The Consulting Corner #1: Depression

As more and more student work comes in I realize how very important it is for us all to share our experience with clients - tips, methods and whatever else comes to mind. The things that I share in this column will be directly related to student work and client work they have done and are posted as a response to that work. If you would like to comment on my posts or to add some information of your own please feel free to press "reply". We have a wonderful group of students here - many are already practitioners of some type - we have the potential to help each other out in so many ways.

Tip #1: Clients and Depression

While depression is a very real and often scary or harmful condition, many clients are overly fearful of their depressions and can be calmed (or even healed in some cases) by seeing that depression can be normal, effective and healthy. Remind clients that feeling bad or being depressed is normal. We are like the seasons around us. We have a winter, spring, summer and fall. Melancholics experience the winter/fall more than spring and summer and that is OK. That is normal and fine for her. She does not have to feel guilty or depressed about being depressed now and then. Of course, it is good to make sure depression is not running your life and shutting you down, but it is also healthy to let her know that sometimes it is OK to just lie in bed all day or feel bad. Sometimes ALLOWING yourself to fully experience the emotion and the pain and the fear will get rid of it faster. By suppressing it or feeling wrong about having it…sometimes it lingers because it cannot be fully resolved.