Depression, a form of mental health issue can affect different aspects of your life. One of those aspects is your relationships with people around you. Your emotional well-being is intricately related to your relationship dynamics. Depression can put you through emotional turmoil, making it hard for you to express yourself to those who are close to you.
Naturally over time you might start isolating yourself leading to issues in your personal and professional relationships. However, do remember that there is always hope. With proper treatment you can rebuild those relationships. Having people who understand you can be your anchor on your journey of healing.
Come let’s learn about the symptoms of depression, how it affects relationships and ways you can stop depression from taking over your life. Hopefully it will help you in your journey. For compassionate Psychotherapy in New York City, contact psychotherapist Gita Sawhney at her practice GS Mental Health & Wellness in NYC, Manhattan.
Depression symptoms - its toll on your emotions
Depression might make you feel emotionally overwhelmed. Here is how depression affects your emotional as well as physical well- being
- Depression often brings along persistent feelings of sadness, snatching away your interest from everything that you used to enjoy.
- This mental health issue can make you feel emotionally numb. So you have a hard time feeling any joy or pleasure.
- Depression can affect your concentration and fill your mind with thoughts of self-criticism and pessimism.
- This mental health issue can make you feel very fatigued and lethargic all the time. So you have a hard time performing daily activities.
- Depression can alter your sleep patterns, so you end up developing either hypersomnia( excessive sleeping) or insomnia( lack of sleep).
- You can notice severe changes in your appetite too in depression. So you either eat too little or too much.
- Depression can make you withdraw yourself from social activities, leading to feelings of loneliness.
- Impersonal relationships can suffer heavily impacting both personal and professional connections in your life.
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For compassionate mental health services in NYC, contact psychotherapist Gita Sawhney at her practice GS Mental Health & Wellness in New York, Manhattan.
How Depression Affects Relationships
Depression can exert a profound influence on your relationships with others. The feelings of sadness, hopelessness and low self-esteem might create a barrier between you and your capacity to form healthy connections.
To maintain personal relationships one does have to invest emotionally and put in efforts. The emotional fatigue and numbness caused by depression can make you easily irritable. So you might end up socially withdrawing yourself, since expressing your complex mental state can be a challenging task for you. This in turn, might make you feel even more isolated and separated from the rest of the world.
Since depression can drain all the joy and color out of life, you might not find any joy in performing different activities with your loved one. This can lead to emotional distance between you two, straining communication and understanding. This finally again triggers feelings of frustration and helplessness in you.
In the professional field depression can make it hard for you to focus on any task. So you might struggle to make decisions and meet deadlines. So your performance at the workplace can suffer declining overall workplace satisfaction. Your colleagues may start considering your unreliable impact on your professional relations.
With compassion, you can mend your relationships and reconnect with people in both your personal and professional sphere. Read on to know about the ways you can prevent depression from severely affecting your life.
Looking for a safe space to express yourself? Contact psychotherapist Gita Sawhney for mental health counseling in NYC, at her practice GS Mental Health & Wellness in New York, Manhattan.
Ways to navigate relationship challenges in depression
If you are worried and stressed about your relationships, then you can approach mental health experts to keep yourself calm. There are ways that you can easily take to rebuild your relationships.
Build communications strategy
Try to maintain honest and open communication with your loved ones in a personal relationship. This will create a safe space for both the people in the relationship allowing open expression of feelings and concerns. This will help both of you understand each other and prevent misunderstandings that can be caused by depressive symptoms.
Create support systems
Creating a sense of mutual support and empathy, can make you and loved ones realize that depression is a shared challenge. So naturally this understanding will cultivate a supportive environment where everybody is ready to actively listen and validate each other’s feelings. This collaborative effort will strengthen your bond with your loved ones.
Set realistic expectations
Do have realistic expectations from your relationships. Depression can impact your daily functioning and it’s necessary to acknowledge these challenges. Having realistic expectations can help prevent frustration and disappointment. So your relationship becomes more compassionate.
Self care for both parties in the relationship
Both the parties in the relationship need to practice self-care. Taking care of individual well- being can help you build healthier relationships. Do try to perform activities that can promote your mental and emotional well-being. Activities such as daily exercise, engaging in hobbies, etc, can help.
Seek professional help
The most important step to complete your healing journey is to seek professional help. A mental health professional can provide you with valuable insights and use medical therapy methods to help you navigate the relationship challenges created by depression. Such a tailored and structured approach can help both the parties in their relationship build resilience.
Are you searching for compassionate mental health services in nyc? Contact psychotherapist Gita Sawhney at her practice GS Mental Health & Wellness in New York, Manhattan.
Therapy approaches used by professionals to deal with relationship issues
Several evidence-based approaches are used by mental health providers to help you deal with issues in relationships due to depression.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
CBT is used by therapists to help you identify and modify negative thought patterns that might be affecting your relationships. Your therapist will guide you to recognize your distorted beliefs about yourself replacing it with healthier perspectives. By exploring your emotions and communication patterns you can learn about constructive interactions. So naturally overtime you will be able to rekindle your connection with your loved ones.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Mental health providers use ACT to address relationship issues in depression by encouraging you to openly accept your thoughts and feelings. With this therapy you can work on your pattern of judging yourself to build a more compassionate self-view. ACT will help you communicate with your loved ones more effectively, manage conflict and build connections based on shared values.
Interpersonal Therapy
IPT is an abbreviation for Interpersonal Therapy, which is a short-term and structured type of psychotherapy that aims to improve interpersonal relationships and deal with psychological distress caused by interpersonal issues. Depression and relationship problems are among the mental health conditions targeted by IPT, where it enables individuals in recognizing and changing dysfunctional patterns in their relationships.
FAQs
Q) Can depression affect your relationships?
Depression can negatively impact both your personal and professional relationships. In personal relationships it can weaken your bond with your loved ones. In professional relationships it can reduce your productivity leading to work dissatisfaction.
Q) How can the effect of depression on relationships be controlled?
You can prevent depression from affecting your relationships through open communication, mutual support and seeking professional help.
Q) What treatment methods do professionals use to treat relationship issues caused by depression?
Mental health providers use a variety of evidence-based therapy approaches such as Interpersonal therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, etc, to help you rebuild both your personal and professional relationships.
Wrapping things up!
So are you now prepared to build your relationships back again? Take the leap of courage and soon you will find yourself in a supportive environment. Reach out and seek the help you truly need. For compassionate mental therapy in nyc, you can contact psychotherapist Gita Sawhney at her practice GS Mental Health & Wellness in New York, Manhattan.
