Depression & Low Mood

Depression Therapy | Psychologist in Maastricht | English & Greek

When life starts to feel heavier than it used to

There are times when life feels difficult, disappointing, exhausting, or simply not as enjoyable as it once was.

Sometimes this passes.

But sometimes the feeling lingers. You may notice that you have less energy, less motivation, less interest in the things you usually enjoy, or a growing sense that everything feels harder than it should.

You might feel sad, empty, numb, disconnected, irritable, overwhelmed, or simply unlike yourself.

You may still be going to work, answering messages, seeing friends, and doing everything you are supposed to do, while internally feeling very different from how things appear on the outside.

And sometimes, you may not even know exactly what is wrong.

Depression and low mood can look very different from person to person. Therapy can provide a space to understand what has changed, what may be keeping you stuck, and how you can gradually begin to reconnect with yourself and your life.

Does this sound familiar?

Depression isn't always experienced as sadness. For some people, it feels like heaviness or hopelessness. For others, it feels more like emptiness, numbness, exhaustion, irritability, or losing interest in things that used to matter.

You might find yourself:

feeling persistently low, sad, empty, or emotionally numb
losing interest in things you used to enjoy
finding it difficult to feel pleasure, even when something objectively “good” happens
feeling exhausted or as though everyday tasks require much more effort than they used to
struggling to motivate yourself to do things
withdrawing from friends, family, or activities
spending more time in bed or at home
finding yourself procrastinating or putting things off because everything feels overwhelming
struggling to concentrate or make decisions
feeling hopeless about the future
becoming increasingly critical of yourself
feeling guilty about things that may not actually be your responsibility
feeling disconnected from yourself or from other people
becoming more irritable or easily overwhelmed
experiencing changes in your sleep or appetite
wondering why you can't seem to “get yourself together”
continuing to function on the outside while feeling very different internally

You may also notice thoughts such as:

“What's the point?”
“I don't really care anymore.”
“I should be happier than I am.”
“I just want to feel like myself again.”

Sometimes the most difficult part is not knowing how to explain what you are feeling.

Understanding depression and low mood

Feeling low isn't always depression. Everyone experiences periods of sadness, disappointment, grief, frustration, or exhaustion. A difficult week or even a difficult period in your life does not automatically mean that you are depressed.

Low mood can be a natural response to circumstances such as relationship difficulties, stress, loss, loneliness, uncertainty, work problems, or major life changes. Depression is different in that the difficulties tend to be more persistent and can begin affecting different areas of your life. Depression may involve changes in mood, interest, motivation, thinking, behaviour, sleep, appetite, energy, and your ability to function.

There is also no single way depression has to feel.

You don't have to be crying all the time.

You don't have to stop functioning.

And you don't necessarily have to know why you feel this way.

Sometimes depression looks like sadness.

Sometimes it looks like nothing much at all.

When low mood starts taking over

A useful question isn't simply: “Am I sad?” It might instead be: “How much has this changed the way I experience and live my life?”

Low mood may be worth exploring when you notice that it:

has persisted rather than lifting naturally
is affecting your ability to work, study, socialise, or care for yourself
has reduced your interest in things that previously mattered to you
is making everyday tasks feel unusually difficult
is causing you to withdraw from other people
is affecting your sleep, appetite, energy, or concentration
has changed the way you see yourself or your future
leaves you feeling increasingly disconnected or hopeless
Depression can interfere with work, relationships, family life, and everyday functioning.

And sometimes the person who notices it last is the person experiencing it. You may simply think:

“I'm tired.”
“I'm just going through a phase.”
“I need to get my life together.”
“I'll feel better once this stressful period is over.”

Sometimes, however, the pattern has been going on for longer than you realise.

Depression can affect more than your mood

Depression is not only an emotional experience. It can affect the way you think, the way your body feels, the things you do, and the way you relate to other people.

Emotion

You may experience sadness, emptiness, numbness, hopelessness, guilt, shame, irritability, or a sense of emotional disconnection.

Thoughts

Your mind may become more focused on what is wrong, what you have failed to do, or why things are unlikely to improve.

Body

You may experience fatigue, changes in sleep or appetite, reduced energy, physical heaviness, or difficulty concentrating.

Behaviour

You may withdraw, become less active, stop doing things you usually enjoy, or find yourself putting things off because even small tasks feel overwhelming.

Relationships

You may isolate yourself, have less energy for other people, or feel that others don't understand what is happening.

These parts of the experience can reinforce one another.

When you feel exhausted, you may do less.

When you do less, you may have fewer opportunities for pleasure, connection, or achievement.

When those experiences decrease, your mood may become even lower.

And when your mood is lower, doing things can feel even harder.

This can create a cycle that is difficult to interrupt on your own.

The way depression can change how you see yourself

Depression doesn't only affect how you feel. It can also change the way you interpret yourself. You may start seeing yourself as:

lazy
weak
unproductive
a disappointment
behind everyone else
difficult to be around
incapable of changing
not good enough

These conclusions can feel like objective truths when you're depressed. But a thought can feel convincing without necessarily being an accurate reflection of who you are. Sometimes part of therapy involves creating enough distance from these conclusions to begin asking: “Is this how I actually see myself, or is this how I have learned to see myself when I am struggling?”

This can be particularly important when low mood is intertwined with longstanding patterns of self-criticism, perfectionism, shame, or low self-esteem.

How we can work with depression and low mood in therapy

There is no single explanation for depression, and there is no single path into or out of it. Our work would begin by understanding your particular experience. We might explore:

What has changed?
What feels different from how you were before?
What may have contributed?

Sometimes there is a clear event or period of change. Sometimes several things have accumulated over time. And sometimes there isn't an obvious explanation at all. Not knowing exactly why you feel depressed does not make the experience less real.

What happens when your mood drops? Do you withdraw? Stop doing things? Stay in bed? Become more self-critical? Avoid people? Lose structure? Overthink?
What has happened to your sources of connection and pleasure?
Which parts of your life used to give you energy, meaning, connection, or enjoyment and what has happened to them?
How do you speak to yourself?
What do you expect from yourself when you're struggling?
Are you compassionate towards yourself, or do you become even more demanding?
What beliefs might be underneath the low mood?

Sometimes depression is connected with deeper beliefs around worth, failure, rejection, responsibility, or being a burden.

Depending on your needs, we may draw from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Schema Therapy.

CBT can help us understand relationships between thoughts, emotions, behaviour, and mood, and identify patterns that may be contributing to or maintaining depression. NICE recommends CBT and behavioural activation among psychological treatment options for depression.
ACT can help you reconnect with what matters to you while learning to make room for difficult internal experiences, rather than waiting until you feel completely better before beginning to live differently.
Schema Therapy can help us explore deeper and more longstanding patterns, particularly when low mood is connected with self-criticism, shame, unmet emotional needs, perfectionism, or beliefs about your own worth.

The goal isn't simply to make you “more productive.” It is to understand what has happened, reduce the patterns that keep you stuck, and gradually reconnect you with a life that feels more meaningful and more like your own.

Taking the First Step

You don't have to wait until you can explain exactly why you're struggling.

You may simply know that you're tired, disconnected, unmotivated, or not quite yourself anymore.

Maybe you want to understand what has changed.

Maybe you want to reconnect with parts of your life that have gradually disappeared.

Or maybe you simply want somewhere to begin making sense of how you've been feeling.

Therapy doesn't have to start with having all the answers.

We can start with where you are.

If you'd like to explore whether working together could be a good fit, you can arrange a short introductory call.

Arrange an introductory call