Depression

What is depression?

Depression is a mood disorder in which you experience persistent feelings of extreme sadness and a loss of interest in things and people around you. 

It affects every aspect of your life, including the way you think, feel, and behave, and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems.

Clinical depression isn’t just feeling a little blue and you can’t just snap out of it. If you suffer from clinical depression, you need help from a mental health professional to understand and work through this disorder. 

What are the symptoms of depression?

If you have clinical depression, you feel unhappy for no apparent reason. This persistent sadness leads to a decline in your interpersonal relationships, professional career, and personal health. 

In addition to continuous feelings of sadness, you may also experience:

• Feelings of emptiness 
  
• Hopelessness
  
• Angry outbursts
  
• Irritability
  
• Inability to regulate emotions
  
• Loss of interest in things that once excited you
  
• Insomnia or disturbed sleep
  
• Fatigue
  
• Anxiety
  
• Reduced appetite
  
• Feelings of guilt and worthlessness
  
• Thoughts of death or suicide
  

Clinically depressed people don’t all feel the same things and the severity of your symptoms depends on your particular condition. 

How do you treat depression?

Depression is treatable, no matter how severe your case may seem. At Zen Releaf, the team uses a customized combination of talk therapy and medication to get your life back on track.

The practice offers cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a type of talk therapy, to address depression in patients. 

During your CBT sessions, you learn to identify negative thought patterns and replace them with healthier ones. This helps to change your general attitude toward life, which causes positive changes in your behavior. 

With practice, your outlook and behavioral habits become more positive and you can ease your depression. 

In addition to talk therapy, the practice is a licensed provider of medical marijuana, which can help relieve your symptoms as you and your therapist work through your depression. 

Cannabis helps restore naturally produced chemical compounds in your brain called endocannabinoids. In controlled doses, the plant helps stabilize your mood so you can gain all the benefits of your talk therapy. 

Always follow your doctor’s instructions when you consume marijuana to treat your depression as its effects vary from patient to patient. 

Don’t continue to suffer from unexplained sadness. Call the office or use the online scheduling tool to make an appointment and start depression treatment today.