Depression Therapy in Oakland
Is Depression Making You Feel Disengaged & Ineffective?
Life can become unbearable when we feel helpless and hopeless. Everyday tasks—like getting out of bed, going to work, and navigating daily challenges—get harder as energy decreases and exhaustion sets in. And our relationships, engagements, and other outlets that were once a source of joy and meaning suddenly feel burdensome.
Depression can be experienced in a variety of ways. It often presents as mood changes, lack of motivation, an inability to experience pleasure, fits of crying, and a general sense of demoralization. Sometimes a person can feel foggy, struggling with attention and concentration, indecision, or challenges with functioning. Physical symptoms can develop too, including headaches, sleep issues, fatigue, heaviness, GI distress, and the feeling that you’re slogging through the day.
This often impacts your relationships and your ability to plan for the future as you struggle to imagine ever feeling better. It’s common for such negative feelings to get turned inward, resulting in anger, self-criticism, and a lingering sense of guilt that you’re doing it all wrong.
If you experience these symptoms or any other symptoms of depression, it is not a sign of weakness to seek out support. In fact, the supportive, objective guidance of a therapist may be exactly what’s needed for you to make room for hope and forward momentum in your life.
Together, we can identify and resolve the root causes of your depression.
Send Me A Message!
There Is A Reason For Your Suffering
Depression is an understandable and not uncommon response to the challenges of navigating life’s difficult periods. Unfortunately, we live in a culture that doesn’t normalize or validate this kind of pain, often leading us to believe that something is wrong with us rather than with our circumstances. It’s also true that we are exposed to profound human suffering on a daily basis through the news and social media, which can intensify feelings of overwhelm and helplessness.
Amid all the noise, there isn’t a lot of room to slow down, take a step back, and investigate what’s happening beneath the surface. Instead, we’re just expected to soldier on and tolerate the pain, prioritizing productivity and individualism over healing and connection. As life becomes increasingly difficult to manage and the suffering leads to more isolation, a feeling of shame can develop.
There is nothing wrong with seeking therapy—and in fact, it’s one of the best treatments for feelings of hopelessness and depression. As you explore and uncover the source of your obstacles in counseling, you can process tough experiences and emotions in a way that relieves your pain.
What To Expect In Therapy For Depression
I understand that you may be coming to therapy with decreased energy, motivation, and a capacity for hope, so early sessions will focus on reducing surface-level depression symptoms. In addition to challenging unhelpful narratives and identifying adaptive mindset shifts, we will determine concrete actions you can take to support your wellbeing.
Once your symptoms feel more manageable, we can then transition the treatment focus to the root causes of your depression so you can achieve lasting recovery. This exploration may involve processing early trauma, navigating existential concerns, or identifying a mismatch between your lived experiences and your values. A big part of what we do in therapy is looking for unconscious blocks or barriers to your healing that we will address by putting words to your experience of depression and creating new patterns that break the cycle of hopelessness and despair.
My Approach
As a psychodynamic and EMDR therapist, I don’t believe in quick fixes but rather focused, intentional counseling that generates new levels of self-awareness. Having experienced some of the same issues my clients bring to therapy, I know that facilitating meaningful connection is the best way of overcoming the loneliness and disengagement brought on by depression.
Using the therapist-client relationship itself, my goal is to facilitate relational healing so that you can feel greater safety, security, and trust with yourself and others. I also want therapy to be a chance for you to rediscover the sense of meaning and purpose depression may have taken away.
By slowing down and focusing on what’s true in the moment, we don’t disregard what happened in the past; instead, we will develop an understanding of how those past experiences are affecting the here and now in an effort to foster greater self-compassion.
You can feel better—and with the right treatment approach, it’s possible to experience real and lasting relief from depression symptoms. Whether healing for you looks like better functioning, higher self-esteem, healthier boundaries, improved communication and assertiveness, or a deeper sense of self-knowledge, you can achieve freedom from depression through therapy.
Common Questions About Counseling For Depression…
My friends and family think depression is just a phase—shouldn’t I rely on them instead of a therapist to get support?
While it’s essential to have a strong support system, especially as you work through difficult emotions and experiences, friends and family members are not the same as a professional, objective clinician whose job is to center you in the healing process.
Your depression has a root cause, and in our work together, we can uncover its origins so you can experience long-term relief. Psychodynamic counseling focuses on cultivating life-changing insights via the therapist-client connection so that you can meaningfully address and modify the patterns beneath your depression once and for all.
I have been to therapy for depression in the past but didn’t get the results I was looking for—how will treatment with you be different?
I am sorry you’ve had a therapy experience you felt was ineffective. In our work together, it’s important for me to learn about and understand the aspects of treatment that have not worked for you in the past. My psychodynamic approach is designed to be highly collaborative, which means I welcome feedback on how treatment is going for you; it is important to pivot or modify the treatment when indicated so that I can best support you.
I also offer a no-cost consultation to give prospective clients an idea of how I work. Feel free to schedule a call with me so I can answer any questions you may have about my approach and its efficacy.
Will I have to go on medication in order to feel better?
I do not believe medication is a requirement for depression treatment, and I am not licensed to prescribe. If, through our work together, you determine that medication is something you’d like to pursue, then I can connect you with a trusted prescriber who can help.
I work with some individuals in counseling who benefit from medication to manage symptoms of depression, but there are also plenty of clients who find relief with therapy alone. The choice to go on medication is a very personal decision, and I will do my best to ensure that you are sufficiently informed to make that decision with as much clarity as possible.
Help & Hope Are
Available To You
Brooke Pomerantz takes a psychodynamic approach in therapy for depression to nurture self-exploration, self-compassion, and self-understanding. Fill out the contact form for more information.
Recent Posts
When You’re Holding It Together but Falling Apart Inside
You have the house, the relationship, the job people say they'd kill for....