Depression Counseling near Houston & Utah County

Living with depression can be debilitating and lonely. Often these feelings of lonely helplessness can be hard to explain and even harder to manage. Everyone experiences moments in their life where they feel low, sad, or moody it is when these feelings become intense and last for long periods of time, which is considered to be depression.

What Is Depression?

Depression (major depressive disorder) is a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act. Fortunately, it is also treatable. Depression causes feelings of sadness and/or a loss of interest in activities once enjoyed. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems and can decrease a person’s ability to function at work and at home (American psychiatric Association).

Therapy for Families offers you a safe depression counseling experience where you can put your emotions and struggles into words. Being free to share fears and vulnerabilities has a healing effect on people. You are better able to recognize and work through feelings that are keeping you down. Therapy For Families has been helping individuals make sense their situation. Often depression distorts your perceptions, leaving you to feel empty and inadequate. Let us help you find the courage and motivation to navigate through this dark time. If you are looking for a depression therapist in Houston, contact us today.

Depression Symptoms

  • Loss of interest and pleasure in activities you enjoyed before

  • Feeling sad, irritable, empty, or down

  • Restless, unable to sit still, or feeling slow

  • Feeling worthless

  • Feeling pessimistic or hopeless

  • Thoughts of death or harming oneself

  • Changes in appetite, weight loss, or weight gain

  • Change in sleep

  • Problems concentrating, thinking, remembering, or making decisions

  • Exhausted

  • Low or complete loss of interest in sexual activity

What Causes Depression?

Different things or a combination of things can cause depression. These may include changes affecting a person’s body (biological), a person’s genetic makeup, or changes in a person’s life (environmental). Change in brain chemistry, such as an imbalance in the chemicals that carry messages from one brain cell to another. Taking medicine, such as steroids or some blood pressure medicines.

  • Having a life-threatening illness or one that causes changes in lifestyle, such as cancer, heart attack, stroke, or diabetes

  • Substance abuse

  • Genetic factors – depression can and often does run in families

  • Environmental factors

  • Financial or legal problems

  • A promotion at work

  • Loss or threat of losing a job

  • Graduating from school

  • Retirement

  • Divorce

  • Moving

What is Bipolar Disorder?

Those with bipolar disorder experience recurring episodes of mania and depression. However, commonly, these individuals spend more time in their depressive state than manic. Therefore, bipolar disorder is found to be often diagnosed comorbidly (occuring together with) depression as well as other anxiety disorders in patients. Bipolar depression is associated with a greater risk of suicide as well as significant disruptions and impairments in the individual’s work, social, or personal life when compared to the manic state of bipolar disorder. Additionally, comorbid bipolar depression very commonly goes undiagnosed or misdiagnosed as unipolar depression due to the extended depressive episodes associated with bipolar disorder. Symptoms of comorbid depression and bipolar disorder are like those of many other mental illnesses which can make diagnosis challenging. Additionally, it can be an additional challenge as it is common for individuals with bipolar disorders to also suffer from other anxiety disorders, substance use disorders, eating disorders, or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD).

If not properly addressed and diagnosed as comorbid depression and bipolar disorder, the result of incorrect or inadequate treatment can have severe consequences for the patient. For example, comorbid bipolar depression has an earlier age of onset, more frequent and sever episodes, a great amount of time spent ill, potential for psychotic features such as delusions, hallucinations or anger attacks, and a higher risk of suicide than in standalone depression.

Episodes and symptoms associated with bipolar depression are also shown to cause significant impairment in the professional and personal life of the sufferer. There are affective, cognitive, physical, chemical, and neurological features of comorbid depression and bipolar disorder. The most common features of these include:

• Feelings of sadness, apathy, anhedonia, irritability, and anxiety

• Low self-esteem or negative view of self

• Trouble concentrating or frequent indecisiveness

• Tendency to self-blame

• Sudden or significant changes in sleep, appetite, weight, activity participation, energy levels.

• Sudden increase in substance use or abuse

Comorbid depression and bipolar disorder unfortunately is a life-long illness for those individuals diagnosed. However, treatment options have shown to help even in the most severe cases. Treatment is most effective for individuals when their treatment plan includes a combination of medication and various avenues of psychotherapy. Due to the high mortality and risk associated with these comorbid disorders, it is important that long-term, continuous treatment manage and overcome their symptoms.

How does Neurofeedback help with Depression?

The image above reflects the brain of someone who has clinical depression. The image indicates that the Theta waves in the left hemisphere is more significant than in the right hemisphere.

Studies have indicated that your mood is more positive when the left frontal area of the brain is more active than the right frontal area and that it is negatively affected when the right part of your brain is more active than the left. These findings can be directly applied by utilizing brain mapping and Neurofeedback as a treatment for depression. Targeting the “left” side of the brain and creating more optimal brain waves can positively change your mood.

Three controlled studies showed that mood was improved in college students when the left side of the brain was trained to be more active than the right by utilizing Neurofeedback (see our Research page for more).

Every half second in Neurofeedback treatment, your brain activity is compared to your goal for change. You get a signal/reward when you meet the goal.

In 20 neurofeedback sessions, with feedback every half second, you get 72,000 chances to learn. That’s a lot of repetition and practice. Brain science has shown that repetitive exercise of brain networks creates new pathways in the brain. Neurofeedback allows you to reshape your mood as you make these new pathways and learn to activate areas in the brain associated with mood.

Neurofeedback Individual Therapy in Houston in Kemah, The Woodland area, and Utah County

Our clinicians support and assist clients in connecting with their authentic selves and learn to be their best selves. Also, behaviors will be evaluated that are not currently working for them. We utilize the Neurofeedback therapy modality. The neurofeedback modality is research-based and shows success based on the particular issues and the client.

Biofeedback- Neurofeedback & Brain Mapping Options for You

Contact us for a free consultation to help assess how brain mapping and Neurofeedback can benefit you and help you to feel peace and happiness again! We provide Neurofeedback therapy services near Houston, and The Woodlands area. Our greatest desire at ADHD and Neurofeedback is to help each feel comfortable and hopeful about their therapy process.

Getting Started with EEG Neurofeedback (Second). (2019, January 22). W. W. Norton & Company.

(etting Started With EEG Neurofeedback, 2019)