DEPRESSION

The fast pace of today’s society and the expectations of the modern world can often cause us to ignore, deny and suppress our emotions. We burythem deeper within ourselves in an attempt to keep up. In doing so the deepest part of ourselves can become buried so deep that we can often lose the connection to what makes us feel truly happy and fulfilled. It is no wonder that people have turned to pharmaceutical solutions in order to cope. However, despite providing a quick relief, pharmaceutical treatments are only a “band aid” solution and work only to temporarily mask the symptoms of a deeper underlying cause.

Our human emotions provide us with a vital and necessary feedback system. This feedback system enables us to regulate and control our internal thoughts, reactions and behaviour in relation to the external world. It enables us to maintain balance and harmony within ourselves,ifwe allow it to.Our feelings and emotions are our connection with our world. They communicate with us, telling us when something is wrong, when we need to act or if we need to change. Emotions that have been suppressed, unacknowledged and ignored for a long time will inevitably come up for us to acknowledge, validate and address them at some point. Often a stressful life event will encourage them to surface, however at this point this is often when people reach out for pharmaceutical relief to suppress the discomfort. This may not be entirely pleasant or even practical at the time, however, the best thing to do is to allow for feelings in the best way you can and listen to them. Feelings are there to be felt and the more you suppress them, the louder they become in order to be heard and understood.

Feelings point us toward clues as to where healing needs to be done. They are signals and messages that tell us something is wrong, that we need to change what we are doing and do something about it. They arise for us to resolve them so that we can grow and move forward in a new direction with new wisdom and new knowledge. Strong emotions are opportunities for growth and fuel for development. If we do not make time to acknowledge and address them or if we continue to ignore them, we can become very depressed.

As more and more emotions continue to be ignored and suppressed, they begin to accumulate causing the internal pressure to build. Eventually the pressure from so many stored emotions can become too much to withstand causing people to experience emotional overwhelm, extreme distress, and depression. This can place enormous amounts of stress on people and their relationships.
The suppressed emotions can often arise during somesort of life crisis such as a relationship break up or the loss of a job or the death of a loved one. The emotions are unable to be held down any longer so they come up all at once in an attempt to be heard and acknowledged.

Everyone has had different life experiences and some people are better at managing their emotions than others. Some are unaware they’ve been carrying around these emotions or have been pushing them down. They’ve done it for so long it has become a way of surviving and getting by. Often it can take some sort of life crisis before a person is forced to face these deep feelings and heal what needs to be healed. Here at Harmony Counselling Services we help you to identify, acknowledge and understand the emotionsthat have been keeping you depressed.

We strive to provide a safe, supportive and nurturing environment for you to let go of any painful emotions that are preventing you from living a happy and fulfilling life.We are here to support you so that you feel heard and understood.We understand that some people have been carrying around pain for so long and have pushed their feelings down so deep that it has become a way of living and habit to do so.Our approach guides you having compassion, love and understanding for yourself, helping to heal those vulnerable parts of you.

It is easy to become reliant upon medication as a source of comfort and security. However, this can get you stuck further in a negative cycle of dependence where you become afraid to stop taking medication. The longer you are on medication prevents you from ultimately ever addressing the real cause of your underlying emotions, the key to where true healing and permanent change reside.

It can be very beneficial and very comforting to discuss your issues with a counsellor. Sometimes all that is needed is an empathetic, caring and objective listener to help you identify or clarify what needs to be changed in order to move forward. Talking with a counsellor is a great way to vent emotions and have someone who makes you feel heard, supported and understood. Our counselling methods help you to become more self-aware of the thought patterns that are creating your depression. We will help you to eliminate limiting self-beliefs and to create more empowering ones so you can become the happiest person you can. Our counselling methods are designed to get you back in touch with what gives your life meaning and what makes you feel truly happy and fulfilled in life.