Most people struggle with depression at some point in their lives.  You may feel depressed and/or irritable,  have trouble sleeping,  have little energy,  or may not be able to concentrate.  Depression may also affect your health, causing physical symptoms like body aches and pains.

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Sadness, feeling down, and having a loss of interest or pleasure in daily activities are familiar feelings for all of us. But if they persist and affect our lives substantially, the issue may be depression.

Depression may arise from life circumstances, trauma, genetics, drug and alchol issues, and other medical conditions.  Most people who are depressed respond to treatment.

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Anxiety may cause pervasive or specific symptoms including worry, muscle tension, nervousness, fear, and sleep disturbance.  You may feel these symptoms  are consuming you, impairing your functioning at work, home, and in relationships.  Coping alone with anxiety disorders may lead to depression and substance abuse.

Stress is the body's response to physical or emotional demands.  Emotional stress can play a role in causing depression or be a symptom of it.   A stressful situation can trigger feelings of depression, and these feelings can make it more difficult to deal with stress.  

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Stress can result from many personal, professional, and environmental causes.  The best way to cope with stress is by managing the stressors that are witching your control.

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Losing a family member, divorce, and moving are all major life changes that can cause stress.  Some lifestyle choices can also contribute to stress levels. This is especially true if they affect your overall health or if you become dependent on unhealthy coping mechanisms.  Other stressors that can lead to physical , emotional, and financial stress can be: fighting with your spouse or significant other, losing your job, major natural disasters, getting into a car accident.  

Both positive and negative significant life changes appear at the top of the stressful life events scale.  Are you surprised that getting married, buying a new home, moving to a place you desire, having your own family, starting a new career, and even retiring can make you fellow, anxious, fearful, and upset?  And of course, negative events like loss, divorce (desired or not), and severe or debilitatiing illness or injury can be exacerbating your distress.  There is real hope to cope with these transitions.

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Having some trouble landing that job you'd really live to have?  Not getting promoted in a timely manner ... feeling stuck or used?  Or perhaps you've been confused about the direction you'd like your life's work to take?  Are your working in a carer where you're not feeling gratified?  

Being the parent you want to be isn't easy.  From the very beginning, the crying baby can really wear on you.  The toddler years push your stamina, and as your child grows, new challenges arise, school and activity schedules can make your days and weeks seem frenzied, and the teen years roll in and you may find yourself faced with issues you weren't prepared for but you thought you were.  You may question your temper, your skills, your attention span, your patience, your ability to love and be loved.  And you may be thinking, "If I get this wrong, will my child be messed up?" 

The most challenging and emotional part of our lives are our interpersonal relationships.  These include relationships with family, friends, children, caretakers, co-workers, and even our community.  The ability to communicate effectively is essential.

Do you find yourself struggling to make good, solid, satisfying relationships with friends? Perhaps you're having trouble finding a partner, or you may be unhappy with your significant other?  Or maybe relationship problems with your parent or sibling leave you emotionally drained.  

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We all need healthy connections to feel good about being on Earth and feel good about ourselves.  It's probably one of the most important achievements of our lifetime.  If these aren't fulfilling, you can be in distress.

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Grieving is a painful but important part of living.  There's no manual for how to grieve loss or how long active grief lasts.  Losing a family member, divorce, and moving are all major life changes that can cause grief and stress.  

Eating disorders are a lot more common than you think.  National surveys estimate that 20 million women and 10 million men in America will have an eating disorder at some point in their lives.  If you find yourself preoccupied and obsessed with eating, you many have an eating disorder.  Common eating disorders include restrictive eating, abnormal calorie intake, food rituals, sleep problems, over exercise, and weight fluctuations.

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Exposure to any sort of trauma -- sexual abuse, rape, violent crime, car accident -- can result in symptoms of anxiety that include hypervigilance, flashbacks, and nightmares.  Coping without help is extremely challenging, and many people develop substance abuse problems because of the extreme stress.  Although not everyone who experiences trauma develops post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),  the emotional and psychological stress that follows the event can affect all aspects of life.

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