Hypnosis for depression and anxiety can help you overcome the feelings of sadness, worthlessness, and guilt that make your life seem like a long, gray winter with no sign of spring.
The Pain of Depression and Anxiety
Millions of people face each day with dread instead of anticipation. Depression* and anxiety* overwhelm them.
Depression is not the same as grief. Grief happens because of the death or loss of someone or something important. Depression, rather, is a general loss of enthusiasm for life, a hopelessness that things will ever change for the better.
And anxiety is not fear of a verifiable danger. Anxiety is a constant fear of all the bad things that “might” happen.
In anxiety and depression, the feelings of fear and sadness aren’t always rational, but they are no less painful. Maybe it makes them more painful, because if a wolf were literally at the door, there would be hope of defeating it or it might give up and go away.
For the person suffering with depression and anxiety, every cause for sadness and fear is competing with twenty other reasons, often mutually exclusive, and every one of them urgent and relentless.
The Anxiety and Depression Association of America says, “Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population every year.” Many of those people suffer from depression also.
What Causes Depression and Anxiety?
The Anxiety and Depression Association of America attributes depression and anxiety to “a complex set of risk factors”:
- Genetics
- Brain chemicals
- Personality
- Life events
It’s not clear how these factors work together.
Women, for example, are twice as likely to have anxiety disorders than men are, writes Sean P. Egen at Elements Behavioral Health.
Women are also more likely to suffer from depression than men. Depressed men tend to express the condition in tiredness, irritability, and anger. Depressed women tend to feel sad, worthless, and guilty, says the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.
Others note the importance of external circumstances.
Dainius Puras, writing in the Health and Human Rights Journal, said, “There exists compelling evidence that higher prevalence of depression is strongly linked to early childhood adversities, including toxic stress and sexual, physical, or emotional child abuse, as well as to inequalities and violence, including gender-based inequalities and gender-based violence, and many other adverse conditions which people, especially those in vulnerable situations such as poverty or social exclusion, face when their basic needs are not met and their rights are not protected.”
Others suggest that anxiety may be hereditary, although it’s not clear if it’s a genetic disposition or if people learn it from their parents and caregivers, says Sean P. Egen in Elements Behavioral Health.
Whatever the external influences, brain scans of people with anxiety disorders often show evidence of chemical imbalances, says DoSomething.org.
It is, as the Anxiety and Depression Association of America said, a “complex mix of factors.” Do the chemicals cause the depression or anxiety or does the brain’s chemistry respond to feelings of fear and sadness? Is there a certain personality type that handles external circumstances in a healthy or unhealthy way?
Treatments for Depression and Anxiety
The complex mix of causes points to a complex mix of therapies, says Sean P. Egen of Elements Behavioral Health:
- Medication to correct the chemical imbalances
- Talk therapy (psychotherapy)
- Coping strategies
- Alternative therapies such as yoga, meditation, and acupuncture
The consensus among various practitioners is that even if they prescribe medications, the chemicals work best in concert with non-chemical therapies, such as psychotherapy or counseling.
One treatment that has recently been discovered is the connection between allergies and anxiety. In January 2020, Furnace Compare, wrote about this connection. “A variety of recent studies show a direct correlation between allergies and anxiety. There are many suspected reasons for this, from the body’s natural response to inflammation to the psychological stress of feeling sick, but the latest research leaves little doubt that those who suffer from allergies are at higher risk for anxiety (though the reverse does not seem to be true).”
Hypnosis for Depression and Anxiety
Hypnotherapy is another treatment that can deliver good results for depression and anxiety.
Robert London, M.D., writing in Psychology Today, said, “Hypnosis can help patients working on issues such as smoking cessation, weight control, nail biting, phobia mastery, insomnia, anxiety, including PTSD, poor sexual function, obsessive thinking, and stress-related problems that might be rooted in such physical problems as hypertension, headache, or chronic pain problems.”
How does hypnosis work for anxiety and depression?
Diane Zimberoff of The Wellness Institute says hypnosis helps replace the trauma with positivity. “With each healing session of clinical hypnotherapy, we can replace the fearful repetitive thoughts that often haunt people following a traumatic experience. Positive affirmations now work because the underlying emotional release has been accomplished.”
In my practice of hypnosis for depression and anxiety, I help you communicate with the parts of yourself that may not be on the same page. As when part of you knows that flying is safe and part of you is terrified anyway.
You have it within yourself to live a rich, full life. You can deal with the sadness and fear that everyone must face without having it overwhelm your life. Hypnosis can help you bring that confident, competent person to the surface.
Here’s a testimonial from one of my former clients:
I came to Judith for help with stress and anxiety and noticed a difference after just the first session. . . . Hypnosis doesn’t magically get rid of negative feelings like stress and anxiety, but it helps you find the roots of those feelings so you can learn ways to manage them and not let them control your life. I’m so glad I was open to trying hypnotherapy. It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
If you’re working with a medical practitioner, perhaps taking medication to manage symptoms, I can work in cooperation with the other therapies you’re receiving. I don’t practice medicine, prescribe drugs, or practice psychotherapy.
Instead, I help you shift your limiting beliefs, achieve your goals, and enhance your wellness, without drugs and in a surprisingly short time.
Researchers from the University of Utah School Medicine reported on a study they conducted in 2010, saying that “hypnosis represents a rapid, cost-effective, non-addictive alternative to medication for the treatment of anxiety-related conditions.”
You don’t have to suffer with unfounded fears and baseless sadness. Hypnosis for depression and anxiety can help.
Make an appointment today for a free half-hour discovery session.
And enjoy my “Hypnosis to Uplift Your Spirit.”
VERY IMPORTANT
* Anxiety and depression must be diagnosed and medically managed by a doctor or licensed therapist.
Photo by Peter Conlan on Unsplash
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