Depression, chronic pain, an illness affects far more than meets the eye. The daily effort of managing symptoms, medical appointments, and limitations can sap away the already reduced energy, hope, and connection you have to start. Mood, sleep, appetite, and motivation as well as a loss of identity can also be issues. 

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Depression can show up as feelings of sadness, despair, sleep disturbances, apathy, hopelessness, thoughts of death or suicide, depressed mood and loss of interest, weight changes, and difficulties with concentration. It can exist alone, or alongside chronic illness or pain. In fact, in around 1/3 of people who have a significant or chronic illness (ie. cancer, diabetes, fibromyalgia, etc.) or chronic pain there are also symptoms of depression. Further, depression related to chronic conditions can relate both to the experience of the condition (ie. decreased mobility, increased pain, and social isolation), as well as to the treatment. It's as if the body and mind suffer in tandem - the pain, isolation, uncertainty, or emotional strain of managing the condition cycling into one another endlessly. 

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In conjunction with other options such as healthy diet, exercise, and perhaps medication, therapy can be highly effective in treating depression & chronic illness/ pain - together or separately. At Kayda Health, we use approaches such as CBT, ACT, EMDR, and mindfulness to help you manage emotional and physical pain and suffering, improve mood, and restore a sense of control and peace in your day to day. 

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Meet our team to see who can help with this (the below team members have a special focus on supporting grief, loss, and transitions):

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• Maryam Haghshenas, RCC, RSW

• Fan Ye, RCC

• Nafiseh Ghodoosi, RCC