Low mood doesn't always look like sadness, sometimes it's flatness, low motivation, or simply feeling disconnected from things that used to matter. It can develop gradually, often following a period of sustained stress, a difficult life event, or a build-up of unresolved pressure, and it can also be linked to longer-standing patterns of thinking about oneself, others, and the future.

Therapy can help by first making sense of what's contributing to the low mood, whether that's current circumstances, unhelpful thinking patterns, or something further back. From there, I work with clients using CBT to gently challenge unhelpful ways of thinking and to rebuild activity and engagement with things that bring meaning, even in small steps. Where longer-standing patterns are involved, schema therapy can help address the deeper roots, so the change is more lasting rather than a temporary lift.