Many who find their way to this page are lost in depression and believe there is no easy way out, including effective counselling for depression. Their GP has not been able to help. Or anybody else for that matter.  Is this true for you?

My message to you is one of Hope

Your depression is easier to understand than you could ever have imagined and depression recovery is there waiting for you.  I am the Depression Optimist. Depression Recovery with effective counselling for depression is my specialty.

I have a track record of success – to help you be feeling better and then staying better.

• Those who are really depressed will be profoundly lacking in energy and motivation and often have a terrible sense of being trapped in their thoughts and emotions without any hope of escape
• They will be aware of bad sleeping and probably that they are dreaming a lot, that they are introspecting and ruminating too much and finding that they are blaming themselves for their problems
• They will be aware of collapsing self esteem and self confidence and against their better judgement will be isolating themselves from friends and society and often failing to adequately do the basic tasks.

If the answer is yes for you or family members and friends then you will know something of what an awful experience it is to be depressed.

Listen to this video talk and then read more.

What is going on?

People sink into a negative, hopeless state when their innate physical or emotional needs are not being met and, instead of dealing with this situation, they begin to worry about it. They therefore begin to misuse their imagination.

All depressed people worry

This increases the amount of dreaming they do, upsetting the balance between slow-wave , recuperative sleep and dream sleep. Consequently they start to develop an imbalance between energy burning dream sleep and refreshing slow-wave sleep. Soon they start to wake up feeling tired and unmotivated. This makes them worry even more as they feel that “something is wrong with me”.

All strong emotions focus and lock attention and attention stays focused on all the bad things that seem to be happening, whether real or illusory. Every little thing we worry about and do not resolve that day is translated into a bad dream the next night. All of these worries have to be worked through in extended and intense periods of dream activity in REM sleep as the brain attempts to rebalance  arousal levels. This upsets the relationship between slow-wave sleep and REM sleep.

And the most important thing

You will realise that clinical depression is not a mental illness but the normal response to a difficult situation which then spirals out of control.

After all if you cut your finger – well yes, you would need to get the wound bandaged. But you would know that the bleeding was healthy. You would only really worry if you cut yourself and there was no blood. So it is with depression. It is the natural response to a difficult set of circumstances that then unravels and gets worse.

It also means there are almost always better solutions than medication.

Depression – What the experts say

There is still a quite breathtaking level of ignorance about what actually is the cause of this new epidemic. It follows from this that the treatments offered and self help advice available, though often sensible as far as they go, often falls short of what is really needed.

It need not be like this. There is a credible and plausible explanation of what causes the brain to manufacture depressive feelings and even more important, there is a clear route back to emotional health.

The half truths told in support of medications by the drug companies and then peddled ignorantly by many GP’s is one of the great scandals of our times.

Depression – the Human Givens approach

The understanding and treatment of depression is perhaps the great practical contribution of the Human Givens approach to the treatment of mental illness.

Human Givens is UK based and integrates best counselling practice with the latest scientific understandings.

The main Human Given’s insights and recommended treatments on depression are the subject of this part of the website.

I have worked with these insights for many years now.

They more than make sense – they are a route out of serious depression.

I know this by the help given to scores of very depressed clients. The large majority have got their lives back with joy and motivation returning.