Depression Therapy · Telehealth
Depression doesn't always look like depression. Sometimes it just looks like getting through the day.
You're still showing up. You're just not really in it.
From the outside, you're fine. You go to work, answer the texts, make the plans. But somewhere underneath, the color has drained out of things — and you can't quite figure out when it started, or why. You've maybe tried therapy. Maybe medication. You understand, more or less, why you feel this way. But insight lives in one place, and the feeling lives somewhere else entirely.
Depression in self-aware, high-functioning people rarely looks the way it's supposed to. It's quieter than that. You're not in bed all day — you're doing everything, and feeling almost none of it. The exhaustion isn't the kind sleep fixes. The flatness doesn't lift when something good happens. And the hardest part is that you can't point to a reason — which makes you wonder, privately, whether you have any right to feel this way at all.
Does this sound familiar?
Different lives. The same quiet weight.
The days go by. You handle them. But interest, joy, even dread have all flattened into the same low hum.
You sleep and wake up depleted. The fatigue feels less like your body and more like something heavier underneath it.
There was a version of you with more in the tank — who wanted things, looked forward to things. You keep expecting it to come back on its own.
Replying to a message, making dinner, deciding anything — small things carry a weight that's hard to explain to anyone.
You can explain your patterns clearly. The insight just hasn't changed the feeling in the moment.
Nothing's wrong on paper. So you tell yourself you have no reason — and carry it quietly instead.
Why this works
Depression often isn't only a mood. It's a system that's powered down.
When stress, loss, or old experiences go on long enough without resolution, the nervous system stops regulating the way it should — and for many people it settles into shutdown: less feeling, less wanting, less energy. That dysregulation is protective, in its way. It's also miserable to live inside.
Talk therapy can help you understand how you got here. That matters — but understanding and feeling run on two different systems, and insight alone often can't reach the second one. The work I do goes underneath the thinking, to the level where the heaviness actually lives.
- First, steadiness — enough ground under you to do deeper work safely.
- Then we look at what the low mood is resting on: old experiences, chronic stress, patterns that quietly drain you.
- Using attachment-based and nervous-system-focused work — and EMDR where it fits — we work at the level of felt experience, not just insight.
- Over time, the things that felt flat tend to get some of their texture back — not because you've talked yourself into it, but because something underneath has shifted.
Insight tells you why. It rarely changes how you feel in the moment — and that's the gap this work is built for.
You don't have to have a single, obvious trauma for your system to be carrying something.
High-functioning doesn't mean healed. It often just means you've gotten very good at carrying it.
What this work can help with
The many shapes low mood takes.
Persistent low mood
The flat, gray, going-through-the-motions kind that's been around long enough to feel normal.
Depression with anxiety
When the heaviness and the bracing show up together, feeding each other.
Burnout and depletion
The slide from "exhausted but coping" into running on empty with the lights off.
Depression rooted in old experiences
Low mood that traces back to things your system never fully processed.
Loss and grief that won't lift
Sadness that's stayed long past where you expected it to.
Relational and attachment patterns
Feeling unseen, never-enough, or quietly alone — even around the people closest to you.
Ways to work together
Two paths — paced to you.
Ongoing Individual Therapy
Weekly or every-other-week telehealth sessions. Steady, relational, and paced to your nervous system rather than a schedule.
Best forBuilding something durable over time, with room to go at your own speed.
EMDR Intensives
A more concentrated option for people who don't want the slow drip of weekly work — several hours of focused processing in a condensed format.
Best forWhen low mood is sitting on specific, unprocessed experiences and you'd rather not stretch the work across months.
EMDR intensives are appropriate for clients who have sufficient stabilization and readiness for deeper processing work. Some clients may require preparatory sessions prior to the intensive. More on intensives →
Intensives are private pay. A Superbill can be provided for possible out-of-network reimbursement, and payment is due at time of service. We can talk through fit, scheduling, and payment on a complimentary consultation.
What to expect
No rush. No pressure to perform "better."
- A complimentary 15-minute consultation — no commitment, just a sense of whether this is a fit.
- A few early sessions to get oriented and steady.
- The deeper work, paced to your nervous system — never forced.
- Noticing, gradually, that things you'd written off start to feel reachable again.
You don't have to arrive convinced.
Most people come in skeptical — they've felt let down by "feeling better" before. Skepticism is welcome here. It usually means you're paying attention.
About
Anjoli Aisenbrey, LICSW
I'm a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker practicing entirely by telehealth across Washington, Nevada, Maryland, and Maine. My work is attachment-based and nervous-system-focused, with training in EMDR.
I work mostly with thoughtful, capable adults who look fine on the outside and are quietly worn down underneath — people who want something that reaches the feeling, not just the understanding of it.
Questions
Before you reach out.
Is this for me if I'm not in crisis?
Yes. Most of the people I work with aren't in crisis — they're functioning, often impressively, while feeling flat or worn down underneath. You don't have to be falling apart to deserve support.
I've already tried therapy. Why would this be different?
Talk therapy is good at building understanding. But understanding and feeling run on different tracks — and depression usually lives on the feeling track. This work is aimed there, at the level of felt experience rather than insight alone.
Do I need to have trauma for EMDR to help?
No. You don't have to identify with the word "trauma." EMDR works with the experiences your system never fully settled — and those don't have to be dramatic to leave a mark.
Can EMDR actually help with depression?
EMDR is best known for trauma, and the research is strongest there. For depression, I use it selectively — when low mood seems rooted in specific unprocessed experiences — alongside attachment-based and nervous-system work. It's one tool among several, not a guarantee.
How long does this take?
It depends — on what's underneath, how long it's been there, and what you're hoping for. I won't give you a number I can't stand behind. We'll check in honestly as we go.
Do you take insurance?
Let's cover payment and insurance questions directly on a complimentary consultation — it's the cleanest way to get accurate answers for your situation. EMDR Intensives are private pay, with a Superbill available for possible out-of-network reimbursement and payment due at time of service.
What states do you work in?
I'm licensed in Washington, Nevada, Maryland, and Maine, and I see everyone by telehealth. You'll need to be physically located in one of those states at the time of session.
You've carried the flat, heavy version of things long enough. It doesn't have to be the permanent one.
If any of this landed, a conversation is the next step.
anjoli@anjolicounselingservices.com · (253) 256-3010 · Telehealth across WA, NV, MD, ME
If you're in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (call or text 988) can help right now — more immediately than anything on this page.