How does Clinical Hypnotherapy Treat Depression?
Consistent research and methodology refinement have allowed hypnotherapy to progress as an advanced form of therapy to the point where clinical hypnotherapy is now regularly considered as a treatment option for depression. Working in tandem with a group of powerful psychotherapy techniques, hypnotherapy can be a highly successful form of treatment for individuals with depression.
Many of our beliefs, emotions and memories reside in the subconscious. In fact, everything we experience gets filtered through this repository of information. Most of the time, the subconscious is helpful, but the subconscious can hold a lot of unhelpful information. Negative filters can become deeply embedded in the subconscious. And these filters can then influence our moment-to-moment thoughts and feelings.
How we respond to stress, for example, is controlled almost entirely and automatically by the subconscious. If a stressful event drives you to distress, or anger, or frustration – that’s probably how your mind told you to feel. The good news is we can train our subconscious mind to be more supportive and more helpful.
Clinical hypnotherapy is useful tool in the treatment of depression because:
- Hypnotherapy helps you enter the subconscious mind. Dropping down from the conscious mind, which is only 10% of the mind into the subconscious mind. Now we are addressing the whole person, 100% of the mind rather than just treating the symptoms.
- Hypnotherapy for depression allows us to retrain the subconscious. We can, in fact, override those automatic thinking patterns that keep habits, negative thoughts and irrational responses (all factors that can contribute to depression) in place.
- Hypnotherapy treats the root causes of depression and can help depression sufferers release and overcome many maladaptive habits that have been created in order cope.
- Hypnotherapy can influence how we manage depression. For example, learning coping skills empowers us to handle many events and emotions that can trigger a depressive event – and hypnotherapy has been shown to enhance coping ability.
- Hypnotherapy can also enhance traditional therapies for depression, like cognitive behavioral therapy.
I’m considering hypnotherapy for depression, what do I do next?
If you are interested in learning more about whether hypnotherapy services through Comforts of Home Counseling would be a good choice for you, call us to set up an appointment for an initial consultation with one of our therapists. Our hypnotherapists are licensed and trained mental health professionals who have extensive training in the use of hypnotherapy as a treatment modality for anxiety, as well as other mental health issues.