoms are due to depression, and offer counseling for depression help you feel better.
How is depression treated?
There are multiple effective psychotherapies and talk therapies for depression. Evidence-based therapies for treating depression include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Behavioral Activation (BA), and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). At Foothills CBT in Boulder, we only use treatments for depression that have been proven through rigorous research to be effective.
CBT for depression focuses on changing excessively negative thoughts (cognitive strategies), and doing more enjoyable and meaningful activities (behavioral strategies). CBT is more than “just think/act positive,” and instead helps people become more aware of the links between thoughts, behaviors, and feelings, and develop more realistic and useful alternative ways of thinking and acting. The behavioral strategies from CBT have also been shown in research to be effective as a standalone depression treatment, known as Behavioral Activation (BA). These techniques can help you build motivation to engage in hobbies and activities that you used to enjoy but feel currently feel too depressed to do.
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is another type of Cognitive behavioral therapy that we provide in Boulder, CO. ACT focuses on helping you understand you true values and understand what is meaningful to your. Based on your deeply held, chosen values, the psychologist at Foothills CBT help you regain your life worth living and help you feel better instead of feeling trapped by depression.
While we don’t prescribe medication, the psychologists at Foothills CBT in Boulder, CO frequently coordinate care with psychiatrists and other prescribers. If you would like to consider medication for depression we can provide referrals if you might be interested in learning more about adding medication to your approach to treatment for depression.
The psychologists at Foothills CBT have advanced training in diagnosing and treating depression. Our therapists in Boulder, CO can provide you with therapy for depression that works to get you back to doing more of what matters to you.