Jamie Kennedy, Ph.D.
Specialized Therapy for Depression in Atlanta
We all feel sad sometimes. It's a natural response to losing someone or something important to us, and it signals to others that we need support. But sadness can become excessive, prolonged, and unhelpful, and maybe this has happened to you. Maybe you've noticed that you're stuck feeling hopeless, blue, and/or disinterested. Experiencing clinical depression is relatively common, as more than 1 in 5 people meet criteria for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) at some point in their life. Specialized therapy exists for depression and can help you get unstuck and start moving forward.
“In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer”
- Albert Camus
CBT for Depression
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an empirically-supported treatment for depression. It will help you identify and reduce behaviors that perpetuate or exacerbate your depression (e.g., staying in bed all day), and also identify and increase behaviors that create pleasant feelings and/or a sense of personal competence. Treatment also focuses on teaching you how to relate to your thoughts in new ways, so they become less self-critical and depressing and more flexible and helpful.
ACT for Depression
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a form of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) that aims to increase our psychological flexibility. When we're depressed we often respond to sadness or grief in ways that perpetuate the feeling instead of letting it naturally pass. We may, for example, ruminate about why things turned out the way that they did instead of accepting things as they are. We may also do things that feel good in the moment, but prevent us from doing what's important to us. Or, we may do what others think we "should" do and ignore what we care about. Through mindfulness and acceptance skills, ACT will help you notice when you're doing these unhelpful, yet understandable behaviors and shift to responding in ways that lift the depression - and help you move towards the life you want to live.
