Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Depression And How To Get Yourself Out Of It

Some people call it the 'pits' and some people call it the 'blues' and some just call it 'feeling down in the dumps'. But whatever you may call it, being depressed is a horrible feeling.



The most common types of depression are:

Major Depression, which is characterized by sadness, Insomnia and sleep disorders, and a decreased or absent appetite. Often when an individual is in a state of major depression, the person feels a complete lack of drive and motivation and the sufferer does not want to do anything in life. Some people are completely disabled by depression, and some individuals even contemplate suicide.

Dysthymia: This is a less severe type of long-term depression that generally does not completely disable the individual. But it keeps the person from feeling motivated and functioning at optimum levels. Sometimes people who are struggling with Dysthymia are also afflicted with Major Depression, and when this occurs it is called double depression.

Manic Depression is also known as Bipolar Disorder. This type of depression is less common than the first two. It involves cycles of a manic state, alternated with a depressed state. This is often a long-term recurring disorder. Sometimes the mood swings occur suddenly. But more often the onset tends to be gradual. There are many variations of depression; the aforementioned are only the three most common.

Some symptoms of depression include:

Sadness; pessimism; anxiety; insomnia and sleep disorders; guilt; feelings of worthlessness; restlessness; weight loss; fatigue; pain; headaches; and thoughts of suicide.

Sources of Depression:

As previously stated, there are several types of depression: Major Depression; Manic Depression; and Dysthymia being three of the more common forms.

Some types of depression are hereditary. Living in a stressful environment can precipitate a depression. A traumatic experience such as a serious loss, financial trouble, or problems in a relationship can also lead to depression.

Women are twice as likely to suffer from depression as men are, but scientists do not know why.

If you suffer from depression, you will want to consult with your physician. Your healthcare provider may prescribe drugs for you. But keep in mind that every medication has side effects.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could control and eliminate your depression just by having certain thoughts? I know that this sounds too good to be true, but quite frequently, various types of depression are simply caused by thinking negative thoughts.

Don't believe me? Then try it out! It's really quite simple and basic. Just use your imagination to think about something that you feel is very troubling or sad. Go ahead, think about it right now! Then come back to this article.

What happened? If you truly focused and visualized the sad situation, you started to feel sad and a little depressed. And the more you allow yourself to remain in that pattern of thought, the sadder you will feel. As you keep having negative thoughts and keep feeling sadder, you lead yourself into a gradually intensifying depression.

The good news is that if you focus on a happy thought, then you will supplant that sadness and depression and have happy feelings instead. Listen closely now, because here are the solutions to ending your depression: Our persistent thoughts emerge from the unconscious. These are the thoughts that we find ourselves naturally thinking about during the day.

If the persistent thoughts that are continually recurring in your mind are about your sad experiences or problems, then you increase your levels of depression, anxiety, and stress.

But here is the 'Light at the end of the tunnel': Since hypnosis is a tool that we can use to alter our unconscious thoughts, NLP and self hypnosis stress management programs can quickly change the way that you feel, think, and behave. The beauty here is that the exact same techniques that are effective for stress management also work equally well for eliminating depression!

Listen to me now, because I will tell you exactly how and why it is going to happen. Hypnosis is a natural state of mind. Specifically, it is the Alpha state of consciousness. We pass through the Alpha state as we fall asleep at night. And we pass through it once more as we wake up from sleeping. We also enter the Alpha state when we are daydreaming and imagining.

The unconscious is the seat of our emotions, and it is like a computer; the input controls the output! Hypnosis therapy is a wonderful tool for reaching directly into the unconscious and reprogramming it to automatically divert you away from negative thoughts, and promote positive thinking. It's a tool that allows you to bypass the consciousness to create positive expectations, which will in turn create positive feelings. You can beat your depression through hypnotherapy.

About the Author

Alan B. Densky, CH has helped thousands of clients since 1978. He offers CDs for hypnosis therapy for depression. Visit his Neuro-VISION hypnotherapy website for the hypnosis article library, or watch his free videos on hypnosis. http://www.neuro-vision.us/