Psychotherapist for depression
Treating depression through conversation, without antidepressants in most cases. A first consultation is 500 UAH for 55 minutes, in person in Kharkiv and the region, online across Ukraine and abroad.
I work with depressive states through conversation, without antidepressants in most cases. A first consultation is 500 UAH for 55 minutes. In person in Kharkiv and the region, online across Ukraine and abroad.
Does psychotherapy help with depression
Yes. In mild and moderate depression psychotherapy works as a treatment in its own right — without medication necessarily being added.
Depression is not a character trait and not laziness. It is a state with a mechanism behind it: a particular way of thinking about yourself, accumulated strain, often an event or a period after which everything went downhill. Talking work takes that mechanism apart piece by piece, and that is why the result holds after the sessions end instead of stopping with the last tablet.
In severe depression psychotherapy alone is usually not enough — medical support and a psychiatrist’s supervision are needed. More on that below.
Choosing a specialist
Who treats depression: psychotherapist, psychiatrist or psychologist
| Medical psychotherapist | Psychiatrist | Psychologist | |
|---|---|---|---|
| For which depression | Mild and moderate, long-standing states, depression following events | Severe, with psychotic features, with risk to life | Does not treat depression |
| Makes a diagnosis | Yes | Yes | No |
| Works with | Conversation, medication when needed | Medication first of all | Conversation, within a healthy mind |
| What it gives | The cause: why the state began and what keeps it going | Relief from the weight of the state, stabilisation | Support in a situation, work on relationships and choices |
In most cases it is worth starting with a psychotherapist: they are a doctor, so they see both the mental and the bodily side, and will refer you to a psychiatrist if that is needed. The reverse route works worse — medication lifts the weight, but the question of where it came from stays open.
Going to a psychologist with depression is not the way: they do not diagnose and do not treat disorders. A conscientious psychologist will say so themselves. A detailed comparison of the professions is in a separate article: how a psychiatrist differs from a psychotherapist.
How to tell depression from tiredness
Tiredness passes after a holiday or a weekend. Depression does not: it does not depend on whether you rested, and it holds for weeks regardless of what happens around you.
What to do about it
Four or more of these lasting longer than two weeks is a reason to see a doctor. This is not a diagnosis — a diagnosis is made only at an appointment. But it is reason enough not to wait any longer.
How I work
How work with depression goes
Where we start
The first meeting is an ordinary conversation, 55 minutes. You describe what is happening and for how long, at your own pace. I ask about sleep, appetite, when the state began and what it coincided with. By the end of the meeting you understand what is going on and know the plan: what we will work on and roughly how long it will take.
With which methods
I choose the method to fit the task, not the other way round. Work with thinking — we take apart the automatic thoughts that turn every event against you. The psychodynamic part — we look for where that way of seeing yourself came from. Hypnotherapy — where logic does not reach. In practice it is a conversation, not exercises from a manual.
How long it takes
The first shifts are usually noticeable by the fifth or sixth meeting: sleep comes back, mornings stop being the hardest part of the day. A lasting result usually takes two to four months of regular work. The word «usually» matters here: this is an observation from my practice, not a guarantee.
What affects how long treatment takes
There is no single timeline. But the factors that set it are known in advance — at the first meeting I usually already see whether we are looking at two months or four.
About medication
Treating depression without antidepressants: when it is realistic
When psychotherapy is enough
In mild and moderate depression — in most cases. Especially when the state began after specific events: a loss, a divorce, a move, prolonged pressure at work. There is a cause there to work with, and medication does not remove it.
I have the right to prescribe — a medical degree allows it. But I use that right rarely, and not out of ideology. A tablet removes the symptom without answering where it came from: a person mutes the state for two years, stops the drug, and it returns to exactly the same place. Nobody touched the cause.
More about the approach: why I work without medication.
When medication is needed
There are states where psychotherapy simply will not start without it, and I will say so plainly. Severe depression, when a person has no strength to get up and eat. States with thoughts of death. Situations where several courses of therapy have already failed.
In those cases I refer to a psychiatrist and do not consider it a defeat. Often we then work in parallel: they handle the medication, I handle the conversation. That is a normal route, not a sign that something went wrong.
Important
If you are already taking antidepressants prescribed by another doctor, do not stop them on your own. Working with a psychotherapist alongside them is both possible and useful.
When you need a psychiatrist, not a psychotherapist
This is a short list, but worth reading carefully. In these situations a conversational format does not cover what is happening.
If this is happening right now
Do not finish this page and do not book an appointment with me for next week. Call: 103 for an ambulance, 102 for the police if there is a threat to life. The mental health helpline numbers are collected here: if you need help right now.
This is not a formality. In such states the count is in hours.
When depression hides behind bodily symptoms
There is a separate group of people who reach me: those who have already been through every doctor. A cardiologist, a gastroenterologist, a neurologist, an MRI, an ECG, blood tests. Everything clean. In the end — «it is your nerves», a folder of test results, and exactly the state they started with.
Depression does not always look like sadness. Often it comes out through the body: heaviness in the chest, a lump in the throat, pain in the back and stomach, constant tiredness that sleep does not fix. The person honestly looks for a cause and does not find it, because they are looking in the wrong place.
Before working with the mind, I worked with the body for more than ten years: an internship in neurology, internal medicine, hospital practice. That is why I see the difference between psychosomatics and an illness that has to be treated by the relevant specialist.
Why this gets missed:
This does not replace examination. First we rule out a physical cause, then we work with what is left.
A separate case
Depression after a stroke, injury or serious illness
Depression after a stroke is not weakness of character and not «being upset about the illness». It is a common consequence of the brain injury itself, and it directly gets in the way of recovery: the person does not do their rehabilitation because they see no point, and the outcome is worse than it could have been.
The same happens after a serious injury, an operation, a long illness. The family sees that the person «has given up» and does not realise this is part of the condition, not their character.
Why I take on such cases
An internship in paediatric neurology and years of work with the body — before moving into psychotherapy. I understand what happened to the nervous system and at the same time work with the mind. In a large clinic these are two different departments and two different doctors who rarely talk to each other.
I work both with the person and with their family: it is usually hardest for them, because it is unclear what to expect and how to behave.
When the state began after a loss or a move
In recent years many people ended up where they never planned to be: without a home, without their former work, without some of the people close to them. The state that follows is not weakness and does not mean a person is failing to cope.
This can be worked with. Not «let go and forget» — that does not happen — but finding footing in what remains and getting back the ability to live on. If you are reading this and recognise yourself, it is not too early to come.
If you are in another city or another country now, that is no obstacle: I work as a psychotherapist online, and I see no difference in the result.
Price and format
What it costs and how an appointment goes
55 minutes. We go through the situation and decide what we will work with and how.
55 minutes, the same terms. You need a quiet place, a camera and a free hour.
45–60 minutes. Format and frequency are discussed at the first meeting.
I see people in person in Kharkiv and the Kharkiv region, and online from any city. No referral, medical card or forms are needed: a message is enough. Appointments on weekdays from 8:00 to 17:00. More: medical psychotherapist in Kharkiv, medical psychotherapist in Lozova and conditions I work with.
What patients say
I want to say a big thank you and express deep respect for the doctor, a true professional, Roman Vasilyevich, who brought me out of a prolonged depressive state. Without pills. In a few months.
Alla, 47 · depression
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Which doctor diagnoses depression?
A medical psychotherapist or a psychiatrist — both have that right. A psychologist does not diagnose. A diagnosis is made in person, from your state and your history, not from a test on the internet.
Which therapy is best for depression?
There is no single best one: the approach is chosen for the particular person and the cause of the state. I work with thinking, with the cause, and where needed with hypnotherapy — I will say which combination at the first meeting.
How many sessions will it take?
First shifts usually by the fifth or sixth meeting, a lasting result usually two to four months. I can be more precise after the first consultation, once I see the whole picture.
What if I am already taking antidepressants prescribed by another doctor?
Keep taking them and do not stop on your own. Psychotherapy alongside medication does not interfere — it helps. Stopping is decided in time, with the doctor who prescribed them.
Does online work as well as in person?
Yes. An online appointment runs the same 55 minutes and costs the same. My patients come from 19 countries, and I see no difference in the result.
Will anyone find out that I came?
No. Not your employer, not your relatives, not a clinic. In private practice confidentiality is absolute.
The material on this page is for information only and does not replace an in-person consultation. A diagnosis is made only at an appointment. If you need help urgently — crisis help and helpline numbers.
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