‘Depression’ has a long history, and has come to be used as a colloquial term in everyday life - a sense of feeling ‘down’, ‘saddened’ or overall ‘melancholic’ about some particular event, circumstance, or chapter in life. The symptoms of depression may help us understand what is meant by this encompassing term - sadness, fear, anxiety, despair, an overall sense of helplessness and overwhelm.

In this short piece, we will look to explore how depression may be understood from a developmental frame, whilst briefly outlining some strategies for managing and overcoming depression.

Integrative Psychotherapy is a form of psychotherapy That embraces a multi-disciplinary, holistic, tailored approach that specifically caters to the needs of the individual. At its core, integrative psychotherapy begins with the subjective inquiry into one’s own lived world as the basis of understanding how to begin addressing the concerns one is facing.

The Window of Tolerance is a term coined by Daniel Siegel, describing a state of optimal arousal for daily and social functioning. As a model, it supports us in understanding the movements of our Autonomic Nervous System (ANS), and how we might build regulatory strategies to maintain optimal arousal.