Depression is a serious condition and as many as 5 to 10% of the general popular could have it to a lesser or larger extent. Apart from therapy and antidepressant medications, hypnotherapy for depression is now gaining popularity as an effective and natural way to combat the condition.
Hypnotherapy could be a solution for depressed individuals who have tried other treatment options which have not worked. Hypnotherapy for depression can work as an adjunct to therapy or as a standalone treatment for those who wish not to make pharmaceuticals part of their treatment.
How does hypnotherapy work for depression?
Most often hypnotherapy is used as a supplement to psychotherapy. The depressed individual is able to explore painful emotions, traumatic occurrences while in the hypnotic state. The person will be able to dredge up feelings and memories that lie buried or dormant and work through them.
Hypnotherapy for depression works in two ways: Suggestion therapy and Analysis. In suggestion therapy, the person responds to certain suggestions so that they can change behavior, perceptions and emotions. It can help change habits and overcome pain. The analysis approach tries to detect the cause of the depression – whether it is due to a past trauma or repressed memories, abuse and other occurrences.
People get over their anxieties or fears, even their phobias. Hypnotherapy could also resolve sleep disorders and help people overcome bad habits and eating disorders. It can help a person come to terms with bereavement, grief or loss and could also help manage post trauma anxiety. In cases hypnotherapy could help in pain management and crisis management.
How effective is hypnotherapy for depression?
A lot of people do achieve great success in combating their depression with the help of hypnotherapy. However it may not be as simple and effortless as a lot of websites may suggest. A trained and experienced hypnotherapist could indeed manage to resolve a person’s depression and ease symptoms to a very large extent. However there are quacks who promise a lot and deliver very little if not cause actual damage of whom one has to beware.
There is a risk that false memories are created because some people tend to be more suggestive. So this therapy is not recommended for dissociative disorders.
Also hypnotherapy for depression may not work when a person’s depressive symptoms are very severe or psychotic in nature. If a person suffers from delusions and hallucinations, this therapy may be less effective or ineffective.
