Depression

If you feel lost, alone, and endure persistent sadness, you may be suffering from depression. But there is hope in treatment. At The Modalities Group in Bowie, Maryland, the skilled mental health team tailors treatment plans based on your unique diagnosis, working to alleviate your symptoms while offering functional ways to cope. If you’re seeking help for your depression, call the office today or use the convenient online booking tool.

What is depression?

Depression is a mood disorder characterized by overwhelming sadness that persists no matter what you do. Often referred to as major depressive disorder or clinical depression, this condition leads to a loss of interest in life with psychological and physical problems. Even day-to-day activities can get too hard to manage as the feeling of hopelessness takes over your life.

What causes depression?

There are many different factors that can contribute to depression. For some, depression is a simple imbalance in their body chemistry, where the mood-stabilizing neurotransmitters in the brain don’t work correctly. For others, depression can be triggered by a life event that inflicts personal trauma. Certain patients may have a genetic predisposition to depression because the condition tends to run in families.

There are specific risk factors for this mood disorder, including:

• Low-self-esteem
• Pessimism
• Traumatic events
• Chronic anxiety
• Being in an unsupported group
• History of eating disorders
• Serious physical illness
• Childhood trauma

Any 1 of these life problems can trigger depression.

How is depression treated?

There are several approaches to treating clinical depression. The team at The Modalities Group creates plans based on the patient themselves, factoring in their lifestyle and other significant elements. The goal is to find ways to replace negative feelings and unproductive thought patterns with more valuable considerations. This is often accomplished with cognitive-behavioral therapy.

What is cognitive-behavioral therapy?

Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a psychotherapeutic treatment that shows patients how thoughts and feelings affect actions. With therapy, you learn how to transform destructive thoughts into more realistic and positive ones. Thoughts play a strong role in behavior, and consistent negative thoughts risk sabotaging feelings of hope and joy. 

Cognitive-behavioral therapy teaches that these negative thoughts have little to no place in a productive life. You learn ways to move past that negativity in real-world situations, even when you can’t control the outcome. The Modalities Group combines cognitive therapy with interpersonal and problem-solving approaches to put you on the road to recovery and back toward hope and joy.

Call the office or book an appointment online today to start your journey.