Sadness

Sadness can separate you from the ones you love and the activities you enjoy. When sadness overtakes your life, it can come with other behaviors like sleeping too much or too little, negative thoughts, loss of energy, changes in physical appearance, and more. All of this can add up to an overall depressed state. Counseling can help by understand the source of your sadness, developing new positive behaviors, and reconnecting you to the people that matter. Below are more resources to help understand your sadness and depression. Contact Carlos Mendoza, MA, LPC, for more information. 

Biology

Depending on who you ask,  changes in your brain chemicals can lead to depression, or your sadness can change your brain chemicals (chicken or the egg). Whichever the case, your brain is involved. ASAP Science overviews some of the biological parts of depression. 

Thougths and Cognition

Depression comes with its negative thoughts. Research shows that changing some of your thoughts and cognitions can help you out of your depressed state, even changing the physical properties of your brain. Below is an overview of that process. Counseling can help you refine your thoughts.