Depression

be free at last …

Depression can take over every aspect of your life.

Do you:

  • Find it difficult to enjoy things?
  • Find it a monumental effort just to get out of bed?
  • Find the thought of meeting people fills you with dread?
  • Have no appetite or find yourself over-eating?
  • Feel tired all the time but have trouble sleeping?
  • Have low self-esteem?
  • Have difficulty concentrating on things, even watching television.

You may find it impossible to get across how you feel to even the most supportive friend or family member.

“If you know someone who’s depressed, please resolve never to ask them why. Depression isn’t a straightforward response to a bad situation; depression just is, like the weather.

Try to understand the blackness, lethargy, hopelessness, and loneliness they’re going through. Be there for them when they come through the other side. It’s hard to be a friend to someone who’s depressed, but it is one of the kindest, noblest, and best things you will ever do.”

If you can relate to some or all of these things, you will know how hopeless it can seem. Even to find my website may have been a real effort, but you have done it. I have something important to say to you, and it is something I do not expect you to believe:

You can feel better and be free of these destructive thoughts and feelings.

I have seen many people who felt there was no hope for them who can now live contented lives.

You can too.

What Causes Depression?

Depression, can have many triggers.

  • Biological factors such as changes in hormone levels (after pregnancy for example).
  • It can also be genetic. If you have a close family member with this condition you are more likely to suffer from it.
  • Environmental factors such as the death of loved one, redundancy or any event that has affected your “sense of self” can all be triggers.

Depression can be overwhelming and make rational thinking difficult, leading to a vicious circle of despair. Whilst it is normal to feel sad on occasion, depression tends to occur over a prolonged period and is accompanied by feelings of intense sadness. It rarely just ‘goes away’ on its own as feelings of sadness would and many people who are depressed seek out alternative forms of healing.

How I Can Help Free You from Depression

There are several therapy approaches that have proved helpful in relieving depression.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

The most well researched is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Here we separate thoughts from feelings as they can often become entangled. By doing this we can see more clearly how things we take as a given (e.g. “I am hopeless”, “I always upset those around me”) are not the case. We work together to explore new and more beneficial ways of thinking which improves our emotional response.

As you progress, you will learn to recognise the signs that mean you may be heading downwards. Once identified you will be able to use the tools and techniques to ensure that you can take a more positive path.

Hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy addresses the subconscious part of the mind allowing you to find a level of psychological rest that you may not have experienced for a long time. Using visualisation techniques, we can create new ways of seeing the present and the future which allows new, more optimistic thought patterns to gradually emerge.

The experience of hypnosis itself can be very beneficial as you begin to realise that you can feel differently; more relaxed and centred.

Psychotherapy

Within a safe, non-judgmental and nurturing environment you will be able to better understand yourself, learn that it is OK to be kinder to yourself and have room to explore how you arrived at your current situation. You will have space to begin to make sense of that grey, confused, often guilt-ridden pit that is depression and in doing so, find its intensity reducing.

I can work with a combination of these approaches and this is often the best way of working together. If however, you prefer to work with just one or two of these approaches, we can do that too.

I am an Anxiety UK Approved Therapist providing therapeutic support to the charity’s members and partner beneficiaries.
To attain UKCP accreditation, the therapist must have a relevant qualification equivalent to a Masters Degree and completed at least four years of clinical practice.
The Department of Health recommends that, when seeing a hypnotherapist, you choose one that is CNHC registered.
The main purpose of the BACP Register is to help clients find a therapist they can trust. A therapist that meets or exceeds its high standards of professionalism, proficiency and good practice.

Want To Find Out More?

18 separate studies have found that patients receiving psychotherapy plus hypnosis for weight loss, anxiety, depression, and insomnia showed greater improvement than most patients receiving psychotherapy alone.