"I can honestly say my life today bears no resemblance to my life this time last year. At some level, I probably knew my life was toxic. Going through this programme has helped me understand the consequences of our choices and actions. Actually, not just choices and actions, but our thinking habits too. I've learned so much and can't believe I will ever go back to that dark place I was in before. It hasn't been easy, but it has definitely been worthwhile. Thank you for believing in me more than I believed in myself, and for encouraging me to face my demons. You were right - they didn't have half the power I thought they did!"
Depression affects a person's thoughts, behaviour, motivation, feelings and their general sense of well-being. However, it can be tricky diagnosing depression. Feeling persistently sad and tearful can be a sign of depression, but so too can feeling numb and unable to cry. Loss of appetite can be a warning sign but, equally, over-eating can too. It’s sometimes characterised by an inability to concentrate but also by an intense ability to focus on all things negative.
On top of this, depression is found on a scale. It doesn’t just switch on one day, like catching chickenpox does - you either have it or you don't. Depression evolves. You may feel a little low and tearful but still manage to get on with daily life (even if it does feel like you’re moving through treacle and everything’s just hard work and exhausting). Or, if you have more severe symptoms, you may feel like hiding away from the world and withdrawing from friends. You may have a foreboding sense that everything is hopeless and pointless. You may feel unable to make even the simplest of decisions, and you may seek refuge in drinking, smoking or drugging to dull the emotional pain you’re in. In the worst of cases, a person may entertain suicidal thoughts because they cannot seem to find a way out of their current feelings.
But depression is a state, not a life sentence.
You are not your depression, and although it can feel that everything is bleak and nothing is worthwhile, that is not you speaking; that is the depression spinning you a yarn! But depression is not the default human state; it arises because all is not well in your world and something needs to change. So you can be reassured there is a depression-free 'you' just bursting to come out from under the black cloud, and I can help you achieve that.
I love helping my clients un-depress themselves! Very often depression arises out of the sense that life is overwhelming for the person. That things on the outside - or at least out of the individual's control - are conspiring against the person's health and wellbeing. So reaching an understanding that we, ourselves, are the key to our own wellness is a phenomenally powerful and liberating step in getting well again. Depression leaves us feeling powerless. My programme will help you see that you hold the key to your own recovery.
The Sharp Minds Hypnotherapy approach to lifting depression is holistic, nurturing, illuminating, collaborative and goal-orientated. If you would like to know more about how I help my clients who suffer with depression, please get in touch for a confidential chat.