Feeling Drained by Depression and That Harsh Inner Voice?
Are you constantly hard on yourself, no matter how much you accomplish?
Do you feel like you’re failing, falling behind, or never quite good enough?
Maybe you’ve lost motivation or pleasure in things you used to enjoy.
Perhaps you feel hopeless about the future, disconnected from yourself, or exhausted from trying to keep everything together.
And sometimes, the hardest part isn’t just feeling depressed, it’s the voice in your head telling you that you shouldn’t feel this way in the first place.
When being hard on yourself becomes exhausting
Depression doesn’t always look like sadness. You may still be going to work, seeing friends, and getting through your responsibilities while feeling completely different on the inside.
You might feel numb, disconnected, hopeless, or unable to find much meaning in your day. Things that once gave you pleasure may no longer feel worth the effort.
Self-criticism can make this even harder. Instead of responding to yourself with understanding when you’re struggling, you may find yourself thinking, “I should be doing better,” “What is wrong with me?” or “I’m pathetic for feeling like this.”The more you turn against yourself, the heavier everything can begin to feel.
Are you caught in a cycle of self-criticism?
When you’re already struggling, being harsh with yourself can feel like a way of pushing yourself to change.
You tell yourself that you need to try harder, stop being weak, get your life together, or simply “snap out of it.”But criticism rarely creates the lasting change we hope it will.
Instead, it can leave you feeling ashamed, inadequate, or even more hopeless — which can make it harder to take action, connect with others, or believe that things can actually get better.
Therapy can give you space to understand this cycle rather than continuing to fight yourself through it.
Depression & Self-Criticism Therapy With Me
I primarily work from an Emotion-Focused Therapy perspective. This means we don’t only focus on changing what you think — we also pay attention to the emotions underneath your thoughts and reactions.
For example, self-criticism can sometimes be more than simply “negative thinking.” It can be connected to deeper feelings of shame, hurt, fear, or unmet emotional needs. Together, we’ll slow these patterns down and become curious about what is happening underneath them.
I’ll help you explore difficult emotions at a pace that feels manageable, while gently challenging patterns that are keeping you stuck.
As you develop a different relationship with your emotions and yourself, change can begin to feel possible rather than something you have to force.