B.C. Clinical Counsellor's Advice on Dealing with Depression During Lockdown
Michael Dadson suggests lockdown during COVID-19 likely to exacerbate problems with mood regulation, which is low or even absent in people with depression.
- (1888PressRelease) May 12, 2020 - Langley, B.C. — Our moods vary from moment to moment; coupled with our body’s natural coping abilities, healthy mood regulation requires choosing activities that help improve our mood. Michael Dadson, Langley-based Registered Clinical Counsellor, notes that our personal choices of activities are constrained during lockdown, impairing our ability to regulate mood and potentially resulting in depression.
Michael Dadson points to a recent study analyzing over 58,000 participants, published by experts at the University of Oxford: “In a series of analyses, the study investigated how people regulate their mood through their choice of everyday activities. In the general population, there is a strong link between how people currently feel and what activities they choose to engage in next.”
Natural Mood Regulation Missing in People with Depression
Over the last 20 years, Michael Dadson’s clinical counselling practice has helped many suffering from PTSD, depression, grief, loss, and anxiety, providing them with the treatment and tools needed to achieve mood homeostasis, i.e. the ability to stabilise the mood via activities.
One in five people will develop major depression at some point in their life; Michael Dadson suspects that these numbers will increase as a result of the lockdown brought about by COVID-19. Consequently, improving existing treatments for depression or developing new ones should be a key priority for mental health researchers and officials.
When we are down, Dadson remarks, we tend to choose to do things that cheer us up; however, with COVID-19, our choice of activity is very limited. Because this mechanism is impaired or even absent in folks with low mood or depression, Dadson sees the opportunity to help train individuals to increase their own mood homeostasis.
“I am confident that, by training our clients to naturally regulate their mood via their choices of activities, we might be able to treat depression when people are most vulnerable to it,” Michael Dadson explains.
Dr. Michael Dadson, Ph.D.
Langley, B.C.
Title: Senior Clinical Director of Practice, Gentle Currents Therapy - Counselling and Neurofeedback Therapy
Contact: Jeanette Dadson
Work: (778) 554-0174
Cell: (604) 868-0942
Expertise:
Specializing in trauma, anxiety, and depression, Michael Dadson, Ph.D., is a registered clinical counsellor and Senior Clinical Director of Practice at Gentle Currents Therapy, a Langley, B.C.-based counselling clinic. With expertise in trauma, stress, anxiety, and discrimination, Dadson’s clinical counselling can talk about the mental health impacts of anxiety about coronavirus and social isolation, how to handle anxiety about the coronavirus, and how to address issues related to helping children deal with traumatic events.
Michael Dadson has provided clinical treatment to individuals with a range of diagnoses, specializing in trauma and PTSD, anxiety and depression, male psychology, and relationship counselling for adults, adolescents, and children.
Michael Dadson and his wife, Jeanette Dadson, have also been assisting children with special needs and their families for over 30 years. As a Level III (3) therapeutic foster parent, Michael Dadson has worked with special needs foster children, and has been contracted through Intensive Child Care Resources Vancouver (ICCR). As a therapeutic foster parent, Dadson has lived and worked with Caucasian, Afghanistani, and First Nations children who have ADHD, Asperger’s Syndrome, FASD, major brain injuries and strokes.
Contact Registered Clinical Counsellor Michael Dadson today for information, advice, and insights on COVID-19 mental health implications, risks, community response, and talking to children.
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