Depression is a low mood that can last a long time or keep returning, affecting your everyday life.

Depression is more than simply feeling unhappy or fed up for a few days. Most people go through periods of feeling down, but when you’re depressed you feel persistently sad for weeks or months, rather than just a few days.

If you experience milder depression, you might have low mood but still be able to carry on with your daily life. However, things may feel harder and less worthwhile. If you have more severe depression, you might find day-to-day life much more difficult. You may also experience suicidal feelings.

Depression affects people in different ways and can cause a wide variety of symptoms. They range from lasting feelings of unhappiness and hopelessness, to losing interest in the things you used to enjoy, and feeling very tearful. There can be physical symptoms too, such as feeling constantly tired, sleeping badly, having no appetite or sex drive, and various aches and pains.

Counselling helps people understand the beliefs, feelings, and thoughts that contribute to their depression. It helps people to identify the problems and the trigger to their depression. 

Counselling also directs people to re-establishing sources of pleasure in life and helps them regain a sense of control. And it helps people develop effective coping strategies to relieve, or prevent future episodes.