Depression

Depression can creep up on you or hit you suddenly.  You may have had a depressed mood that felt as if it would never go and lasted most of the day.  You may have lost interest or pleasure in something that previously really important for you.

You probably experience sleep disturbances and feel fatigued much of the time.  You might also experience weight changes, agitation, feelings of worthlessness, excessive or inappropriate guilt, poor concentration, even thoughts about death and suicide.

Most of us experience loss, disappointment, rejection, humiliation and many other painful experiences over a lifetime.  It is how your mind interprets these events that affects your overall mental health.

Depressive Thought Patterns

If you suffer from depression then your outlook on life may be somewhat different.  Typically events are:

  • Taken very personally
  • Considered permanent and not temporary
  • Affect all of your life and not just a small part of it.

The thoughts that go behind these ideas are built deeply into the unconscious mind but they can be changed.

  • You can learn to not take things personally, that it is not your fault.
  • You can realize that events just happen beyond your control and that they pass and are not so important.
  • You can understand that events in life do not affect your whole life just one area of it and only for a short while.

It is one thing to understand the problem. The hard part is to find a way to change these set ways of thinking and then to be able to apply them when you need them.

At one time, depression and hypnosis were thought to be incompatible. But recent depression hypnosis techniques have proven highly effective in the treatment of depressive illness.

Under hypnosis cognitive, behavioral and psychotherapeutic techniques can be used to teach new skills to interpret life’s events in a more empowering way.

  • Types of Depression

    Depressive disorders come in different forms, just as is the case with other illnesses such as heart disease. This is a brief description of three of the most common types of depressive disorders. However, within these types there are variations in the number of symptoms, their severity, and persistence. Read More

  • Causes of Depression

    Depression can be triggered by medical illnesses, biological vulnerabilities, brain structure changes due to drugs or infections, genetic makeup and trauma. Read More

  • Symptoms of Depression

    Some people experience a few symptoms, some many. Severity of symptoms varies with individuals and also varies over time. Read More

 

Range of Treatments

  • Hypnosis For Depression
  • Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
  • Diet
  • Exercise
  • Bright Light Boxes (SAD)
  • Controlling Internal Voice
  • Allergy Control
  • Stopping Smoking
  • Reducing Worry
  • Dominant Thought Training
  • Brain Wave Training
  • Negative Ion Generators
  • Improving Sleep Patterns
  • Prescription Drugs Short Term

Greatest Risks To Depression

  • Stressful life
  • Marital conflict
  • Physical or sexual abuse (past or present)
  • Economic deprivation
  • Inadequate social skills
  • Inadequate problem solving skills
  • Inadequate self management skills
  • Dysfunctional ways of thinking
  • Other coexisting conditions (anxiety, drug dependence, alcoholism etc.)

Many of these risks can be overcome by learning the right skills to control thoughts and behaviour. Some or more difficult to change but can be modified by adopting a different view of the world; perhaps even a different philosophy of life.