There is clinical depression which requires medical intervention and often times long-term medication management. There are many people who wrestle with symptoms of depression which unfortunately are also routinely treated with medication.
I see individuals in my hypnosis practice who have been struggling for years or even decades with difficult situations, and overtime, they often experience chronic sadness, stress, insomnia, and depression-like symptoms. Unfortunately the treatment of choice for these individuals is the same for those with clinical depression.
The wonderful benefit of hypnosis is that we have access to a profoundly deep level of thought. In deep-trance hypnosis individuals are guided to cathartically release past struggles, and to begin imagining solutions, strategies, and the success that they want to experience.
This forward thinking imagery is called future-pace technique and this is why it is so effective. The subconscious does not know the difference between what is real or imagined. So during hypnosis, the client is guided to envision how all their ultimate success will look and feel.
Clients receive a recording of the session for home reinforcement. With the repetition, listening to sessions every day, the subconscious begins to establish inner changes supporting what it perceives as a new reality.
Whenever personal struggle the individual has endured that led to the chronic sadness is re-framed in a new light. It’s amazing how quickly the one’s perspective can change as a result of such a deep mindful moment. Problems once thought to be insurmountable are quickly seen more as temporary and manageable.
Regardless of the problems a client may carry into my office on their first visit, most feel surprisingly disconnected and free of the problem at the conclusion of the session. Without repetition, that feeling of freedom is momentary. By repeating the process daily for a couple of months the space between the new you and the old you continues to grow.
By: Paul Gustafson RN CH
