Discovering Hope Amidst Depression

If you’re in the slums of depression, everything can seem pretty bleak and you may struggle to see hope in your future. You may also find it hard to see a way out of your low mood or to imagine returning to your “normal self”.

Naturally you may find you attribute your suffering to your circumstances. For example, you may blame your low mood on the fact that you feel lost in your career or dislike your job. Or, you may link your chronic sadness to the fact that someone is sick in the family.

Whilst it’s normal in life to experience difficult feelings (e.g. sadness, anger, grief) in tough circumstances, a prolonged low mood may be a sign of depression. However, depression affects your perception of life events and situations, making it hard to see that things could ever improve.

Understanding a key feature of depression

This is because a key feature of depression is an experience of hopelessness. In fact, depression actually causes a bias in perception so that you tend to view “hopelessness” in situations and events. For example, you may consider your uni degree as pointless, and struggle to see how it will lead to a good job. Or, you may feel lonely and struggle to imagine you will ever find a partner.

This means that you may struggle to also see there is hope in recovering from depression. As such, many people avoid getting help for depression, seeing their situation as unsalvageable.

But there is hope in depression.

And there is hope in whatever difficulties you are facing – feeling lost in your career, recently broken up with the love of your life, disliking your job or conflict with a family member.

While depression makes it difficult to see hope in these situations, a psychologist can help you develop more hopeful perspectives. To inspire you, a psychologist may share stories of hope belonging to people who have faced similar hardship. They may also empower you to utilise your strengths to overcome your life struggles. A psychologist will also challenge the way you are viewing situations and events via a therapy called Cognitive-behavioural Therapy (CBT). This type of therapy also demonstrates how you may be reinforcing a sense of hopelessness via your behaviours. *Read more on depression treatment options in blog post – Depression Treatment: What’s is Involved?

At the end of therapy, you will feel more hopeful about life and your future. You will feel like your “old self” and experience joy again. Sure, you still may face difficult situations, but you will feel more optimistic and empowered in your ability to cope.

How can Peaceful Mind Psychology help?

Our team of warm and professional Melbourne psychologists are trained and experienced in helping individuals overcome depression and symptoms of depression. We are also skilled in treating anxiety and other difficulties connected to depression, such as relationship counselling, substance abuse, work stress, and grief and loss. If you would like some professional assistance contact us at Peaceful Mind Psychology.