Depression Therapy and Treatment | Online Therapy California and Texas
Online Therapy and In-Person Counseling in Petaluma, CA for Depression, Low Mood, and Emotional Exhaustion
Depression is more than feeling sad.
It’s the heaviness that makes getting out of bed feel like climbing a mountain. The flatness that settles over everything you used to enjoy. The voice that tells you things have always been this way and always will be. The exhaustion that sleep doesn’t fix and that no one around you quite seems to understand.
If you’re living with depression, you already know how much it takes from you. Your energy, your relationships, your sense of who you are and what’s possible for your life.
You don’t have to keep living this way. And you don’t have to figure out how to change it alone.
Schedule a Free Consultation
What Depression Can Look Like
Depression shows up differently for different people. You might recognize some of these:
- Persistent feelings of sadness, emptiness, tearfulness, or hopelessness
- Angry outbursts, irritability, or frustration that feels out of proportion
- Loss of interest or pleasure in activities you used to love, including hobbies, socializing, or intimacy
- Sleep disturbances including insomnia, waking through the night, or sleeping far more than usual
- Exhaustion and lack of energy so profound that even small tasks take enormous effort
- Changes in appetite and weight, either loss of interest in food or increased cravings
- Anxiety, agitation, or restlessness that sits alongside the heaviness
- Slowed thinking, speaking, or physical movement
- Feelings of worthlessness, shame, or guilt, fixating on past failures or blaming yourself for things beyond your control
- Difficulty concentrating, making decisions, or remembering things
- Withdrawing from people you care about even when you don’t want to
- Unexplained physical symptoms like back pain, headaches, or digestive issues
- Thoughts of death, dying, or suicide
If you’re experiencing thoughts of suicide or self-harm, please reach out for support now. You can contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988.
Depression Is Not a Character Flaw
One of the most damaging things about depression is what it tells you about itself. That you’re weak. That you should be able to snap out of it. That other people have it worse and you have no right to feel this way. That this is just who you are.
None of that is true.
Depression is a real, treatable condition with identifiable roots, whether those roots are biological, situational, relational, or connected to experiences you’ve never fully processed. Understanding what’s actually driving your depression, rather than just managing its symptoms, is what creates lasting change.
Types of Depression Therapy Can Help With
Depression takes many forms and therapy can be effective across all of them, including:
- Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)
- Persistent Depressive Disorder (dysthymia), a lower-grade but chronic depression that can be harder to recognize
- Situational depression connected to grief, loss, or life transitions
- Depression connected to trauma or PTSD
- Postpartum depression and perinatal mood disorders
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Depression alongside anxiety, burnout, or compassion fatigue
- High-functioning depression, where you appear fine on the outside while struggling significantly on the inside
Depression Usually Has Deeper Roots
Persistent depression is rarely just about what’s happening in your life right now. Often there are deeper patterns beneath the surface, past experiences that were never fully processed, beliefs about yourself that formed long ago, or relational wounds that have shaped how you move through the world ever since.
That’s where therapy makes the difference. Not just helping you feel better in the short term, but helping you understand what’s actually driving your depression and address it at the root so that change lasts.
Marty brings something important to this work: not just clinical expertise, but a genuine personal understanding of how depression can take hold and how real recovery, not just symptom management, is possible. That lived perspective informs the way he works, with patience, without judgment, and with a deep belief that things can genuinely get better.
What We’ll Work on Together
Rather than just helping you cope with depression, therapy will help you understand what’s fueling it and build tools that create lasting change. Depending on your situation, your therapy may draw on:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Depression CBT is one of the most extensively researched treatments for depression available. It helps you identify the thought patterns and behavioral cycles that maintain and deepen depression, and develop more accurate, compassionate ways of relating to yourself and your circumstances.
EMDR Therapy For depression connected to trauma, painful past experiences, or deep-seated beliefs about your own worth and value, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) can be particularly effective. It works at the level where depression often takes root, in the nervous system and in the implicit beliefs formed through difficult experiences, rather than just addressing symptoms at the surface.
Marty is EMDR Certified through EMDRIA and brings more than 30 years of experience to this work. [Learn more about EMDR therapy →]
Emotionally Focused Work Depression often has relational roots. Emotionally focused approaches help you understand the connection between your attachment history, your relational patterns, and how depression shows up in the context of your closest relationships.
Insight-Oriented and Experiential Therapy Understanding the deeper story beneath your depression can be genuinely transformative. Insight-oriented work helps you connect the dots between your history, your patterns, and what’s happening in your emotional life right now.
What to Expect in Depression Therapy
Step 1: A Free Consultation Call A brief, no-cost phone call to talk through what you’re experiencing and whether therapy is the right fit. No pressure and no commitment required. Just an honest conversation about where you are.
Step 2: Understanding Your Depression The first phase of therapy is about understanding your specific experience of depression, where it shows up, what triggers or deepens it, what it’s connected to, and what it’s costing you. There is no one-size-fits-all approach here.
Step 3: Active Therapeutic Work This is where real change begins. Drawing on the approaches best suited to your situation, you and Marty will work together to address depression at its roots rather than just its surface symptoms.
Step 4: Building Lasting Relief As therapy progresses, you’ll develop a genuine understanding of yourself and tools that support your wellbeing long after therapy ends. The goal isn’t just feeling better for now. It’s building a life that feels genuinely worth living.
Ways to Work Together
Depression therapy is available in several formats depending on your needs and how you want to approach the work.
Weekly Individual Therapy Online throughout California and Texas, or in person at Marty’s private office in Petaluma, California. Consistent weekly sessions that build understanding, connection, and momentum over time.
Therapy Intensives For those ready to do more concentrated work in a shorter period of time, a therapy intensive can compress significant therapeutic progress into one or two focused days. Particularly effective when depression is connected to trauma or specific experiences that need sustained processing time. [Learn more about Therapy Intensives →]
Weekend Therapy Retreats at Wildwood Ranch A private Friday through Sunday retreat at Wildwood Ranch in Garden Valley, California. For those carrying significant depression or trauma who want to step fully out of daily life and do immersive, sustained therapeutic work in a peaceful and restorative natural setting. Lodging and meals included. [Learn more about Weekend Retreats at Wildwood Ranch →]
Work With Someone Who Understands
Marty is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with more than 30 years of experience helping thoughtful adults find genuine, lasting relief from depression. His approach is warm, practical, and completely nonjudgmental.
He is EMDR Certified through EMDRIA, and brings both clinical expertise and a personal understanding of how depression works and how real recovery is possible. He knows that depression lies to you about itself, and he knows how to help you find your way through it anyway.
[Learn more about Marty and his approach →]
Common Questions About Depression Therapy
Please reach out for support now. You can contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. If you're not in immediate crisis but are having recurrent thoughts of death or dying, this is something to bring to your consultation call. It's important information and Marty will receive it without judgment.
Everyone goes through hard times, and sadness is a normal human experience. Depression is different in its persistence, its pervasiveness, and its impact on your ability to function. If what you're experiencing has lasted more than two weeks and is affecting your daily life, relationships, or sense of self, it's worth talking to someone. The consultation call is a good place to start.
Yes. Many people find significant and lasting relief from depression through therapy alone, particularly approaches like CBT and EMDR. Others benefit from a combination of therapy and medication. This is a conversation worth having with both your therapist and your physician.
High-functioning depression describes the experience of living with significant depression while still managing to appear okay on the outside. You might be going to work, taking care of responsibilities, and presenting as fine to the people around you, while internally struggling significantly. It's real, it's common, and it's treatable.
Yes. Research consistently supports the effectiveness of online therapy for depression. Many people find that the reduced barrier of not having to commute to an office actually makes it easier to show up consistently, which matters enormously for therapeutic progress. Online therapy is available to adults throughout California and Texas.
This varies depending on the nature and complexity of your depression. Some people experience meaningful relief relatively quickly. Others with more complex or long-standing depression benefit from a longer course of treatment. Marty will give you an honest sense of what to expect during the consultation.
Different approaches work differently for different people and different kinds of depression. If previous therapy didn't address the deeper roots of your depression, or didn't incorporate approaches like EMDR for trauma-connected depression, a different approach may reach what earlier treatment couldn't.
A Life That Feels Worth Living Is Possible
Depression has a way of making the future feel fixed, like this is just how things are and how they’ll always be. That’s the depression talking, not the truth.
With the right support, it’s possible to understand what’s driving your depression, release what your nervous system has been holding, and find your way back to a life that feels genuinely meaningful and your own.
You’ve been carrying this long enough.