Below is an article (with a few slight changes) by Dr Michael Yapko that is very relevant to this topic.
To start on a drug free solution, a person first has to be willing to let go of the traditional idea that the cause of depression is primarily biological.
Please understand it is acknowledged that some depression does have a purely biological basis but, this is the rare exception rather than the rule.
Follow the link to learn about using Law of Attraction principles to help depression.
Chronic, deep depression, as with any other sustained emotional state, has physiological correlates and what is being proposed here is that in the main, the emotional state of depression came first and then the neurochemical changes followed. Emotions reside in the unconscious mind.
"Body following mind" is commonly understood to be a true and consistent phenomenon. What is fascinating is how much the body will follow the mind.
For example, there is the famous case of "The Production of the So-called 'Rose Cold' by Means of an Artificial Rose". This case is written by Dr. John Noland MacKenzie, a nineteenth-century Baltimore physician. The story details how one of his patients, a 32-year old woman, experiences debilitating symptoms when exposed to a number of stimuli including the odor of hay and roses.
Her symptoms included violent coryza (watery eyes and runny nose) and severe attacks accompanied by high temperatures ranging from 100 to 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Dr. Noland, suspecting there was more than pollen at work, decided to expose his patient to a rose during one visit. Predictably, his patient began having a severe asthma attack within 5 minutes of exposure to the rose.
What is truly fascinating is that the rose he used was just a beautiful paper copy of the real thing. Dr. Noland exposed his deception to his patient and, interestingly, when she returned to his office a few days later, "she buried her nostrils in a large fragrant specimen of the genuine article and inhaled its pollen" without any of the ill effects that had plagued her for over 15 years.
The point here is that our first approach to asthma, hay fever and allergies in general is to heave an arsenal of medications at the problem but, a better answer may very well be found in the mind rather than the body.
By the way, after showing my clients a significant amount of mind-body evidence similar to the preceding, some have been tempted to immediately give up their medications and this is a big mistake.
If you have asthma or an allergy, please continue to take your medications as prescribed until such time as you and your doctor can carefully create a program of safely discovering whether or not you can be free of the need for medications.
The point I want to make in as strong and succinct a manner as possible, is that our minds profoundly influence our bodies. This may seem obvious to some but the depth of this intimate communication must be crystal clear so that what follows is easier to take on as a new, emotional (vs. intellectual) belief. Emotional beliefs have the power to change behavior; intellectual beliefs do not. They're just ideas that sound good but don't do anything.
What caused Dr. Nolan's female patient to emotionally and physiologically react as she did? What causes millions of other people to generate similar events?
Personal, deeply held beliefs.
Beliefs are the driving force behind our attitudes, feelings, behaviors and physiological states.
And, what is hypnosis? It is only and purely, a person's ability to create, modify or delete deeply held, personal beliefs.
Depression is a feeling. It is a state of being--a state of self-identity. Depression oftentimes is learned from parents who are themselves depressed to some degree or another. Depression is a sense of certainty about reality.
All of the previous quick definitions of depression have one thing in common: Each definition reflects a belief or system of beliefs that a depressed person holds to be true.
A belief is an idea that has 'meaningful status' within a person's psyche. Meaningful status is more likely to be granted to those beliefs that resonate with fundamental beliefs.
If a parent has ideas, beliefs and behaviors that are depressive in nature and, the child learns or emulates these characteristics (which is likely to a degree), then the child will create resonant but not necessarily identical beliefs.
Thus far we have touched upon the creation of depressive motivations via beliefs, within an individual.
Now let's have a look at how hypnosis can be used to restore one to a state of emotional and mental health.
First, lets look at pain and depression. When depression from is caused from pain the pain feels real but it is often based in perceptions or beliefs rather than in actual physical problems. The problem of pain and depression is that a vicious cycle is perpetuated where the pain causes depression and the depression deepens the physical pain.
To some, the idea of beliefs causing chronic pain may sound like meta-physical mumbo jumbo but, a great deal of documentation clearly suggests that a person can evidence incredible physical changes merely with a suggestion. Skin temperature can vary by significant amounts, warts can disappear (over time) via suggestion, and other quite amazing physical changes can manifest simply through belief.
Here's an interesting example:
"Japanese researchers tested 57 high school boys for their sensitivity to allergens. The boys filled out questionnaires about past experiences with plants, including lacquer trees, which can cause itchy rashes much as poison oak and poison ivy do. Boys who reported having severe reactions to the poisonous trees were blindfolded. Researchers brushed one arm with leaves from a lacquer tree but told the boys they were chestnut tree leaves. The scientists stroked the other arm with chestnut tree leaves but said the foliage came from a lacquer tree. Within minutes the arm the boys believed to have been exposed to the poisonous tree began to react, turning red and developing a bumpy, itchy rash. In most cases the arm that had contact with the actual poison did not react."
Another fascinating example of belief-mind-body interaction is the story of a Mr. Wright.
"Many doctors know the story of "Mr. Wright," who was found to have cancer and in 1957 was given only days to live. Hospitalized in Long Beach, Calif., with tumors the size of oranges, he heard that scientists had discovered a horse serum, Krebiozen, that appeared to be effective against cancer. He begged to receive it.
His physician, Dr. Philip West, finally agreed and gave Mr. Wright an injection on a Friday afternoon. The following Monday, the astonished doctor found his patient out of his "death bed," joking with the nurses. The tumors, the doctor wrote later, "had melted like snowballs on a hot stove."
Two months later, Mr. Wright read medical reports that the horse serum was a quack remedy. He suffered an immediate relapse. "Don't believe what you read in the papers," the doctor told Mr. Wright. Then he injected him with what he said was "a new super-refined double strength" version of the drug. Actually, it was water, but again, the tumor masses melted.
Mr. Wright was "the picture of health" for another two months -- until he read a definitive report stating that Krebiozen was worthless. He died two days later."
"For most people, depression is the product of a hurtful way of interpreting and responding to life experiences." Michael D. Yapko, Ph.D. from Breaking The Patterns of Depression
There are several general areas in which hypnosis can help depression sufferers. These areas include but are not limited to:
--Beliefs about client's capability
--Beliefs about client's worth
--Beliefs about client's future
--Beliefs about client's parents
--Client beliefs concerning their spirituality; if any
--Client perceptions of current, personal events and their impact on client
And many more are covered. However, this is a discussion that is far beyond the scope of this description. The point is that a thread must be found and followed to where the old, harmful beliefs can be nullified. At the same time a client must also be guided to taking pro-active steps now to changing their situation.
Learned helplessness is an ally of depression. Interesting how the expression 'learned helplessness' in fact describes the 'hypnosis' of depression
Specific Applications of Hypnosis to Depression.
Almost all depressed people tend to suffer from one or more of the following:
--Insomnia
--Chronic pain
--Stress
--Smoking
--Obesity
--Lack of confidence
--Resentment
--Anger (esp. passively angry)
--Lack of knowledge about depression and what to do
--Poor or non-existent exercise
--Diabetes
Sometimes baby steps are the best steps to take on one's path to health. There are occasions where I recommend no treatment yet for my clients because I think they would benefit from taking easy steps.
One example might be simply improving one's sleep. Very often this can make a tremendous difference in a person's outlook on life.
Other depressed clients may simply be so stressed out from their life/job/relationship that they need to start somewhere before getting into the bigger 'stuff'
Whatever the state one is in treatment is possible and my approach is one of working with the client in a whole look at life and dealing with an area at a time on the road to clearing the depression.
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