Languishing is not quite depression ... but, it’s not quite flourishing either.
Languishing isn’t burnout — You still have energy.
It’s not depression either — you don’t feel utterly defeated. You just feel somewhat joyless … aimless … empty.
Languishing is the feeling of going through the motions of daily life without much Oomph. Landing yourself in this space could be a result of prolonged stress and uncertainty.
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Discover how to go from languishing to flourishing.
Feeling low can feel like living a hamster wheel of dread,fear, and defeat you can’t seem to get off of. One step forward and sometimes 3 steps back. Think you are fine and bam! You aren’t. You are watching your life pass you by… yet have no energy to live it. It’s an absolute living hell.
As lonely and heavy as life may feel, it’s empowering to know that even though you HAVE depression and you FEEL depressed, you ARE NOT depression.
Sometimes all it takes is a shift in attitude and your relationship with depression changes. Other times, depression sticks around. It’s not going away until you get what it is telling you about your life.
It is okay to not be okay. If all you need is someone to hold the space for you, that is okay too.
Yes, there are some people who are more physically susceptible to depression. However, depression does not just happen in a vacuum. It typically appears to tell us something about what is not going right in our lives.
Do any of these ruminations sound familiar to you?
These questions have something in common. They are existential questions: asking you to seriously consider what is life worth living? Depression is probably trying to tell you how you are living is not life-giving to yourself or others. It’s asking of you to do something about your life.
Depression sucks. But it’s not useless. It is here to let us know that we cannot continue living the way we do. It is letting us know that we are not living the lives that is meant for us.
So coping with our depressive symptoms without hearing what its message is for you is missing an opportunity to make our lives more meaningful, intentional and purposeful.
Existential Therapy helps you to not let go of another missed opportunity which often lead to regrets and guilt in life.
Through our collaborative effort, we will not only help you find your own unique way to cope with the ugly symptoms of depression. We walk with you to renew your relationship with depression.
Depression is a mood disorder that can affect how you think, feel, and function day to day. It often involves persistent low mood, a loss of interest in things that once mattered to you, and daily functioning that feels harder to sustain than it used to. For some people, depression develops gradually out of prolonged stress or a period of languishing, the feeling of going through the motions without real energy behind it.
Not everyone experiencing depression notices it the same way, and individuals with depression often describe it differently depending on what else is happening in their lives. Depression is often a sign that something in your life needs real attention, not a personal failing.
Depressive symptoms can look different from person to person, but common signs include persistent feelings of sadness, a loss of interest or pleasure in things you used to enjoy, low energy, and difficulty concentrating. Some people notice changes in sleep or appetite, a sense of hopelessness about the future, or a creeping self-doubt that makes ordinary decisions feel harder than they should.
Depression can also show up as irritability or withdrawing from people you’re close to – these are some of the common effects of depression on daily life. If these depression symptoms have been present most days for two weeks or longer, it’s worth taking seriously rather than waiting for them to pass.
Not every low period is depression. Languishing is the feeling of going through the motions without much behind it, joyless and aimless rather than utterly defeated. It’s real, but it isn’t the same as depression, and it doesn’t always need the same kind of attention.
Depression tends to sit heavier: a persistent low mood, a real loss of interest in things, and daily functioning that gets harder to keep up. Without attention, languishing can turn into depression over time. If you’re unsure which one you’re experiencing, it helps to learn to recognise the difference, and that uncertainty is worth bringing into a conversation rather than trying to untangle it alone.
There’s rarely one single cause of depression. It can develop from prolonged stress, grief, family or cultural pressure, a major life change, or a period of languishing that went unaddressed for too long. Some people are more physically susceptible to depression than others, but depression rarely happens in a vacuum, and people who suffer from depression rarely point to just one cause.
In existential therapy, we look at what depression may be trying to tell you about how you’ve been living, rather than treating it only as something to manage. Learning to explore the root causes of what you’re feeling often matters as much as learning to cope with the symptoms themselves.
Depression is sometimes described in different ways, including major depressive disorder, clinical depression, and low-grade depression that lingers without ever fully lifting. These aren’t strict categories so much as different shapes the same difficulty can take.
Depression can also occur alongside other patterns, most commonly anxiety, where racing thoughts and low mood show up together. If anxious, repetitive thinking feels like the larger part of what you’re experiencing, that may be a more specific starting point. Whatever form it takes, the aim in existential therapy isn’t to sort depression into the correct category, but to understand what it’s asking of you.
Sometimes a low period lifts on its own, especially if it’s tied to a specific stressor that resolves. But depression that lingers, that affects your daily functioning, or that keeps circling back even when life looks fine on the outside, usually benefits from professional support rather than waiting it out. For some people, depression sits alongside other patterns, like the self-doubt and pressure to perform that show up in imposter syndrome, and those threads are often easier to untangle with someone helping you look at them together. If you’ve been struggling with depression and telling yourself you should be able to handle this on your own, that belief is worth questioning rather than following.
There’s no single threshold that means it’s time to seek help. If low mood, loss of interest, or hopelessness have been present most days for a couple of weeks, if you’re finding it harder to function at work or in relationships, or if you’ve started wondering whether things would be easier if you weren’t here, those are all reasons to reach out, whether that means starting with a single conversation or ongoing counselling sessions.
You don’t need to wait until things feel unbearable. Seeking help early is one of the real benefits of depression counselling, since the right support can arrive before depression has had more time to settle in, and depression support is available whenever you’re ready for it.
If you’ve been having suicidal thoughts or wondering whether things would be easier if you weren’t here, please reach out for support now rather than waiting for a scheduled session. In Singapore, Samaritans of Singapore (SOS) offers a 24-hour crisis hotline at 1767, and the National Mindline offers 24/7 support by phone, text, or webchat at 1771.
If there is immediate danger to your life, call 999 or SMS 70999. These thoughts don’t mean something is permanently wrong with you. Reaching out for support at a moment like this is a reasonable response, not a failure, and you can do it without judgement, and therapy can be part of ongoing support once you are safe.
Existential therapy offers one approach to depression that goes beyond a set of symptoms to manage. It treats depression as a message worth listening to, about the life you are currently living and whether it still feels like yours. In individual therapy sessions, Dr Cheng works with you to understand what depression may be highlighting: a role that has grown too heavy, a loss that still needs room to be felt, or questions about purpose and meaning that have been pushed aside. This takes time, and it builds a clearer sense of what your depression has been trying to tell you and what you want to do about it.
Cognitive behavioural therapy, or CBT, is a structured, skills-based form of talk therapy that focuses on identifying and changing negative thought patterns and behaviours. It’s one of the more commonly known therapeutic approaches to depression treatment, and many people search for it by name.
At Encompassing Therapy, Dr Cheng’s approach is existential therapy, which is different: rather than focusing mainly on changing thought patterns, existential therapy looks at the meaning, choices, and life circumstances underneath the depression itself. Different approaches tend to resonate with different people, and existential therapy is the lens Dr Cheng brings, with attention to what your depression may be telling you about your life, alongside how to manage the thoughts that come with it.
Depression therapy helps when it supports you in understanding what you’re experiencing, building coping strategies that fit your life, and making decisions with more clarity about what needs to change. What counts as effective treatment for depression will look different depending on your circumstances, how significant the depression feels day to day, and how ready you are to engage in therapy.
Existential therapy doesn’t promise a fixed outcome or a set number of sessions before you feel better. Its focus is on helping you build a more honest relationship with what you’re feeling, so your response to it can become more intentional.
There’s no standard number of sessions for depression therapy, and no fixed timeline that applies to everyone. Some people arrive wanting support through a specific, recent low period. Others are working through depression that has been present for years, shaped by family history, long-standing patterns, or a period of languishing that went unaddressed for a long time. Therapy is personalised to what you bring to it and what you want from it, so the length depends on your situation rather than a fixed program.
Yes. Dr Cheng offers online depression therapy and online counselling throughout Singapore and across Asia, with a focus on Southeast Asia. Online counselling can be useful for working professionals managing the pressures of work-life balance, or for anyone going through life transitions such as relocation, a new job, or a change in family circumstances that makes a weekly in-person appointment difficult.
The therapeutic focus stays the same whether you meet online or in person: understanding what your depression is telling you about your life and what you want to do with that understanding.
Dr Cheng offers in-person depression therapy at a physical office in Singapore, in the Fort Canning area. Encompassing Therapy & Counselling provides professional counselling services in Singapore for people who need support at home or work.
If meeting in person matters to you, that option is available alongside online sessions, so you can choose whichever format makes it easiest to keep showing up for the sessions you need. Full address, transport, and parking details are included in the pricing and location information below.
Your life deserves more than simply getting through the day.
Depression may be asking you to look closely at how you are living and what needs to change. I can help you listen to that message, understand what matters to you, and begin making more intentional choices. Reach out to book a chemistry session.
