when you feel disconnected and alone

Odilon Redon, “Day (Le Jour)”, 1891

Therapy for Depression in San Francisco

Depression is more than sadness. It can feel like moving through thick fog, or as if the color has drained out of life. Some mornings, getting out of bed may feel impossible. You may go through the motions of work or relationships while feeling disconnected inside. Pleasure, motivation, and hope can all feel out of reach.

Depression affects not just how you feel, but how you think, how you see yourself, and how you relate to others. It can convince you that change isn’t possible. Therapy offers a place to challenge that belief — to be taken seriously, to be understood, and to begin finding a way forward.

I offer therapy for depression in San Francisco that is thoughtful, serious, and committed to both immediate relief and lasting change.

How Depression Shows Up

People experience depression differently. It might look like:

  • Persistent sadness or emptiness

  • Loss of interest in things that once brought joy

  • Exhaustion, difficulty concentrating, or feeling slowed down

  • Guilt, shame, or harsh self-criticism

  • Irritability or anger that feels out of proportion

  • Withdrawal from relationships and isolation

  • Thoughts of death or of not wanting to live

Whatever form it takes, depression narrows your world and makes life feel smaller. Therapy works to widen it again.

How Therapy Helps with Depression

Immediate support
Simply naming what you’ve been holding can bring relief. In early sessions, therapy often provides a steadier footing — a place to set down some of what feels unbearable.

Understanding the roots
Depression rarely comes out of nowhere. It can be linked to unresolved grief, early experiences of loss or neglect, unspoken anger, or the strain of carrying roles and expectations that don’t fit. Sometimes, what feels like depression is a way the mind protects itself — numbing aliveness because it once felt too dangerous, shutting things down because feeling too much seemed unbearable. Therapy helps uncover these roots so depression is not just endured but understood.

Changing how you relate to yourself
Depression often feeds on self-criticism: the voice that says you’re not enough. In therapy, you begin to notice that voice, question it, and relate to yourself differently. Clients often describe developing a new capacity for self-compassion.

Lasting transformation
With time, therapy can shift not only your mood, but how you see yourself and live your life. Many clients find they feel more alive, more connected, and better able to meet life’s inevitable challenges without collapsing into despair.

My Approach to Therapy for Depression

I don’t treat depression as a set of symptoms to “fix.” I understand it as an experience that deserves depth, patience, and human contact. I aim to provide:

  • Attentive presence: You don’t have to face depression alone.

  • Relational focus: Healing grows in the context of a genuine therapeutic relationship.

  • Depth of exploration: We look not only at how you feel now, but at how your past, your relationships, and your inner world shape your experience.

When the low, heavy sky weighs like a lid
On the groaning spirit, victim of long discontent,
And from the all-encircling horizon
Spreads over us a dark day more sorrowful than night.

Charles Baudelaire, “Spleen” (Les Fleurs du mal, 1861)

Common Questions

Do I need medication, or therapy, or both?


Some people benefit from a combination of therapy and medication; others find therapy alone sufficient. I support you in making choices that feel right for your situation, and we collaborate with prescribing doctors when needed.

What if I’ve tried therapy before and it didn’t help?


Not every therapy or therapist is the right fit. A depth-oriented approach offers something different: it goes beyond surface solutions to address the underlying struggles that keep depression in place.

How long does it take?


There is no set timeline. For some, a few months bring meaningful relief. For others, longer-term therapy allows for deeper transformation and more lasting change.

Therapy for Depression in San Francisco

Depression can make you feel like nothing will help. Reaching out for therapy is a way of pushing back against that belief — a first step toward change.

I take depression seriously, and provide a space where your suffering can be understood and where genuine change is possible.

Getting Started

Contact me today to schedule a consultation and learn more about therapy for depression in San Francisco.