http://www.hypnocenter.com
A man who had been a "golden-boy" as a child
and who became a successful businessman as a young adult, suddenly and without
explanation falls into a deep and overwhelming "funk." [His name for it.] An
elderly woman is deeply unhappy. Twice widowed, she marries a third time, but
rather than experiencing solace and companionship, she experiences deep
suffering, with many physical problems.
Here are two people
suffering from depression, one acute, the other chronic. The
condition is so painful, and the depressed person so
needful, that skilled help is essential. However, most
hypnotherapists I know do not touch the problem of
depression, either out of fear or lack of training. Also,
almost nothing is written about the use of altered state
methods in helping alleviate repressive symptoms, or in
getting at their root causes. Most counselors who use
"talking out things" as their basic therapy are used to
dealing with depression and anxiety. However, for many
people, talk therapy can seem to take forever; and, often,
even when the reasons for the depression are known, the
depression symptoms remain."
What is depression? How
does it affect people? Depression is not "the blues."
Feeling blue is a temporary condition. Depression seems like
it will never end. It can last for weeks or months--even
many years. Long-term depression is insidious because it can
give rise to other conditions and symptoms, some of which
can be very serious. Chronic depression can lead to loss of
memory, loss of appetite (or a ravenous appetite),
nutritional deficiencies and physical problems. It can lead
to difficulty in thinking ahead, procrastination over even
small tasks, feelings of great sadness that never lift and
tremendous guilt: "How can I feel this way when I have
everything - good home, good family, etc." Depression can
lead to daily suicidal thoughts.
Depressed people often
dislike being with other people, in part because they fear
that the serious nature of their depression will be
discovered. This can develop into full-blown agoraphobia,
where the sufferer cannot stand to be outside at all and
therefore becomes more and more isolated. The irony is that
a depressed person needs the help of others, badly. Yet,
they find it difficult to reach out for the help that could
save them. The embarrassment and guilt, plus belief that
others don’t understand what’s happening to them, sends out
negative energy that repulses others, and, thus, increases
the depressed person’s isolation.
One of the major reasons
depressed people cease asking for help are the responses
they are likely to get. "Pull-yourself-up-by-your bootstrap
philosophies" may work for "the blues," but they are totally
unhelpful to a person caught in a serious depression. Loved
ones who must deal with a depressed spouse, parent or friend
find themselves very frustrated. If they have never
experienced depression themselves, they are inclined to make
suggestions about exercising, getting out more, finding
things to do, see a doctor, etc.
One of the major symptoms
of a deeply depressed person is the inability to do anything
at all, even small things. It is not that the person isn't
aware that "getting out" of themselves would help; it is
that they feel incapable of doing so. All the conscious
desires in the world do not seem to conquer the dreadful and
overwhelming experience of apathy. That is because it is
imbedded in the "unconscious" part of the mind - not the
conscious level. It is in the unconscious mind that real
changes must take place.
Treating depression with
hypnotherapy.
More frequently than not,
debilitating events, hurts or negative evaluations are
absorbed by and buried in the subconscious memory. The
victim is totally unaware of the sources of these troubled
feelings, fears, self-doubt and depression. Other than
temporary "blues," or depression due to being caught in the
midst of what seems like an unending problem, the causes of
most chronic depression lie hidden. They are like the center
of an onion. Layers of denial and other experiences have
grown one on top of the other over a period of time,
obscuring the root causes of depression. To get to the heart
of depression, these layers need to be peeled away, one by
one, and each successive layer tenderly cared for until it
is time to move on to the next. Peeling is healing.
Hypnosis can help the
"peeling" process move more quickly, and easily, than
traditional talk therapy. Through hypnotherapy it is
possible to set aside the conscious mind so that a person
can seek, locate and uncover detrimental memories that
adversely affect their personality. In discovering and
understanding such problems, people are freed from the past
and are helped to open new doors for opportunity and health.
Hypnosis can help with
many aspects of depression. It is not intended to replace
counseling or medication, nor is it a "magic wand" that
miraculously causes all symptoms to evaporate. Yet, it can
be a very powerful therapy, for many reasons. Hypnosis can
help a person function with less medication or, possibly, do
without medication, entirely. It can help speed the healing
of physical issues. It can assist a person to find the
motivation to take actions and to make decisions. It can
change negative talk and cynicism into a positive
affirmation of life.
Two examples illustrate
the power of hypnotherapy:
A depressed young man
A 35-year old male client
of mine had been the "golden-boy" of his family and schools
all through his formative years and had become a successful,
well-to-to businessman at an early age. Suddenly, without
warning, he went into a deep depression. He had never
experienced anything like that before and could not
understand why this had happened. His counseling sessions
had revealed nothing. He came to me because a friend had
suggested that hypnosis might be helpful.
After an extensive
intake/interview, and some basic hypnotic testing, I led him
into a deeper relaxed state, or trance, that is, state of
hypnotic awareness. After giving suggestions concerning his
feelings of comfort and assurances of security, I asked the
deeper mind, of Higher Consciousness, to take him to the
initiating event that caused the depression. In doing what
is called "age-regression," we came upon an experience when
my client was three years old that was of special importance
in understanding his depression. As a 3-year old child, he
had misunderstood some relatively simple occurrence. Simple
incidents, especially when taken negatively, may serve as
destructive symbols later in a person's life. With this
recollection, my client recalled that his own son had just
reached his third birthday. At an unconscious level, the
mind had made a connection between his 3-year old son and
his own 3-year old self. Once this connection between past
and present was revealed, and the childhood event was
reinterpreted, the client’s unconscious misunderstanding was
cleared, and his depression lifted.
A depressed elderly woman
An elderly woman came to
me in despair. She was in deep depression, had many physical
problems, and had been in profound grief for over
twenty-five years. Her childhood had been a nightmare, and
her first marriage, to a man whom she did not love, was a
way of escaping a deeply disturbing family situation. Her
first two husbands had died, and, currently, she was married
to a third. Yet, she was very unhappy, preferring to live a
life that made her miserable to having to face living alone.
In her second marriage,
however, she was genuinely in love. In trying to get at the
cause of her depression and grief, through the use of
hypnosis, more was revealed about the circumstances of her
second husband's death. The woman and her beloved husband
had been severely burned in a trailer. Both had been
hospitalized. She survived; her husband did not. In fact,
she never saw him again after the accident. The awareness
that she had never been able to say goodbye - that there had
been no closure and that she had never released him - was a
profound discovery to her. This startling insight, and the
opportunity to "speak" to her husband and say her farewells,
immediately lifted the grief of over 25 years. According to
my client, after seven years, the depression had never
reoccurred.
Deaths of family members
and friends can trigger the onset of depression. For some
people it is a temporary state; for others it becomes
long-term. Dealing with the grief that had held her in
bondage allowed other issues to be released, for this woman,
while she was in the hypnotic state. She found it necessary
to say her "good-byes," as well, to parents and others who
had been injurious to her life, from early childhood on into
her young adulthood. With the lifting of this woman’s
depression, there was new energy that allowed her to work on
other pressing issues: her self-esteem, communication with
her current husband and her chronic physical problems. Prior
to this, throughout her years of counseling and medical
doctors none of this had been possible, at a conscious
state. The depression and her other issues were buried
deeply within her subconscious self. It was at that level
that her transforming work had to go on, in order for those
issues to be released, and for her life to be newly defined.
Hypnotic tools seem to do this most effectively.
Dealing with Accompanying
Symptoms of Depression
Depression may cause
low self-esteem, or be caused by low self-esteem.
Depression may be unnoticed in early stages, but its
influence spreads slowly throughout the mind. It may not be
recognized until it is full-blown and demoralizingly
destructive. Usually, the primary cause of low self-esteem
is negative programming from the past. It may be a product
of judgmental parents, teachers or other authority figures.
Low self-esteem may also come from humiliating events or
prolonged under-achievement.
Hypnosis is especially
helpful in building a person's self-esteem and confidence.
It can relieve a client of unnecessary guilt over their
inability to cope with incidents in their lives over which
they had no control. Such personal issues are at the heart
of our ability to function successfully as human beings.
One’s self-esteem and confidence level affect every aspect
of life. It is difficult for a person to show confidence
when he or she views oneself as less than others, or feels
unworthy of receiving happiness or success in life.
Hypnosis is an important
technique in helping a person do away with unnecessary fears
that block them from moving on with their lives. Elimination
of any fear of failure (or its counterpart, fear of success)
is essential to generating the positive motivation to
continue. People need a sense of direction and short-term,
quickly achievable goals as first steps to providing
convincing proof that their depression is lifting. Over
time, the long-term results can be significant. Mood and
energy levels increase, compulsive and psychosomatic
symptoms fade and emotions become understandable. Clients
move toward self-direction and greater interpersonal
involvement. Self-derogation is reduced, and positive
feelings about life's possibilities develop, often rapidly.
A Caution
In working with an issue
as serious as deep depression, or chronic anxiety, I cannot
emphasize, enough, the important of advanced training in
hypnotic work, and in counseling techniques. I feel that
hypnotherapists who believe that their basic training allows
them to work with any symptom can do much harm. This is an
area requiring skill beyond the usual hypnotic suggestions
for positive action.
Additional training and
experience in methods that go beyond giving positive
suggestions is crucial for such problems as depression and
deep anxiety. Due to the many symptoms that can be
indicative of depression, and the great variation of each
client’s history and personality, the therapist who works
with these kinds of issues must have a large "kit-bag" of
counseling and hypnotic tools, with a sensitive instinct in
how to use them. Once the initiation event is uncovered, and
the primary depression released, then hypnosis continues to
be superb in its ability to help with other symptoms.
The case of the depressed
elder, given earlier, is a good example of the importance of
using a combination of profound and sensitive counseling and
hypnotic techniques. Therapists who work with depression, or
chronic anxiety, must be skilled, not just in taking someone
back in time to an initiating event. They must have
instincts and training that allow them to know what to do
once that event is uncovered. The skill is in discerning the
best way to help the client release the hold an initiating
event has on their psyche, and to discover what the next
steps are for total healing. It requires sensitivity and
experience to make connections between various events in
one’s life, current issues, and anything uncovered during
hypnosis. It requires sensitivity and experience to know
what to do with those connections.
Conclusion
There are many therapies
that can be helpful to a depressed person. Our Western
medicine offers medications, and sometimes can locate
problems in the body that either cause or exacerbate the
issues, such as an endrocine system imbalance. Eastern
medicine offers acupuncture and herbs that can help.
Homeopathy and naturopathic medicine offer help. Certainly,
talk-therapy can be helpful in realizing that many people go
through such feelings. It can help a client gain an
awareness that may point them in new directions.
Yet, with a skilled
therapist, I know of no other methods that are as quick, and
work as profoundly at life-long change, as hypnotic
processes. Hypnotic processes are methods that work at the
unconscious or subconscious aspects of the mind where the
real experiences, attitudes, motivation and fears have
been programmed. It is necessary to reach that level,
through whatever means can reach that deeper self. By doing
so, it is possible to release whatever puts the person into
bondage, and to reprogram them to move into the future,
freely, unhampered by previous physical, psychological and
spiritual understandings.
In summary, hypnosis,
along with counseling, can be used, effectively, in
releasing a person from acute and long-term depression.
Hypnosis can be used to build self-esteem, encourage
decisions and actions, and turn a negative life-approach to
a positive one. It can help a person deal with fears and
phobias, assist their body in becoming stronger, and help
them toward building better personal relationships. Hypnotic
methods can assist the client to deal with many other
symptoms they may have exhibited. Most important of all,
releasing the hold of the past over the person’s current
life allows all of the above to fall into place, far more
readily and easily.
Be
confident, more relaxed and in control. Be successful in
love, work and so much more! 
