Depression strikes millions of people across the globe, not just one or two domains of life—but work performance, relationships, and physical health as well. The traditional methods of medication and cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) have helped most, but more and more are now turning in increasing numbers to alternative or complementary therapies. Among the new alternatives gaining acceptance is hypnotherapy.
Most commonly used to treat fear or help in quitting smoking, hypnotherapy is now a viable treatment for depression and hypnotherapy for anxiety. So how does it work? Can accessing the subconscious mind really help lift mood and stabilize emotions?
Let’s discuss how hypnotherapy can help a person with depression and why it is good for emotional health in the long run.
Understanding Depression and Its Roots
Depression is not sadness. Depression is a long-standing mental disorder with symptoms of persistent hopelessness, lethargy, pessimism, and inability to enjoy activities in daily life. Depression has many causes that range from untreated trauma to chronic stress, hereditary illness, and biochemical imbalance.
Most of these underlying causes are located in the subconscious mind—a domain of the psyche that hypnotherapy is specifically trained to access. With direct access to subconscious emotional memory and belief, hypnotherapy can uncover hidden depression triggers and heal more deeply.
What Is Hypnotherapy?
Hypnotherapy is an interactive guided session where a trained hypnotherapist will lead you to a deeper state of relaxed conscious awareness known as trance. Since you are relaxed, your conscious mind becomes less agitated while your subconscious mind can actually absorb positive suggestions and emotional re-programming.
Contrary to popular myths, you never lose control when undergoing hypnotherapy. You will never be “asleep” or “out of it”—you will be calm and awake but open to suggestions that can modify your patterns of thinking and feeling responses.
How Hypnotherapy Relieves Depression
Replacing Negative Thought Patterns
Chronic self-negative thinking is the second personality of depression—”I am not good enough,” “It will never get better,” or “I am not capable of doing things.” Such negative thoughts usually occur because of early experiences or traumatic events well-settled in the subconscious mind.
Hypnotherapy avoids such self-defeating thought processes by employing positive affirmations and reframing processes when your subconscious mind is in a receptive state to suggestions. This can lead to permanent alteration in your world and self-concepts.
Healing Emotional Trauma
Most people suffering from depression are carrying around untapped emotional baggage—be it abandonment as a child, loss, or betrayal. These remain things that might still be controlling your behavior and mood, albeit unconsciously.
In sessions of hypnotherapy, you might be invited to relive and re-do traumatic memories safely, in controlled circumstances. It may permit release and healing at an emotional level, loosening the grip of these memories upon your mind.
That is also the reason why depression and anxiety hypnotherapy also happen together, since both illnesses could be a manifestation of the very same unresolved emotional patterns.
Restoring Motivation and Self-Esteem
Depression tends to induce paralysis—what is easy to do is too much, and even simple self-care begins to seem futile. Hypnotherapy can re-stimulate motivation by planting subliminal suggestions that renew your faith in yourself, instill confidence, and plant a new sense of direction.
You can visualize yourself moving a little further in the right direction each day, building more and more momentum towards healing. Such visualization, infused with trance, can be translated into actual changes in behavior that promote healing.
Facilitating Relaxation and Stress Reduction
While hypnotherapy is used to heal depression, it is also widely used as hypnotherapy for anxiety since it is extremely calming. Depression and anxiety are companions, and the extremely relaxed condition created by treatment reduces cortisol, relaxes tightened muscles, and calms spinning thoughts.
Home listening to recorded hypnotherapy sessions or practicing self-hypnosis can produce lasting relief from stress, stabilize mood, and prevent relapse.
Creating a Positive Future Vision
Depression can fog up vision and render it impossible to imagine a better tomorrow. Hypnotherapy enables clients to picture themselves in a healthier, happier state—fully engaged in rewarding relationships, relishing activities of daily living, and coping emotionally.
This internal practice makes neural pathways of optimism, resilience, and hopefulness, all antidepressants.
Is Hypnotherapy Right for You?
While hypnotherapy in Los Angeles is no overnight miracle or silver bullet, it may be a beneficial addition to an integrative treatment plan. It may prove to be most useful in combination with other therapies such as therapy, medications (as needed), exercise, and change of lifestyle.
If you already have hypnotherapy on your mind as an anxiety assistant, having it part of your agenda to get over depression is a perfectly reasonable step. There are different capable hypnotherapists who work with mood disorders and are ready to tailor sessions according to your personal needs and objectives.
Final thoughts
Depression hypnotherapy represents a caring and effective method of gaining access to the subconscious roots of emotional pain, reconditioning hurtful patterns, and opening to healing and growth. It is particularly beneficial when supplemented by conventional treatments and can be a liberating experience for those who are feeling entrapped in their recovery plan.
If you are prepared to break the grip of depression and experiment with a fresh solution, you may find it worth taking an appointment with a qualified hypnotherapist. Assistance is available.
