The Use of Hypnotherapy for Depression

Did you know that nearly 9.5% of the American population suffers from depression? That adds up to 18.8 million people at any given point in time. Depression is a serious illness that needs to be checked in time and treated well. Depression has no particular age of onset and can affect anyone. It is a mood disorder and has varying symptoms that manifest in different ways in different people. The most common symptoms of depression are a lack of interest in what is going on around the person and a general feeling of "sadness".

Depression is usually treated with mild to strong medication, depending upon the severity of the symptoms and the extent of the illness. However, in recent times, using hypnotherapy for depression has emerged as an effective option, since it treats the person as a whole. Therapy that addresses the person and not just the symptoms is usually found to be more effective.

Hypnotherapy for Depression Treatment: How is it better?
Hypnotherapy opens the doorway to a person’s sub-conscious. The key to understanding and treating depression lies in helping the individual regain his sense of self worth. Psychotropic medication only treats the physiological symptoms of depression, while the root cause of an individual’s depression is not addressed through medication. Using hypnotherapy for depression is a way to address the cause of the depression by accessing the subconscious. Hypnotherapists say that depression leads to a state of negative self hypnosis, where the individual is convinced of all things negative, and the aim of the therapy is to remove these thoughts and feelings.

• Move in a Positive Direction: Hypnotherapy for depression helps the patient move in a positive direction through post hypnotic suggestions. Hypnosis helps a patient to learn psychological coping skills.
• Positive Way Out of the Predicament: Hypnotic suggestion is given to the person to believe that it is possible to change the negative self suggestion and to reduce feelings of guilt and self blame. Hypnotherapy helps the person to make positive choices again.
• Countering and Refuting Negative Thoughts: Depression is a thought process that leads an individual to believe that everything is hopeless, leading to a pessimistic outlook. Hypnotherapy for depression makes the patient rehearse coping skills that become embedded in the subconscious. This helps the patient deal with situations that he has been perceiving as negative or depressing.
• Self Hypnosis: Hypnotherapy for depression also including teaching the person self hypnosis, in order to achieve a sense of inner calm. Deep relaxation helps to focus on the energy without wasting it on negativity. The sense of comfort achieved through self hypnosis helps the person recognize that they can be comfortable with themselves as well.

Hypnotherapy for depression focuses mainly on removing the negative beliefs of an individual. Depression can make a person believe that the worst is always going to happen. Medication often only results in numbing the feelings of the person but does not actually do anything constructive in terms of removing the self doubt and low self esteem. Through the use of hypnotherapy for depression, the clinician aims at removing this negativity.