Dr Nisha Khanna, an eminent senior psychologist and leading marriage counsellor
Depression and Anxiety are predominant mental health conditions that disrupt individuals' feelings, emotions, and moods, subsequently influencing their thoughts and behaviors. Depression is a continuous sad feeling related to their past, and Anxiety is constant worry related to their future, which can be mild, moderate, or severe. Mild forms of disparity can be managed daily with some support and diversions from triggering factors, whereas moderate to severe conditions require proper professional support. Finding the underlying root cause is the primary focus in counselling, which helps choose the therapy and support desired by the clients. Common factors for Depression and Anxiety are briefly displayed: -
Unresolved Trauma or Abuse: Facing or witnessing traumatic situations such as life-threatening illness, injury, physical attack or assault, any form of abuse, accident, sudden death of a loved one, or unexpected personal or financial loss lead to depression or anxiety based on how the person perceives and builds their thinking pattern.
Negative Thought Pattern: The occurrence of negative thought patterns repeatedly is called Cognitive distortion, which ignites depression and anxiety at any stage of life. Excess fear of facing exams among students, anticipating negative consequences in relationship management, guilt, and negative emotions due to failure in business or career or interview are some commonly seen situations that induce depression or anxiety. Repetitive thoughts about negative feelings, experiences and their causes and consequences are called Rumination.
Relationship Issues: The divergence of personality traits among family members, particularly between spouses, parents, siblings, or children, can lead to enduring negative effects on their relationships. This strain may result in the release of stress hormones, potentially leading to depression or anxiety soon. Recent research shows couples or partners found with infidelity and couples who opt for divorce are increasing in number, which leads towards such mental health conditions.
Social Isolation: Challenging situations like overcoming shifts in school education or workplace, facing failures, migration due to unavoidable personal or financial setbacks, professional or social causes, and any form of tragedy can become tough at times to manage and develop Social Isolation that creates Anxiety or Depression.
Role of Counselling in Anxiety and Depression
Professional Counselling is a process of helping clients in the healing process with empathy in a non-judgmental approach, unveiling any sensitive scenarios like infidelity, past relationships before marriage, unwanted pregnancy, legal betrayal, personal or social barriers, and more. It's a safe space to discuss and find psychological support for overcoming clients' struggles.
One of the important objectives of counselling is to recognize the factors that trigger depression & anxiety and to help clients manage these triggers. For example, by ignoring external triggers - individuals experiencing climate anxiety may benefit from temporarily disengaging from news related to climate and environmental issues in one way.
Rumination and Negative belief patterns are addressed and changed positively with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), which is the most common therapy that therapists or psychologists often use to guide cognitive restructuring.
The focus is on self-awareness by educating clients on their psychological condition and creating insight into self-management techniques. This includes problem-solving strategies, building expressive communication with the spouse, primary caretaker, family member, or close friend, and developing self-assertive techniques like managing emotions like anger, worry, or sorrow.
During counselling through psychological assessments, clients have foresight and insight into their personality type, level of stress, anxiety or depression, core intelligence, learning styles, compatibility with spouse or partner and more, which lifts self-awareness and self-management aids in Emotional Intelligence (EI).
The 54321 method serves as a coping strategy for addressing feelings of anger and anxiety. This technique involves identifying and acknowledging five items in one's immediate environment, four objects to feel, three sounds to listen, two objects to smell, and one flavor to taste, as per your comfort. Engaging in this practice aids in soothing the senses and stabilizing one's emotional and physical state, functioning as an effective self-management tool.
A healthy diet aids in managing both physical and mental well-being to overcome depression and anxiety.
Happy Hormone secretion helps in various ways. Exercise increases happiness levels as it releases endorphins, the painkiller which reduces stress and pain and blocks discomfort. This helps in clearing depression and anxiety traces.
Relaxation techniques like breathing techniques, yoga, slow walking, and Tai chi help in mood stabilizer hormone secretion, and serotonin improves depression and anxiety.
Creative activities and mindful practices increase dopamine level naturally and decreases depression and anxiety. Journaling is a key tool to enhance and empower the growth mind-set.
Expressive journaling and Gratitude journaling are two forms of journaling in depression and anxiety management. Expressive journaling is to express situations, events, people or objects in words, which makes them focus on their inner thoughts and emotional experiences. Gratitude journaling is to write on positive events, interactions, situations and more. Seligman (2005) also supported the importance of gratitude activity through research to improve depression. Scheduling day activities with time management strategies creates a structure for each day, which makes a framework for thinking patterns and actions.
Avoiding and nullifying smoking, alcohol, and recreational drugs, over-the-Counter medicines help manage both physical and mental health in the long term. If there is a need for medication, consulting a professional psychiatrist is an ideal way to meet both physical and mental health needs.
A common flaw in thinking patterns builds false belief systems in humans. For instance, false beliefs like "I'm a failure person", "I'm too old to start a business", "I'm a bad student", "I'm not a good spouse," and "I'm unfit to be a good mother or father" - stops them from being happy and have self-worth with no proven source in reality. The belief system decides the person's perception towards their life, people and situation, which makes a huge difference in a person's behavior. Counselling aids in addressing the false belief system and helps in changing it to a positive belief system.
Lack of communication, miscommunication, misunderstanding, and listening to reply rather than understanding develop unhealthy relationship management in the workplace, in families among married couples, partners, friends, and between children and parents. Expressive communication is an expression of our feelings, likes, dislikes and comments, which builds empathy and understanding. Counsellors emphasize the importance of expressive communication and highlight it during therapy sessions.
Conclusion
The role of counselling is vast and plays an immense role in short-term and long-term depression and anxiety management. It helps in gaining insight into their feelings, emotions and behavior, developing coping strategies, creating a positive mindset, knowledge on seeking support from family and building their lifestyle more harmoniously. Counselling works best when lifestyle changes are made with social support and medication based on the intensity and need of the client's mental wellness.
About the Author
Dr Nisha Khanna is an eminent senior psychologist and leading marriage counsellor in India with having 22+ years of experience. A three-time TEDx speaker, she offers extensive counselling services related to relationship, marriage, family, stress, depression, and anxiety through online, telephonically, and face-to-face.
Contact Dr Nisha Khanna for professional counselling services and for more information visit her website at drnishakhanna.com or contact her clinic at 011- 40568033 and WhatsApp at +91-9818211474.
