Talking about depression can be a thorny subject, I say thorny as sometime people can become very attached to it, quite often you hear people talk of ‘my depression’ as if it is some sort of possession of theirs, or as if it existed separately from themselves somehow. But I will talk about this notion of ownership and why that might be the case later.
To start with I want to look at the commonly accepted causes of what depression could be. I say could be, as the causes of depression are quite complex and individual. A person may have got to the place where they are now due to one, or two, or a combination of what are the main accepted causes of the issue.

So, what are the main causes of depression?

1. Deep seated guilt. A person might have done something, said something, caused something that they regret, and this regret is being carried around like an albatross and eating into their lives. From a hypnotherapy point of view, it is possible that the person’s conscious mind cannot remember the exact reason, but the subconscious knows and feeds the raw unprocessed emotion back to the individual. The reason the subconscious does this is down to how the subconscious works. In that its evolutionary function is to always keep the individual safe. So, it makes connections between events, memories etc and the emotional response that they elicit as a kind of warning. It’s like the subconscious is remembering situations and saying to you “you don’t want to do that, or go there” etc “you remember how it made you feel, what a happened last time?” But it does all this on an emotional level. One such way it may do this in some people is to make them feel down as if you are feeling down, you may avoid certain situations.

(1.A) Another interpretation of the deep-seated guilt explanation is that the individual is in inner turmoil over something they may have done, caused, or believed to have done, and their internal moral compass is wanting them to either make amends for what they have done, or to suffer for it.  This latter explanation also connects with the first one above, in the subconscious is warning them not to do ‘it’ again.

1. A deep-seated feeling of being unloved or unlovable. The question a hypnotherapist must ask is what has happened to make them feel this way? The most likely answer is that something has happened in their early life, possibly in their very early life that the conscious mind does not know, but the subconscious does, and it is feeding the feeling back to the person as a kind of warning as a failed way to keep them safe from further harm. Consider, if you avoid any kind of social interaction, you won’t come across that feeling again?

3.Fear of what others may think.
Could the cause of the client’s depression be a fear of what others may think of them? A fear of judgement and of being evaluated and being found lacking somehow? Or could it be a fear of the unknown, i.e., exactly what someone thinks? Either way, again the protectionist aspect of our very powerful subconscious mind comes into play once again to steer us away from any form of danger or perceived threat. Once more the hypnotherapist needs to work with the client to find out why this issue affects them, and why? Equally, what can be done about it?

1. Repressed anger.

This is for me the main reason for all depression, and it can also include all the above factors as well.

A person is angry with a someone or something, or a particular situation for a multitude of reasons. Perhaps they know or feel that what is making them angry is either unresolvable, or unreasonable. But rather like the process I outlined in my article on how stress works (see my website blog or previous article). The subconscious mind has somehow perceived a threat and has generated chemicals to deal with it that need to be expressed somehow. Usually involving some form of physical action. But if for a whole load of reasons, it cannot be expressed. The chemicals must go somewhere, and that somewhere is inward. So simply put. If you are angry, but for various reasons you cannot express this anger. Then that energy must go somewhere, and that is inwards.
 
There are of course other perspectives on the way that depression works. Such as the lack of the meeting of various needs, love, validation etc, but from my perspective all the specifics can be included in one of more of the 4 main causes of depression with the effect of anger being, in my view the most profound and deciding factor.
 
What are the hidden benefits of depression?
I know it sounds strange to say, but when considering and dealing with depression a hypnotherapist must look at each case of depression individually and what positive effects may come from someone who has depression.

Now, remember when I said above a little on how the subconscious mind works? In that its only function is to protect the individual. If someone is depressed, then the person is cocooned in a protective shell where they have emotionally shut down and therefore are no longer vulnerable. In some cases, rather like the TV program “After Life”, the individual may feel that seeing as they are so depressed, nothing can hurt them anymore and they have a kind of ‘superpower’. This is because they do not care about the consequences of their actions and are no longer tied to any form of ‘comeback’ from anything they say or do. Some people enjoy this feeling as it makes them feel powerful, special, and liberated.

Another benefit, that is also connected to the point’s above, is that having depression could give them something to say about themselves and something that they may feel makes them stand out and to be noticed. In some cases, people can factor depression into their personality, and this can be, in a strange way, quite comforting. I once knew someone who used to use the phrase “I can be taken into account”. Meaning that they were considered, listened to, they were noticed and noted. This feeling once again can be enjoyed by a person.
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There may be many more hidden benefits to a person keeping their depression, again a hypnotherapist will help the individual to discover them and to seek resolution.
 
So what can I do regarding depression.
 
The main thing regarding self help is to know what the problem might be. The information above is a great starting point and once you have knowledge of what your issue is or might be, then the clouds may start to clear from your mind. Truthfully, drugs are not the answer long term as all they do is block out various connections in your brain that stimulate and create depressive thoughts. Which of course can help in the short run, and perhaps put people onto a balanced platform. But if and when the person chooses to stop taking the inti- depressants. The problem is still there.  
 
So how can hypnotherapy help?
Firstly, a hypnotherapist will view each person as an individual and each treatment will be specific to each person’s particular depression based on their individual personality.
Secondly, the hypnotherapist will go slowly and gently to remove the aspects of the issue that is dragging the person down. Rather like pruning back the jungle a bit at a time until the path is a lot clearer.
How they will do this is to use (depending on the individual) a combination of regression to cause (where a person is taken back in their mind to a time and place where a problem started.) And or to set up a ‘parts’ session where the hypnotherapist enables the person to ‘talk’ to different parts of their subconscious mind that are in conflict over this problem to seek a resolution. (Remember what I said above regarding the ‘hidden benefits’ of this condition)
Alongside the above the hypnotherapist will use powerful positive suggestions specifically designed   to help the mind heal and come back to its natural non-depressed state using special hypnotic language that the subconscious mind in its hypnotic and suggestive state will respond to.
The individual may need a few sessions to attain full clearance, but with time and work. This is entirely possible.
If you would like some more information on the above topic or would like to book some sessions with me. Please contact me.

​Does anyone out there suffer from this?
If so, you will know it is debilitating, depressing and can make you feel really bad about yourself as you internally beat yourself up over how you may have behaved, or if you have offended anyone and once your mind focuses on these negatives, it can spiral downwards pretty dark and pretty fast!

OK, how does it work?
The mind, (particularly the subconscious mind) has evolved over millions of years to do many, many things. One of these things it has evolved to do is to keep you safe, to protect you! One of the mechanisms that has come out of this evolutionary process is the mind’s propensity to prioritize negative thoughts.

So, it goes like this:
Whilst you were ‘under the influence’ the usual social inhibitors that we all have in place were relaxed by the alcohol, as that is what alcohol does! Relaxes inhibitions!
Alcohol also effects the way we process data, i.e., information, sequencing of events, complexity of things etc. and part of this process is the way that we lay down memories. They will be hazy, perhaps out of sequence, or perhaps not fully remembered at all!

Guess what? Not having full recall can produce anxiety as the mind has not fully created a full and sequenced record of events and the unknown element of this situation causes your subconscious mind to ‘fill in the gaps’ with a sort of worst-case scenario.

Also, anxiety can be produced if you DO have a reasonable recall and you remember that you may have acted out of character or conversely you may feel anxious because you DID show an aspect of yourself, your character, that you may not have wanted too!

So, if all the above is true, then why doesn’t everybody feel post drinking anxiety?
Well, rather like how people are affected by stress, we are all different and in the case of this issue, some people don’t dwell on things, or simply don’t care. Others are really sensitive and are affected by the situation.

Why does the mind concentrate on negative thoughts?
The reason for this is once again evolutionary. In any given day, our minds swirl with millions of thoughts, and our minds have to make a decision as to which ones are the most important to us and our survival. One way it does this is to make a beeline towards any thoughts that produce an emotional reaction, as the subconscious mind reasons that if there is an emotional response to something, then that something must be important to the person, and if it is important, then it must be connected to a person’s survival!

So, when people ruminate over what happened or may have happened ‘the night before’, the subconscious mind is getting all these ‘importance’ signals which makes it focus on them. If the mind cannot recall details, it reasons’ that the worst must have happened and build’s these notions into any memory or emotional construction that the mind puts together.

The result is alcohol anxiety!
The subconscious is only wanting to keep you safe. So, it is doing what it can to ensure that you don’t put yourself into a situation like this again. And or (depending on the situation) it constructs a series of things you can do or say to limit the ‘damage’ that it thinks that was caused whilst the person was drinking. A sort of ‘get out of jail free card’ for social situations. This behavior of the mind is linked to the way stress works (please see my blog post related to stress for more information)

So, what can be done about this?
Well, the first and most obvious is to stop drinking all together (which is what your subconscious would like as then there would be no danger that this situation will ever happen again!) But you may not want to do that.

If that is not an option, then what could be done is to book some time with a clinical hypnotherapist who will work out what the best approaches could be based on your personality and needs and will work with you whilst you are in hypnosis to combat any kinds of anxiety or stress caused by this situation. If you want to inbox me at [email protected] I would be more than happy to discuss bespoke treatments to help you cope with the issues and possibly to even rid you of these negative feelings for good! And as we live in a world run by technology, I can conduct hypnotherapy sessions either in person or online.

Part of dealing with the feelings ignited by post drinking anxiety, I usually recommend the use of what is known as an anchor.

What is an anchor?
It is a well-known and respected technique that anyone can use, even if you are not actually in a state of hypnosis!

This is what you do:
Take some deep breaths and focus on relaxing for a few moments. Perhaps go to a ‘happy place’ in your mind. Breathe deeply and naturally until you feel pretty relaxed. Take as much time as you want.

Then, remember a time when you felt fully in control, confident, invincible, and totally ready to take on the world! Really focus on that memory, bring that time into focus, make it clear and bold, build the feeling and the memory up until it is so strong and at its peak. Then squeeze your thumb and forefinger together for the count of 5 whilst you put all your focus on that memory. Then let go and think of something else entirely. Give it a minute or so then go through the whole process again.
Do this 5 more times. Not forgetting to have a rest between each session. Then, just check your anchor and allow the rush of confidence and power to flow through your body from your thumb and forefinger.

Once in the waking world and you feel you may need a ‘boost’, in this case if you feel anxious after drinking. Just gently squeeze your thumb and forefinger together and let the positivity flow!
I hope the above helps people, and if anyone wants some more treatment, not forgetting that the anchor is only part of a holistic and bespoke package of hypnotherapeutic techniques to help with this issue. Just contact me.