If you’ve been through psychotherapy, but still get the blues, you are not alone. Attempts to treat depression — through talk therapy, behavioral techniques, and drugs — have often been disappointing. The problem is that psychotherapy regards depression as a disease, whose symptoms it seeks to eradicate. It neglects to address depression’s underlying cause. Although there are numerous events that can trigger depression — from losing a job to romantic heartbreak — the fundamental cause of depression is despair.

“Despair,” painted by Munch

If you feel that happiness and fulfillment are hopeless, then you are not simply depressed. You are in despair. Despair can come from frustrated efforts, or from getting what you desire, but finding it to be empty. In either case, despair is caused by a kind of dark insight: you see that there is no future in the life that you are leading. If despair prompts you to abandon your present mode of existence, it leads to self-renewal. Consider, for example, Siddhartha Buddha. Despairing of his life as an Indian prince, he set out on a spiritual quest.

Alas, not everyone undergoes life transitions with the resolve of a Buddha. Sometimes, instead of letting go of what we know to be empty, we cling to it, out of fear of the unknown, out of a failure of nerve. This clinging is the very essence of depression. Feeling depressed, a person might then seek psychotherapy, but to treat a symptom (depression) without addressing depression’s underlying cause (despair) retards one’s inner development.

The temptation to be depressed

Here, then, is where philosophical counseling can help you see into the roots of your depression. Dr. Dillof doesn’t regard depression as a disease, but as a philosophical and spiritual malady. Why, then, cope with depression, when you can overcome your underlying despair, which is the real cause of your depression? And why remain a lifelong patient, when you can develop into a joyous philosopher? It all begins with philosophical counseling.

Got the blues? Has the “black dog” of depression bitten you? Dr. Dillof offers philosophical counseling, by phone and in person. For information, call him toll-free at: 1-888-737-5724 or local at: (607) 723-2663 or e-mail him at mdillof@verizon.net. The telephone can allow for an intense conversation. Why, then, drive to a session — in the rain, snow, cold and dark — spending money on fuel?

No matter what part of the globe you inhabit — from New York City (NYC) to Los Angeles CA, from London to Tokyo, from Boston MA to Chicago IL, from Brooklyn to Queens, from Binghamton to Ithaca, from Scranton PA to Syracuse NY, from Vestal to Endicott, from White Plains to Westchester, from Rochester to Buffalo, from Nassau to Suffolk, from Louisville KY to Cincinnati OH, from Indianapolis IN to Hartford CT, from Hollywood CA to Miami Beach FL, from Minneapolis MN to Madison WI, from Portland OR to Washington DC, from Seattle WA to the Bronx NY, from Toronto Canada to Vancouver, from San Francisco to Houston — distance is no barrier to an illuminating counseling and life coaching session!

FREE 15 minute telephone chat with Dr. Dillof and assessment. Call today! Our telephone/office hours are 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM, Eastern Standard time, everyday, except Saturday.

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