The pile of unopened mail has become a monument to every intention you haven’t followed through on.
Conditions We Treat
Depression
You’re on the couch with the lights off again, the dishes from yesterday still in the sink, and you can’t name when you last felt actually interested in something. It’s not just sadness. It’s the flat, gray exhaustion of a brain that’s been running an invisible marathon for years.
Our Los Angeles depression therapy is built for what ADHD depression actually requires: behavioral activation small enough that an exhausted brain can start it, and group therapy that breaks the isolation. Pasadena office, serving adults across the LA metro.
The reality
Depression with ADHD doesn’t always announce itself with tears. Sometimes it announces itself with silence — the kind where you stop responding to messages not because you don’t care, but because caring takes energy you no longer have. It shows up as a heaviness that makes getting out of bed feel like an athletic event, or as a flatness that steals the color from things you used to love. For many adults with ADHD, depression isn’t a separate visitor. It’s the accumulated weight of years spent trying to function in a world that never explained why everything felt harder for you than it seemed for everyone else.
Recognize the pattern
What this can feel like
You cancel plans again — not because you don’t want to see people, but because getting yourself out the door feels like climbing a mountain in flip-flops.
You’ve forgotten what it feels like to want something. Not the big things — the small things. A coffee, a walk, a conversation. Everything feels equally uninteresting.
The ADHD makes you forget appointments. The depression makes you not care that you forgot them. The shame from both makes you avoid calling to reschedule.
You remember a version of yourself who was excited about things, curious, engaged. That person feels like someone you used to know, and you’re not sure when they stopped showing up.
Your internal monologue has become a highlight reel of every mistake you’ve ever made, and ADHD gives it an endless supply of material to work with.
Someone asks how you are and you say “fine,” because explaining the actual answer would take more words than you have energy to say.
Our approach
How group therapy can help
Less alone, week by week
Depression tells you that you are uniquely broken and that nobody else would understand. Group therapy quietly proves otherwise, week after week. When you sit in a room with other adults who are also fighting the gravity of their own minds, something shifts. The depression doesn’t vanish, but it loses its most powerful weapon: the isolation that lets it rewrite reality unchallenged. You hear someone describe an experience you thought was yours alone, and for the first time in months, you feel less alone — not because someone fixed anything, but because someone simply understood.
ADHD-sized first steps
For adults with ADHD, depression often has a specific shape: it’s tangled up with the frustration of executive dysfunction, the accumulated shame of unmet expectations, and the particular loneliness of navigating a neurotypical world with a brain that operates differently. Our approach uses behavioral activation broken into steps small enough for an ADHD brain to actually initiate — not the kind that says “go exercise,” but the kind that says “can you put your shoes by the door today, and we’ll call that a win.” We also use acceptance and commitment therapy to help you separate from the stories depression tells you about who you are, while building a life that feels worth participating in — not when you’re “better,” but right now, in whatever shape you show up.
Showing up is the intervention
The group format also addresses something individual therapy sometimes misses: depression makes you withdraw, and withdrawal feeds depression. The simple act of showing up to group — even on a week when you have nothing to say, even when you feel like you’re failing at therapy too — becomes a behavioral intervention in itself. You don’t have to be ready to talk. You just have to be there. Our Los Angeles depression group therapy creates a weekly anchor that holds even on the weeks you can’t hold yourself.
Ready when you are
You don’t have to figure this out alone
If you’ve been carrying this weight by yourself, wondering if it will ever lift, you deserve a place where you can set some of it down. You don’t need to have the right words or a clear explanation. You just need to show up.
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if it’s depression or just ADHD burnout?
They can look very similar, and they often overlap. The key difference is that burnout tends to improve with rest and reduced demands, whereas depression persists regardless of circumstances. In our group, we don’t ask you to self-diagnose the difference. We help you address both, because the strategies that help with depression (behavioral activation, cognitive reframing, social connection) also help with ADHD burnout.
What if I can’t even get myself to the sessions?
This is one of the most common concerns, and we take it seriously. We offer evening sessions, weekend sessions, and telehealth options. We also understand that depression makes everything harder. There is no judgment if you miss a session. We check in, we leave the door open, and you come back when you can. Many of our members have been exactly where you are.
Is group therapy enough for depression, or do I need individual therapy too?
For many people, group therapy provides a complete and effective treatment for depression, especially when it’s intertwined with ADHD. The combination of skills training, peer support, and structured accountability is powerful. Some members also see an individual therapist concurrently, which we fully support. We can help you figure out what makes sense for your situation during an initial consultation.
Will I have to share things I’m not ready to share?
Never. You decide what you share and when you share it. There is no pressure to disclose anything before you are ready. Many people spend their first few sessions just listening, and that is respected and welcomed. The group is a place to heal at your pace, not someone else’s.
What if medication isn’t working for me?
Therapy and medication often work best together, but therapy can be effective on its own. Many members come to us because medication alone hasn’t been enough, or because they haven’t found the right medication yet. Our approach addresses the behavioral, cognitive, and social dimensions of depression that medication alone cannot reach. We are happy to coordinate with your prescribing provider if you have one.
