Depression

While it’s common to feel sad from time to time, ongoing deep sadness could indicate that you are suffering from depression. As a psychodynamic psychotherapist and board-certified psychiatrist, Dr. Kleinman can help you make sense of your depression and help you develop a more balanced and resilient frame of mind.

What is depression?

Depression is the experience of feeling very down, depleted, defeated, pessimistic, or even just very “blah,” for several weeks or more. It may include periods of deep sadness, but not always. Some people may be diagnosed with depression after struggling for a few weeks. Others may only be diagnosed after struggling for many years.

What are the symptoms of depression?

Depression can include any of the following symptoms:

• Withdrawal from people or activities
• Loss of interest in things that used to be fun
• Having a down or “blah” mood
• Lack of interest in eating with weight loss
• Insomnia and restless sleep
• Overwhelming appetite with weight gain
• Sleeping too much or feeling mentally slowed down
• Overwhelming feelings of sadness or despair
• Feeling worthless in life
• Feeling helpless to make things better
• Feeling hopeless with thoughts of suicide

Depression can occur when you experience steadily increasing difficulty in one or more areas of your life, and you can’t find a way to make things better no matter what you do. This may coincide with a worsening feeling of inner tension or anxiety. Depression can feel like a shadow that changes the color of your entire existence. It can change how you see yourself so that you no longer recognize who you have become.

What may increase my risk of depression?

Depression may not have a clear cause, but factors that increase your risk include:

• Ongoing or recurrent negative stress
• Past trauma with a recent re-triggering incident
• Being bullied or harassed by family, friends, or coworkers
• Recurrent conflicts in close relationships
• Limited support network with few or no close friends
• Financial difficulty or strain
• Loss of work or income
• Loss of a loved one
• Divorce from a spouse or life partner
• Overwhelming medical problems
• Ongoing substance misuse
• Family history of depression

Depression can cause some people to turn to substances like alcohol or cannabis to help distract them from their unhappiness, and this can lead to substance misuse. While anyone can experience periodic low moods that get better on their own, people struggling with ongoing or excessive depression symptoms may need treatment to feel better.

How does Dr. Kleinman diagnose depression?

Dr. Kleinman may diagnose depression after an extensive discussion of your primary concerns, current symptoms, and general life circumstances. She conducts a full psychiatric evaluation which includes asking about any past symptoms, experiences with psychotherapy, and any past use of psychiatric medication. She also asks about your life history, family history, and lifestyle habits before customizing a personalized treatment plan that’s best suited to your needs.

How does Dr. Kleinman treat depression?

Dr. Kleinman offers Psychodynamic psychotherapy with or without medication management to treat depression and the worrisome symptoms associated with it. Psychodynamic psychotherapy is a talk therapy that meets once or twice per week. It can help you address depression by exploring the underlying forces that may be causing it in the first place. This includes exploring your sense of self and personal identity, reflecting on your experience of how the world works, and examining your patterns of interacting with and relating to other people. If needed, Dr. Kleinman can offer medication to help reduce symptoms that become too difficult for you to manage on your own.

Dr. Kleinman’s treatment approach can be particularly helpful for people with numerous depression episodes over their lifetime or depression episodes with recurrent suicidal thoughts. Her approach may help people who have had limited improvement after trying other courses of treatment or who have participated in PHP or IOP programs in the past but have not been able to sustain their improvement.

Dr. Kleinman tailors each treatment to your personalized needs and follows your progress closely to ensure meaningful improvement.