Overcoming Depression with Stress Management Hypnosis
Depression, often times
a product of an identity crisis, can be hell. My client, John (referred to me
by his doctor), looked at me and said, "I just can't get out of bed in
the morning. I look at my 90 yr old mother knowing in just another twenty
three years my body will look like that. And whenever I visit her she says, 'I
want to get it over with and die.'
We all observed a
powerful President Regan reduced to the limitations of Alzheimer's disease. I
once thought I'd become a successful business man and am now retired owing a
lot of money with a few nest eggs that will never make me rich. One of the
commentators in the movie The Secret said the purpose of life is what we make
it. My purpose has come and gone. Some owe me money and I doubt that I'll ever
get paid. What does it matter anyway? Most people would look at me and ask,
"Why's he depressed, he has a beautiful young fun-to-be-with wife, CEO of
his own business that runs itself, a beautiful home that many would die
for..."
John was in the midst
of an identity crisis brought on by semi retirement from having recently
relinquished control of his business. Unlike most clients, he acknowledged he
was depressed and felt guilty for being depressed. No mater how much he fought
it, it persisted.
With many clients
suffering from depression there is a love hate dichotomy. There's a person or
situation which for some reason they for a variety of reasons should like but
in reality they hate the situation and can't allow themselves to feel the
hate.
Example, Lyn's father
came to live with her after her mother died. As a child she hated her dad and
blamed him for his mother's death. I found it ironic that she'd take him in
and asked her how she feels about her father now. She answered, "you're
supposed to love your father, aren't you?"
The inability for her
to resolve this love-hate relationship resulted in depression.
I had John make a list
of all the reasons he shouldn't feel depressed. Some of them were:
"It's no
fun."
"I don't even like
being around myself."
"I feel like I'm
an ingrate."
We dealt with his
sudden loss of self esteem. Then, rather than continue the path of fighting
depression I coached John in how to embrace the depression, acknowledge his
resistance to it and bring into play option training.
As a result of the
option training, after the third session he said, "I received a photo of
a toddler my cousin just adopted--it was angelic. I placed it on the dining
table and every time I looked at it I smiled and then other things began
happening. I began picking up jewels from the things I read. Sometimes I
forgot what it feels like to be depressed and the times I do feel depressed, I
simply go with it, stop fighting it and before I know it, I've generated some
enthusiasm to do something.
As John's wife had ten
more years before retirement, he quickly realized he wasn't ready to retire
and he became more active in his company. He also plans to do volunteer work.
In summary, conquering
depression is to:
1. Acknowledge being
depressed.
2. Learn to embrace the
emotion.
3. Acknowledge the
resistance to feeling depressed.
4. Aim the creative
intelligence for options such as:
Learning from the
experience.
Benefiting from the
experience.
Seeing it from a
different point of view.
Prospering from the
experience.
This along with
creative hypnosis releases the subconscious mind to find enthusiasm and
meaning in life.
--end of article--
Richard
Kuhns B.S.Ch.E., NGH certified, a prominent figure in the personal development
field. Instrumentally behind the creation of 50 top selling self help stress
management hypnosis cds at http://www.DStressDoc.com and www.PanicBusters.com
for a revolutionary new technique
to overcome anxiety panic attack.
