If you type the question ‘why do I feel depressed’ into google it will return thousands of results.  And they will all say something different.   It can be confusing and frustrating and no one seems to know the answers.  If you are feeling low you can feel very alone and misunderstood.  You might find that people close to you are fed up with your inability to ‘get your act together.’  You might not even have anyone close to you to talk to.  Maybe you never did.  Maybe they have drifted away.  Leaving you alone to get on with it.  That’s the thing about feeling low.  On the one hand you want to be on your own .  To pull the duvet over your head and shut the world out.  And on the other hand you desperately want someone to talk to.  Someone who won’t tell you what to do or to ‘pull yourself together.’  Someone who will listen to you and really hear your story and help you to understand yourself and the way you are feeling.  Someone who will help you to gain a new perspective and to work through your feelings so that you become able to make some changes in your life.

The ‘why’ question is really difficult.  There are so many theories about why you might feel low.  Some believe it’s a chemical imbalance in the brain and that antidepressant medication is the correct treatment.  It is important to talk to your GP about this.  Other people think that feeling low can be helped by the talking therapies.  Counselling and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) are widely recognised as therapies which can help people suffering from low mood.  These therapies can help to find the answers to the ‘why’ question.  Maybe you have some unresolved losses in your life.  Counselling could help you to work through these.  Maybe you see the world as an unfriendly and harsh place.  Maybe you have lots of negative thoughts which come to mind automatically when you are face with challenging situations.  CBT could help you to challenge these automatic thoughts.

If you think you would like some help with your low mood then please get in touch.  If I think I can help then I’ll let you know.  If I think I can’t then I’ll let you know too.