Dealing With Depression Now

Dealing with Depression: You Can Change the Way You Feel. Probably, you want to feel happy. More than likely, you want to feel that way most of the time. But you also know that you cannot be as happy for as long as you would like because of the way you’re influenced by the things around you, by things outside your control. For example: your family, your friends or how you feel about yourself.

Dealing with Depression: Not to mention many other possible factors such as your job, your relationship, your health, your mood, the state of the world, the weather, a disappointment you’ve been through, your bills, how you feel in a certain situation or the traumas and experiences you’ve had in the past.

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Many people go to a hypnotherapist when dealing with depression. They don’t get the results that they want straight away, so they give up on hypnotherapy. It is unfortunate that people base their experience of hypnotherapy on seeing one hypnotherapist, who may not be particularly skilful and talented.

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Dealing with depression doesn’t have to be as difficult as it has been for me. I urge you not to live out the same mistakes I have!

For many, many years after late adolescence I suffered from a low mood. I generally didn’t feel that good. At the beginning, I didn’t know that this state was one of depression – I was still just a teenager, after all – I didn’t have enough knowledge of life to know what was going on. For far too long, I just thought that this was the way that life was.

The vast majority of life gave me very little pleasure, feeling mostly joyless and uninteresting for very long periods. I just got through the days using stoicism and sheer willpower. Sure, there were some pleasurable parts, but these were few and far between, and fleeting. Not much excited me, got me motivated or engaged me on any level. I just meandered through life aimlessly, confused and slowly losing confidence.

Years passed with nothing to show for it, really. I had absolutely no idea at all what I wanted to do in life, which caused me great distress. Despite having potential and skills, I ended up in jobs that led nowhere. The future seemed fairly bleak, nothing but a repeat of the past. Over time, my self-esteem slowly drained away. Everything seemed to compound everything else, further feeding the downward spiral. Naturally, you tend to limit yourself and your options in life when you feel low, which only magnifies and worsens the situation.

As I got older, I began to realise that the majority of people weren’t like this. This caused me even more confusion! I knew it wasn’t right to live and feel the way I did. I knew there was a better way. I wanted to be happier, to be like my family, friends and others who I met who were mostly lively and happy. But I didn’t know how to consistently be like that – it eluded me. Nothing in my life seemed to change that much. I ended up just kind of accepting life as it was, hoping for an answer.

I spent time contemplating all this and much, much more. Later on, I found out that trying to think your way out of depression and find a solution that way actually exacerbates the problem.

I was very fortunate in that I always had my family around me, which was tremendously important. They helped a great deal. I led a healthy lifestyle, but was still dealing with depression. I was extremely lucky that, over the years, I was in the position where I was able to frequently discuss the situation with a close family member who was a professional in the self-help field. This was truly revelatory, providing amazing advice and bringing me into contact with different techniques that are used in dealing with depression.

Through a process of trying out different possibilities over much time, I began to understand what works in my particular case. I had to eat correctly, exercise regularly and augment my diet with vitamins and supplements such as seeds, nuts and 5-HTP. I had to endeavour to keep my thoughts positive, and push myself in life. It’s an on-going effort, but I know the alternative: sliding back into habits which result in unhappiness.

If you suffer from, and are dealing with depression, I can only suggest that you seek help from an expert. I recommend eating a well-balanced diet as this is absolutely vital in overcoming depression. The vast majority of people with depression have a nutritional deficiency of some sort, so ensure that you take vitamins and other supplements. I also recommend exercising regularly (particularly when you don’t feel like it), finding out as much information as you can about depression and leaning on trusted family and friends when needed.

Try alternatives if you don’t have success. I urge you to keep going until you find a solution that works for you. Don’t be afraid – it’s your happiness at stake. Dealing with depression requires that you don’t ever give up.

Dealing With Depression – Incredible Facts: Many people suffering from depression feel completely isolated, even from those closest to them. Here are some really interesting facts that show that depression is not an isolated problem – it is actually a really massive problem within society.

Dealing With Depression – Incredible Facts: You may think that if you suffer from depression, you’re on your own and that no-one else has this problem, but these facts demonstrate that it is simply not the case that you are alone.

Ten times more people today suffer from depression than did in 1945. Depression is the number one psychological disorder, and number two health disorder overall, in the Western world, with growth rates in all age groups, especially in the young.

Up to twenty per cent of the population in developed countries are suffering, to some extent, from depressive illness at any given moment. Eighty per cent of people suffering with depression are not currently undergoing any treatment, and around two-thirds of depressed people will never seek treatment, despite depression being one of the most treatable psychological illnesses.

The World Health Organisation estimates that by 2020, world-wide, depression will become the second leading cause of ‘lost years of healthy life’ after coronary heart disease. Currently, it is ranked fourth. In addition, it must be taken into account that depression is also a contributory factor to fatal heart disease.

Increasingly, more illnesses are being linked to depression, including diabetes, osteoporosis, back pain, eye disease and some forms of cancer, as well as heart disease. Depression results in more absenteeism from work than almost any other physical disorder. Eighty per cent of all patients seen by physicians are either depressed or exhibit symptoms of depression.

You have up to three times the risk of developing depression if you have a close relative with the disorder. About ninety-seven per cent of those suffering from depression also reported that their work, their home life and their relationships consequently suffered.

There is no need to suffer if you have depression, there being several options of treatment available. In fact, eighty per cent of all people with depression who have received treatment showed significant improvement in their lives.

The above facts highlight that there are vast numbers of people who suffer from depression and that a majority of those who are suffering just don’t get any treatment at all. This is a sad situation because there is some really helpful treatment available. It is vitally important not to give up if you are one of those who are seeking help to overcome depression. Do not give up in your search for the right treatment for you.

Although there is a reason for the triggering of the onset of the first depressive period experienced, with each subsequent depressive period, the situation becomes more and more one where your own thoughts become the trigger for the next episode. This is why knowing how to alter your thoughts can halt the downward spiral of recurring depression. Research has highlighted the risk that its recurring nature can pose: a person has a sixteen per cent chance of experiencing a recurrence once it has taken hold.

Gain control over your life again by taking action.

This is vitally important.

When Dealing With Depression – Take action. Seek advice and help. Do not be discouraged if you do not get the results you want. Seek out alternative treatments. Do not be afraid to try different options.

Dealing With Depression – Hypnotherapy: Generally, mis-understandings and mis-information abound when it comes to hypnotherapy, making it seem as if the whole subject is shrouded in an air of mystery, allowing mistrust to creep in and surround the subject.

Dealing With Depression – Hypnotherapy: Hypnosis is merely the state of using your creative imagination whilst being relaxed. It is naturally occurring, and this state of mind happens to us every day – it’s just that we don’t usually think of it in this manner.

Some examples of naturally-occurring hypnosis taking place are when you become absorbed in a book or a film, when you daydream, when you drive long distances on a motorway, just before you fall asleep and when you become absorbed in a task you are performing. Hypnosis takes place whenever our conscious mind relaxes, allowing our unconscious mind to come to the fore.

Since hypnosis is naturally occurring, it has been used by humans for as long as they’ve been around. As a healing form, hypnosis has been used for millennia, with the ancient Greeks and Egyptians promoting its therapeutic usages. Relatively modern hypnosis began in the eighteenth century, evolving from mystic and spiritual healers, ‘medicine men’ and shaman, to use by present day scientific, medical and psychological practitioners. Notable pioneers such as Freud, Braid and Esdaile have promoted the healing and therapeutic qualities and powers of hypnosis.

In the last sixty or so years, new theories, discoveries and practices in areas of psychology, psychiatry and neurology such as psycho-therapy, psycho-analysis and behavioural psychology have been combined with hypnosis to evolve into modern day hypnotherapy, a treatment that is taught in medical schools and is officially recognised and validated.

Hypnotherapy taps into, and uses, the power and resources of your unconscious mind in a relaxed manner to promote and enhance healing. The mind can be thought of as having two parts: the conscious and the unconscious.

The conscious mind is analytical and logical, questioning what it encounters to find if this fits in with the current beliefs you hold.

The unconscious mind is intuitive, holds your beliefs and maintains the emotional and physiological responses that correspond with the beliefs you hold, including your habits, learned behaviours and attitudes and uses these to act in accordance with your beliefs. It also holds your automatic body responses such as breathing or digestion.

Once the unconscious part of your mind accepts an idea, it acts as if the idea were true – although it is difficult for new ideas to enter the unconscious as the examining, analytical conscious part of the mind is questioning and applying reason and rational logic to information or situations it encounters in order to compare and contrast it to existing belief systems to determine whether or not it will be accepted or absorbed.

In a state of hypnotic relaxation, the conscious mind can be relaxed and access to the unconscious is more easily gained, that part of the mind coming more to the fore. Direct communication with the unconscious can be established and, if we are guided properly, our unconscious mind (and therefore, our body) is more readily accepting of new ideas and suggestions that can enhance healing and promote positive change.

Uses for hypnotherapy include the overcoming of habits, enhancing motivation and performance and the removal of phobias and anxiety, it also being possible to accelerate healing, assist in pain control and shift the meaning of traumatic, stressful or negative events or sensations. Hypnotherapy can be superb at overcoming depression because it gives you the ability to step aside from the present way you’re feeling, and in a calm, positive state, use your own power within to change how you feel. It gives you a chance to step away from the limiting beliefs you hold in the present because of your low mood. Hypnotherapy is also extremely pleasant, so changing something unpleasant can be done in a pleasant way.

Dealing With Depression – Hypnotherapy: For anxiety and phobias, hypnotherapy can bring miraculous results. So much depression is related to these problems, so hypnotherapy can give you instant improvements in confidence. However, even without these conditions it is a great way to raise your mood, and change the underlying beliefs creating your depress symptoms.

Dealing With Depression – What Causes Depression: There is no single cause of depression. Causes vary from one person to another, and can occur through a combination of factors, some of which some people are more prone to. There are many different views regarding the causes of depression, and these include genetic, biological and biochemical, environmental, personal experience and psychological factors.

Dealing With Depression - Upsetting or stressful life events

Events or experiences that happen to individuals during life are the most obvious causes of depression to others, as they are a visible, external, outward cause of depression.

For example, ill health, the loss of a job, the end of a relationship or the death of someone you love can cause you to feel depressed. Those who suffer from one or more chronic physical illnesses (such as stroke, heart attack, cancer or Parkinson’s disease) are more prone to depression.

Adverse family or childhood experiences also increase a person’s risk of developing depression in later life, as such background experiences often lead to low self-esteem and/or stress which increases the likelihood of depression.

Dealing With Depression - Behaviour

Behaviourists believe that our moods and actions have been learned; conditioned. This means that the habits that we have – the habits which hinder, rather than help us – cause a state of depression. The habits to which they are referring may be ‘emotional’ habits or ‘doing’ habits.

For example, if someone takes a driving test and fails, they might find that the experience was so unpleasant hat they avoid taking the test in future.

This is a form of ‘learned’ helplessness.

The person would be able to pass the test at a later date as their competence increases, but they have mistakenly interpreted the experience from the past and are now avoiding the same (or similar) situation. The resulting sense of helplessness is one of the symptoms of depression.

The abuse of alcohol depletes essential chemicals in the brain, whilst misusing drugs affects the functioning of the brain. Both these can cause depression, which can result in a spirallingly downward, bad situation.

Dealing With Depression - Physiology

Another cause of depression is linked to the concept that emotion is created by motion. Our feelings are influenced by the way we use our bodies. Therefore, our physiology – our posture, our breathing, our movement and even our expressions – affects how we feel.

When we slump forward, look downwards and wear a sad expression, we are probably not feeling that great – and conversely, when we feel a bit low, we slump forward, look downwards and wear a sad expression.

Even moderate exercise regulates blood sugar levels and releases endorphins, which enhances and improves mood.

Dealing With Depression - Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive therapists believe that your thoughts and attitudes create and influence your feelings – and that certain types of thinking leads to negative moods and can cause depression.

For example, if someone thinks “My problem will never go away” they will feel the emotion of helplessness.

Or, that someone with a perfectionist attitude would think (amongst other things) that they must be extremely successful at work, remain at their ideal weight and be positive all the time.

However, if they do not reach the targets they have set themselves, they will feel that they have failed. Consequently, if the person thinks “I am a failure” despite the fact that they certainly are not, they may start to feel depressed.

If someone has low self-esteem or they are overly self-critical, this can have a profound effect on the mood they experience.

Dealing With Depression - Biological view

The theory that traits may be inherited is put forward by proponents of the biological view. For example, if a parent (or both) has suffered from depressive tendencies, such a tendency may be inherited by their children.

Another biological view is that the make-up of our brain chemistry greatly affects how we feel. The right balance and levels of chemicals in the brain are required in order for us to feel, and stay, happy. If these chemicals are not present in the correct amounts, then we can find ourselves likely to be in a low mood and/or depressed.

The two most important neuro-transmitters are serotonin and dopamine. Serotonin makes us feel secure and calm, whilst dopamine is needed for us to feel motivated to take action.

If the brain’s neuro-transmitters perform inadequately, there may be insufficient neuro-chemical supplies for correct brain functioning, which can lead to depression. Performance is affected by factors such as uptake speeds and quality and quantity of receptors, which can be altered or damaged by factors such as lifestyle behaviour. The hormonal, physical and lifestyle changes involved with pregnancy leave some women particularly vulnerable to post-natal depression.

A poor diet, deficient in the essential vitamins, minerals and fatty acids required to maintain brain health and regulate mood can be a cause of depression.

Dealing With Depression - Sensitive Temperament

Someone who has a sensitive temperament may be more likely to suffer stress. Over time, the affects of stress can deplete certain neurotransmitters – which can then lead to depression. Those who are much more easily overwhelmed by stress are at higher risk of suffering depression.