Hypnotherapy
 

Has anyone ever heard of or tried hypnotherapy as a treatment for depression? Someone is advertising it at my mum's physio and she suggested i try it as drugs and counselling don't seem to be working. I'm not convinced by the idea of hypnosis and was just wondering what other people thought.

I've not done it for depression but I did it for confidence. If I'm completely honest, it didn't help in that sense at all but it did help me short-term in that it just allowed me to relax for a while. I'm very, very cynical about hypnosis etc, but whether it's psychological or not when the hypnotherapist said to me 'When I click my fingers you will feel twice as deeply hypnotised', I did actually get that feeling, so it did something. It's like going to sleep except being awake at the same time - you are still in control and you can still move and think etc, it's just a bit more difficult; and when you wake up at the end it's like waking from a deep sleep. So I can see the benefits if you're anxious or need to relax - which may also help with depression?

So I don't know, but the experience of hypnotherapy is pretty nice anyway, so it might be worth a try at least? My teacher recommended it to me, and he said it helped him give up smoking, and he said it also helped his wife and a couple of his friends with sleep problems, so some people do seem to find it useful.

Good luck :)

it could be worth a try, you never know it might help, and if it doesn't then yo haven't lost anything.

I know people who've had hypnotherapy for all sorts of things. I used to be a little cynical about it, but I've since read a lot of studies into it and seen EEGs etc. done during someone being hypnotised and now I do think there may be something to it. I'm on a waiting list for hypnotherapy myself for a dissociaitive disorder


I think hypnosis is just on of those things that people think is total rubbish or people believe in, there doesnt seem to be many peope in the middle ground. There are a few less than repuatable practisioners out there though, and personally I thinkt hat is where a lot of it's bad reputation has come from rahter than there beeing a problem with hypnotherapy itself. The stage hypnotist has a lot to answer for the public image of hypnotherapy too...

Hello :)
I have always considered getting hypnotherapy as it is meant to help with eating disorders but I never really got round to it.

Yes I've heard it's meant to be good for giving up smoking too.

It's defiantly worth researching. You are likely to find mixed responses but then again that's the same with any treatment, even conventional stuff.

Let me know if you do get a treatment and how it goes!

Sophie :)