Depression Counselling in Melbourne

1 in 5 Australians will experience depression in their lifetime (Beyond Blue), and 1.5 million currently live with an affective disorder (ABS 2020-22). Depression isn’t just sadness. It can show up as a heaviness that makes everything feel effortful — getting out of bed, seeing people you care about, doing the things that used to bring you pleasure. Sometimes it’s the absence of feeling altogether: an emotional flatness or numbness that’s hard to explain to people who haven’t experienced it. In 2021-22, 32.7 million antidepressant prescriptions were dispensed in Australia (AIHW) — a figure that speaks both to the scale of the problem and to the limits of medication as a sole response.

What are the signs you should see a counsellor for depression?

Common signs of depression include:

• Persistent low mood lasting more than two weeks
• Loss of interest or pleasure in activities you used to enjoy
• Changes in sleep — sleeping too much or too little
• Changes in appetite and unexplained weight changes
• Difficulty concentrating or making decisions
• Feelings of worthlessness or guilt
• Withdrawal from friends, family, and social activities
• Physical symptoms — fatigue, aches, and low energy
• Irritability and restlessness — depression in men often presents as irritability rather than sadness

66% of Australians experiencing loneliness also report depression (Beyond Blue 2024). The connection between isolation and depression is well established, and it can create a vicious cycle: depression drives withdrawal, and withdrawal deepens depression. If you recognise yourself in these signs, the fact that you’re reading this is already a step toward change.

How does counselling help with depression?

I work with mild to moderate depression at my Carlton, Melbourne practice — including persistent depressive disorder, post-natal depression, and depression related to loss, relationship breakdown, or major life changes. I work collaboratively with GPs and psychiatrists where medication is also part of the picture.

From a Lacanian psychoanalytic perspective, depression is rarely random. It often relates to losses that have not been properly mourned, to anger that has been turned inward, to needs that have been chronically unmet, or to a sense of self that was shaped under conditions of criticism, neglect, or emotional deprivation. Understanding these roots doesn’t make depression your fault. It makes it understandable — and that understanding is part of the path out.

Therapy offers what medication alone does not: an exploration of the meaning behind depression. In my experience, the most lasting change comes not from symptom management alone but from genuinely understanding what the depression is connected to in your life, your relationships, and your history. This kind of work takes courage, but it produces results that hold.

I see clients online via secure video call across Melbourne and Australia, and in person at 96 Elgin Street, Carlton in inner Melbourne. Sessions are self-funded at $120. No referral is needed. Message me on WhatsApp or book online.