Depression therapy with a psychologist, online across New Zealand

What is depression?

Depression is more than a low patch. It is a persistent change in mood, energy and interest that lasts at least two weeks and gets in the way of ordinary life: work, sleep, appetite, concentration and relationships. It is not a character flaw, and evidence-based psychological therapies such as behavioural activation, CBT and ACT help many people recover.

Low mood or depression? How to tell the difference

Everyone has flat weeks. A rough patch at work, a relationship ending, a long grey Wellington winter: your mood dips, and then, given time and a few decent nights' sleep, it lifts. That is low mood, and it is part of being human.

Depression is different in three ways. It persists: most days, most of the day, for at least two weeks and often much longer. It is pervasive: it doesn't lift when something good happens, and the things that used to help, a surf, a coffee with a mate, a weekend away, don't reach you the way they did. And it interferes: with sleep and appetite, with concentration, with getting to work, with being present for your kids or your partner.

Healthify He Puna Waiora, New Zealand's health information website, puts it simply: about one in six people in New Zealand experience depression at some point in their lives. The 2024/25 New Zealand Health Survey found about one in ten adults wanted professional help for their mental health in the past year and didn't get it. If you're reading this at midnight wondering whether you count, you probably count enough to talk to someone.

How depression shows up

Depression doesn't always look like sadness. Some of the ways people describe it:

• The alarm goes and the day ahead feels like a weight on your chest before you have moved.
• You stand in the kitchen unable to decide what to eat, so you don't.
• You've stopped replying to the group chat and told yourself nobody noticed.
• Your partner asks what's wrong and the honest answer is "nothing, and everything".
• You function at work, then sit in the car in the driveway because walking inside takes more than you have.
• You snap at people, then lie awake replaying it. Irritability is a common face of depression, especially in men.
• Everything is slower: thinking, talking, deciding. Or you're agitated and can't settle.
• A voice narrates your failures with a certainty that feels like truth.

Some people feel empty rather than sad. Some keep smiling and performing, and are exhausted by the gap between the outside and the inside. Depression can sit alongside anxiety, grief, burnout, chronic pain or a new baby, and it is worth naming each of those rather than treating everything as one problem.

Behavioural activation: starting with what you do, not how you feel

Depression shrinks your world. You stop doing things because you have no energy or pleasure, and doing less removes the very experiences that would lift your mood, so you feel worse and do less again. Behavioural activation (BA) targets that loop directly.

Rather than waiting to feel motivated, you and your psychologist work out which activities matter to you, connection, movement, mastery, routine, and schedule small, specific versions of them: a ten-minute walk to the dairy, texting one friend, cooking one meal instead of ordering in. You track what happens to your mood, and adjust. It sounds too simple. It is also one of the most carefully tested treatments for depression: a large UK trial of 440 people found behavioural activation delivered by junior practitioners was no less effective than CBT delivered by experienced professional therapists at twelve months, and cheaper.

BA is often where therapy begins at Mindwell when energy is very low, because it asks for behaviour, not insight, and because it gives you something to do between sessions that works.

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CBT and ACT: working with the thinking and the struggle

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for depression works with the harsh, absolute thinking that depression generates and then presents as fact: "I'm a burden", "nothing will change", "everyone else copes". You learn to notice these thoughts as events in your mind rather than verdicts, to test them against evidence, and to respond to yourself the way you would to a friend. CBT also includes the behavioural work above, and attention to sleep, rumination and avoidance. It is one of the most extensively researched psychological therapies for depression and appears across clinical guidelines, including NICE's 2022 guideline for adults.

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) takes a different angle. Instead of arguing with depressive thoughts, you learn to loosen their grip, "I'm having the thought that I'm a burden", make room for difficult feelings rather than fighting them, and reconnect with what you value so that you can act on it even when mood hasn't caught up. A 2015 meta-analysis of 39 trials found ACT outperformed control conditions and was comparable to established treatments, including CBT, for depression and anxiety.

In practice, your psychologist will draw on the approach, or blend, that suits how you think and what you've tried before. Our CBT and ACT pages explain each in more depth.

What about medication?

Psychologists don't prescribe, and we won't tell you to start, stop or change medication. We can give you general information and help you have a good conversation with your GP.

The general picture from guidelines is this. For less severe depression, NICE recommends psychological therapies first and advises against routinely offering antidepressants as a first step unless that is the person's preference. For more severe depression, a combination of therapy and medication is commonly considered. Many people do well with therapy alone; others find medication gives them enough lift to engage with therapy. Both are legitimate.

If you're already taking an antidepressant, therapy works alongside it. If you're wondering whether medication might help, or want to come off it, that conversation belongs with your GP or a psychiatrist, and your psychologist can help you prepare for it, including noting what you've observed about your mood so the appointment is useful.

Does online therapy work for depression?

Yes. A 2022 systematic review in Psychological Medicine pooled nine randomised trials comparing telehealth with face-to-face care for depression and found no difference in depression severity after treatment, and no difference in satisfaction. A broader 2021 meta-analysis of video-delivered psychotherapy reached the same conclusion, with the strongest evidence for CBT for mood and anxiety problems.

For depression specifically, the format removes a real barrier. When getting dressed and driving across Hamilton to a clinic feels impossible, turning on a laptop at your kitchen table is not. Nobody sees you in a waiting room. If you live rurally, or your mobility or transport is limited, you have the same access as someone in central Auckland. And your psychologist sees you in your actual environment, which makes behavioural activation planning more concrete: they can see the running shoes by the door.

Online therapy isn't right for everyone. If you are at high risk, or need a level of monitoring a weekly video call can't provide, your psychologist can talk with you about connecting with local services as well.

Free and low-cost options in New Zealand

Private psychology is one option among several, and for mild depression it may not be the one to start with.

• Just a Thought (justathought.co.nz) offers a free, self-guided online CBT course for depression in six short lessons, worked through at your own pace. It suits milder low mood and people who want to try something on their own first.
• Your GP can assess you, discuss medication if relevant, and refer you to free support within the practice or to community mental health services if things are more serious.
• 1737, free to call or text 24/7, connects you with a trained counsellor for support in the moment.
• Health insurance: many New Zealand policies contribute to psychologist fees, often with an annual limit. We provide receipts; see our insurance guide.

A psychologist makes sense when self-help hasn't shifted things, when depression is moderate or recurrent, when it is tangled up with other difficulties, or when you simply want someone skilled walking alongside you. Our guide to getting help in New Zealand lays out the pathways.

If you're having thoughts of suicide

Thoughts of not wanting to be here, or of ending your life, are a recognised symptom of depression. They are more common than people admit, they can be talked about, and psychologists are used to talking about them directly and without alarm.

Mindwell is not a crisis service, and a weekly video session is not the right support if you are in immediate danger. In that case call 111. If you need to talk to someone now, call or text 1737, free, any time, or call Lifeline on 0800 543 354 (7am to midnight). Your GP can also arrange urgent support.

If you are having these thoughts but are safe, therapy can still be the right place to work on them. Your psychologist can work with you on a plan for staying safe and, with your consent, involve your GP or other services.

What to expect at Mindwell

You book online without a referral, choosing a psychologist or taking the first available. First sessions are typically within 7 days. Before you meet, you'll complete a five-minute intake form so your first session can start with you rather than paperwork.

The first session maps what is happening: how long, how it started, what has helped, what hasn't, and what you want to be different. You'll agree a starting plan together. Many people begin with weekly sessions and move to fortnightly as things improve. Sessions cost $199 + GST ($228.85 incl. GST), paid at booking, with 48 hours' notice needed to change a time. What you share is confidential under the Health Information Privacy Code 2020, within the usual limits of confidentiality.

All of our psychologists list depression or low mood among their areas. Jake Meads brings a practical, skills-based style; Inge Prince's focus includes grief and mood; Katherine Lee is a good fit where low mood connects to relationships, the perinatal period or sleep; Jezebel Machado works with the relational patterns that can sit underneath low mood; and Sandy Laurenson, Jeremy Mason, Candice van der Merwe and Dan Kerr draw on CBT and ACT.

Related support: Anxiety therapy · Stress and burnout · Therapy for men · Postnatal depression and anxiety

Updated October 2026 · How we write our information