Treating depression with hypnosis

Treat depression with hypnosis

Depression has many faces. From mild depressive moods to severe depression: hypnotherapy can help.

Depression is the most widespread mental illness in the world.

The WHO estimates that every fifth person suffers from depression in their lifetime. If 20% of all people in their life go through a depression, then it is even more important for me to make hypnotherapy known in relation to depression.

Also in my work as a hypnotist in Zurich, I treat depressive clients almost every day.

The effect of hypnosis can be a great relief for depressed people. The work with the unconscious can shorten the length of depressive phases massively. It is also possible to prevent further relapses into depression with hypnosis. Before, during and after depression: hypnosis helps.

Causes of depression

In order to understand why something is, we have to find out how it came about. We can also take precautionary action if we interpret the first signs correctly. Depression can have many causes. Generally speaking, it is one of the possible reactions to strong external influences.

With very rare exceptions, we are not born depressed, but develop depression throughout our lives. This can happen gradually, with small negative changes. A sudden development is also possible. Those affected describe this as "falling into a hole".

Predisposition to depression

Depression can affect anyone. No age or gender is immune to the depressive mood. However, there are certain character traits that can promote a disease. It is interesting to note that about two thirds of the diagnosed depressives are women.

It remains to be seen whether this is due to the fact that women are more likely to seek psychological treatment or whether they tend to adopt the depression-promoting, negative ways of thinking.

Another possibility is described below for male depression. It is well known that ways of thinking can influence our way of life and determine what we focus on.

Therefore, depressive episodes are more common in people with certain negative attitudes. Below are the scientifically recognized negative ways of living and thinking and the reasons for depression:

Anxiety

Fear and anxiety can always protect us from threats or accidents. Unfortunately, it can also prevent us from making important decisions. In certain moments it is simply important to take the step. If we don't, we run the risk of falling into a spiral of being blocked.

So fear can have a great influence on the mood.

Helplessness

The helplessness makes us a boat without oars. Whether it was learned or whether the situation is actually tricky makes no difference. An important aspect of mental health is the feeling of having an influence in the world. Even if it's small things that you can determine, you still make a difference. When helplessness spreads, it can quickly lead to thoughts that reduce your self-worth.

Pessimism

If you expect something firmly, then it will most certainly come true. Not only the hypnotherapist knows this. The self-fulfilling prophecy is one of the main reasons why the pessimist has a hard time in life. With the attitude that everything will go wrong, many things will go wrong. As soon as the expected arrives and your whole life collapses over you, the pessimist's assumptions are confirmed. So next time he expects even worse, etc. This spiral causes many negative things Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Suspicious

In addition, pessimistically inclined people are often suspicious. This often leads to the fact that they rarely have good experiences in social situations. Thus the social safety net is destroyed or never created.

Dealing with failures

Every child who learns to walk knows: sometimes you fall on your face. The wrong reaction would then be to project failure onto one's own value. If analysis of the problem only leads to the thoughts "I am so bad", then this destroys self-esteem. If you look for all causes of problems only in yourself, sooner or later you will destroy yourself.

Negative self-image

"I'm worthless" is not a good starting point for anything. Other people notice consciously or unconsciously the inner attitude and react accordingly. Someone who thinks he is bad himself, is usually also found bad by others. Also here the self-fulfilling prophecy comes into play. The human being as a social animal slides so quickly into depression.

How does hypnosis help with depression?

As we have seen, depression affects almost all aspects of life. Therefore it is important to make the hypnotherapy as comprehensive as possible. For the successful treatment of depression with hypnosis most of the phenomena of trance are needed.

For the changes to be sustainable and for there to be no relapse, the dark cloud of depression must be fought on all three fronts: past, present and future.

So by means of hypnosis therapy the causes can be solved, the being can be strengthened and the future can be enlightened. In order for something to change, something must be changed. We pay attention to the two most important parts that are missing in the perception of depressives: the meaning and the energy. The sense to fill the emptiness with meaning and the energy to do what is good for us.

Advantages of hypnotherapy for depression

• Fast
• directly in the unconscious
• experience new feelings directly
• Trance phenomena
• less risk of relapse
• Self-hypnosis

Hypnotherapy of the past

In order to know why something is, we must first find out how it came about. This is also the case with healing depression.

It's never too late for a good childhood

Regression

Regression does not mean travelling back into a past life, but rather the return journey in one's own memory. Regression as one of the most important trance phenomena offers us great possibilities. If we can travel back directly into the burdening memory, it is also possible for us to change or work through it. This form of hypnosis therapy makes it possible for us to process the personal, stressful life events. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Unravel trauma

If the depression has a clear starting point, i.e. a traumatic experience, then this is of course the first clue. This trauma must usually be processed so that the depression can be treated properly. We use unconscious resources and those that were not available to the younger person in the traumatic experience. In addition, it is often important that the hypnotherapist himself is present in such situations. During the processing of traumatic experiences one relives them, but the perception is changed in the hypnotic trance. On this white the painful memories can be weakened and fade away.

Causes of negative thinking

Everything that lies behind can be addressed in this way. Even experiences that may not be perceived as particularly harmful at first glance. Especially experiences with parents often have a pink shimmer, although they often have a great influence on one's own perception. For example, if you have never been good enough for a parent, this can cause a negative self-perception, which can then lead to depression. Also bullying or the like often comes to the fore when it comes to this topic.

In general everything that leads to depressive thinking should be judged first. One of the sayings in the world of hypnosis is: "It is never too late for a beautiful childhood". In this context one can take the statement further and say that it is never too late for a positive past. A positive view of the past also has a positive influence on the present. So a sense of a good self can reappear. Also the energy that has been wasted on brooding over the past can be used for better things.

Now with hypnosis against depression

If the experience is disturbed, it can already be a great help to feel differently in the hypnotic trance. Therefore it is important to be able to experience the now, even without the influence of the past or the imagined future. In hypnosis we can at least temporarily dampen the negative feelings. If the thoughts are brought to the Now, the sense for oneself can also arise again more and more. To live in the moment and not to be burdened by old pigtails also brings more energy.

Positive experience

The first aid in depression is already the positive experience. Already in the first few minutes of the trance the positive feeling can arise. Such a positive feeling as the depressed person has not experienced for a long time.

In this way a happier mood can be experienced, which triggers many things. Especially the realization that it can pass. That there is something else outside the dark cloud, maybe even sunshine. When we go to these limits of perception and maybe even redraw them, it gives back a lot of sense and energy.

Getting back resources

The most important aspect of hypnotherapy for depression is the retrieval of resources. Even the smallest spark of energy or motivation can have a great effect. In order for the resources to be released, energy-sapping ways of thinking must make room for new, more positive prospects. The self-perception must move away from "I am bad" to "I can do it".

Changing the perspective

Among other things, the unconscious contains a huge filter system. If we change the perspective into the positive, other information is also let through, which was filtered out before. Where one has only seen the negative before, good things can suddenly be experienced. By changing the filter settings, the sense of oneself as a balanced whole can also reappear, and not just as someone who only experiences negative things.

Small steps

Logically, a depression does not disappear overnight, but perhaps the day after tomorrow. That is why it is important that we hold on to small successes. For us to have small successes, we must also set ourselves small and manageable goals. "From Monday I will no longer be depressed" is then no meaningful attitude. Depressives are often very hard on themselves. But for small successes it is important not to put too much pressure on yourself. "On Monday I get up before 10 am" would be a better alternative.

If we use hypnosis to set the filter on these successes, then everything no longer looks so gloomy. And the successes also give us a good feeling and a good sense of our own abilities. Let us stick to the small steps in the Now we can push back the dark cloud step by step. In this way we can bring back more and more resources. The energy then builds up exponentially with the "the more the more" principle.

Fun in life

Even though it may seem far away, it may be possible for depressed people to enjoy life again. Little moments of joy that show that not everything is bad. These moments of trance we can promote with hypnosis. So that you can take a step back and have a good laugh again. The capable hypnotherapist naturally also exploits the possibilities of dark humour.

Getting out

It is important to come out of yourself when you are depressed. It's not just to stay indoors, but to get outdoors. The energy for this can be released by various methods of hypnosis. So it can then happen "as if by magic" that you grow beyond yourself.

Learned helplessness

The winged expression is "the learned helplessness". Thereby people experience themselves as completely helpless and incapable of having an influence on the world. They limit their scope of action in such a way that only a negative result can come out. The feeling of powerlessness is strengthened by every failure and thus learned. During hypnosis in the Now we use different trance phenomena so that the client can experience every situation independently again.

This way the helplessness is forgotten. In addition, the successes that have been stamped as "coincidence" are analysed and linked to the own abilities. Failures are realistically attributed to the external circumstances concerned, no longer just to oneself.

Physically active

Some things can't be done in your head alone. In depression it is therefore always important that the client becomes physically active. This does not necessarily have to be extensive sport. Even small activities can help. A little walk, for example. The desire for exercise can be encouraged with hypnosis. The stamina required for regular exercise can also be strengthened. Then it is also possible that at the beginning the movement is reduced to just getting up. However, if this is done regularly and a habit can develop, the morning will have started much better.

Hypnosis for depression in the future

Many depressives describe the future as something dark and gloomy. Not seeing a future for oneself also makes it difficult to plan or make progress.

This naturally also promotes a depressive mood.

With hypnosis we build piece by piece the future, so that it can become bright and positive again.

The light at the end of the depression tunnel, so to speak.

In order to achieve this, I put my clients with depressions into the hypnotic state that makes it possible to imagine different scenarios. We imagine a future in which the depression has disappeared.

Feeling different can also show that it is not a horror without end, but that change is possible.

Conclusion hypnosis for depression

Hypnosis can help very well against depressions of all kinds. With the threefold approach in the treatment of depression with hypnosis therapy the chains of depression can be broken. Step by step the hole is left and the dark clouds are driven away.

With the effect of hypnosis therapy, depressive moods can be treated directly in the unconscious and a positive mood can be created inside.