Yes Hypnosis Can Relieve Depression

It's a well known fact that most treatments for depression provide a temporary relief and not a permanent cure. For this reason, any treatment for depression must be used as a means to an end and not an end by itself. For example, we can use hypnosis to build mental skills. Hypnosis can provide the necessary relief provided we understand depression and its function, needed mental skills, hypnosis and the front brain and the serotonin system.

Depression and its Function

Depression is a natural progression for the brain in the face of an inescapable overpowering distress. Normally a person would have been previously subjected to a series of overwhelming or stressful events and eventually some overpowering distress may trigger a depression response. Depression is a message from the brain that it has reached a point of saturation and can no longer effectively cope with the situation. The brain therefore goes into a mode of retreat. This explains why depressed people lose interest in things that they used to like to do. I explain more about this in my Youtube Channel Colormedicine.

Needed Mental Skills

The first order of business is to disengage from a distressing situation or environment. This is a prerequisite mental skill needed to bounce out of depression. Other necessary skills include the ability to relax and not be too hard on oneself. Depressed people are usually hard on themselves and show some form of mental inflexibility. Hypnosis can be used as both a relief as well as a way to equip a depressed individual with the correct mental skills.

Hypnosis and the Brain Activity

The Nobel Prize winning Russian scientist Dr. Ivan Pavlov declared that a hypnotic state put the brain in a form of half-sleep. Moreover fMRI studies show that depressed people bias their frontal brain activity of their PFC towards the right side whereas the Tibetan monks' brain activity, during intense meditation, is biased towards the left side of the same bilateral brain region. Hypnosis has been shown to achieve this as well, particularly among suggestible persons. Obviously, the qualitative outcome is a function of the hypnotist in terms of the repertoire of his or her skills. In other words hypnosis is your second best if you are not capable of engaging in efficacious meditation like the great Tibetan monks or the Sangomas of South Africa who also show the same mental discipline during situational extremes as explained in my book A Goodbye To My Little Troubles.

The Serotonin System

Brain chemistry is a factor in depression since it has been scientifically demonstrated that mood is governed by brain chemistry. This article is not the right place to talk about the esoteric biochemistry of depression but I will make a few points. Serotonin is an important brain chemical in terms of stabilizing mood. The lack of or malfunctioning of serotonin has been scientifically linked to depression among others. Hypnosis can induce the right cortical activities to facilitate the normal activities of the serotonin system.

Conclusion

We have shown that depression is a necessary mechanism when the brain is attempting to disengage from an overpowering situation. For this reason, hypnosis can be used as a temporary tool to relieve depression.