If you have been diagnosed with depression (or even if you haven’t been officially labelled depressed) you may be looking to complement your current management plan with other forms of therapy, maybe looking for a natural remedy. While it is normal to feel sad or down occasionally, depression usually builds over a prolonged period of time and often comes with intense sadness. It doesn’t just ‘go away’ on its own and it is difficult to just ‘pull yourself together’. Many depressed people searching out more alternative forms of healing. Two very effective treatments are Hypnotherapy & SymbioDynamics

What Is Hypnotherapy?

Hypnotherapy works on a deep emotional and mental level to alter a person’s thought patterns. At a very basic level, hypnosis aims to replace a detrimental and negative thought pattern with a positive one. Interestingly A study showed that depressed people did not have any worse a time than non depressed people, the only diference was that they were focusing on what was wrong and not what went well or was good. Hypnosis can be guided by a Hypnotherapist, although all hypnosis is self hypnosis, It is your mind after all!! They will use powerful chosen words and suggestions to address your specific problems and goals. There are also audios and mp3’s you can listen to that direct you into a relaxed hypnotic state. Hypnosis has been proven to control depression and be easily effective with other mental health issues, such as addictions and anxiety.

A hypnotherapy sessions vary and are a relaxing and comfortable experience for most people. You may be hesitant or fearful to try a new therapy, perhaps believing that you will lose control during the session, it is said that being in a hypnotic sate is the ultimate control over your mind and body. There is a great deal of trust involved in the hypnosis process and a Hypnotherapist will maintain confidentiality and operate from a code of ethics. During a hypnotherapy session, a therapist will guide you into a hypnotic trance, which is essentially all play and pretend, sing your imagination, where outside distractions tend to dissolve. It is in this relaxed and safe state that a Hypnotherapist will offer powerful suggestions to encourage your thought patterns to become more positive. These positive thoughts and beliefs ideally then translate to a stronger sense of self, increased confidence and a brighter outlook on life, all of which usually negatively affected during depression.

How Can It Help Depression?

Depression affects all parts of a person: their body, mind & emotions. It is thought that hypnotherapy can address the unconscious part of the mind which allows you to identify those thoughts and emotions that have led to depression. Through hypnosis, you can then potentially obtain a stronger grasp of your thought patterns as well as your emotions. Hypnosis is considered a very effective means to reduce the sadness and anxiety associated with depression by encouraging positive affirmations, emotions and associations.

Responses to hypnosis can vary a great deal. Your own ability to receive and respond to hypnosis is the key and the technique of the Hypnotherapist is secondary, although they should be fully trained and insured. Most people are receptive to hypnosis and the number of people who can’t be hypnotised at all is quite small, in fact, its usually only really people of a lower than deemed standard IQ or people using substances or alcohol

Self-Hypnosis for Depression

Self-hypnosis is an incredible asset and gift and can be used as a  complement to any hypnosis performed by a Hypnotherapist. There are books,MP3’s, MP4’s,video and tapes available to teach you self-hypnosis techniques, or a Hypnotherapist may also teach you easy techniques to perform your own self-hypnosis. Self-hypnosis is a way of encouraging a similar trance-like state that you experience in a formal session facilitated by a Hypnotherapist. If you have ever daydreamed, then you can Self-Hypnotise! The key difference is that it is not a Hypnotherapist who is providing suggestions for positive change, but you who eliminates negative thought patterns and replaces them with positive ones. Also, complementary therapies such as Hypnosis & SymbioDynamics can be helpful because they allow a person to experience a greater sense of control over his or her depression, health, success and future.

Unfortunately in this modern age, many people experience depression but your feelings and experiences should be uniquely treated and a bespoke programme or session created. With Hypnotherapy, you can address your personal negative thought patterns, change the way you think and behave, which will easily replace your depression with happiness and fulfilment which will in turn create your positive future.

For fast, effective solutions to your challenges,

Call Loran Northey –

Harley Street’s leading SymbioDynamics Consultant, NOW!

 0845 4745615  or  07709 …

www.lorannorthey.co.uk www.harleystreetsymbiodynamics.com

               Email Loran on info@lorannorthey.co.uk

Dealing with depression
The causes of depression are varied and are no respecter of social class, wealth, sex or age – it can affect almost anybody and sometimes strikes without warning.

Causes of Depression
Although depression does not always respond well to self-help, most depressions can indeed be greatly improved via one of the many therapies that are available to deal with the situation. Why ‘most’ depressions? Well, mainly because depression is considered to be a serious illness that needs handling with great care, sometimes needing medication as well as therapy, sometimes responding well to medication without other help. Clinical depression, which includes Bi-polar disorder (originally Manic Depression) and endogenous depression, is thought to be caused by brain chemistry. Both of these disorders need medication, as does the depression sometimes brought about by brain damage or brain surgery.

With endogenous depression the individual is a constantly low mood, continually depressed; there is seldom, if ever, any change of emotional state and nothing seems to create a ‘lift’. Bi-polar disorder, on the other hand, is characterised by swings from lethargic depression to a euphoric state (mania). In the depressive stage, the individual is lethargically depressed and there is little or no urge to do even the basic essentials of caring for self; in the manic phase, the exact opposite applies and there is an excess of energy (sometimes accompanied by prodigious and selfishly-orientated sex-drive) and a euphoric feeling of being able to achieve almost anything. Not unusually, the sufferer, in this phase, will make elaborate and/or outrageous plans for success.

The type of depression that almost always responds well to therapy, and often to self-help, is all forms of reactive depression. These are usually brought about by the tribulations of life, rather than by any clinical imbalance in the brain.

Here are some of the causes of depression of this type:
Redundancy
Grief
Relationship issues
Money worries
Career anxieties
Stress
Moving house
Post-natal (some)
PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)
You get the idea – anything that has been ‘triggered’, even it has existed for some considerable time, can be helped by various forms of therapy.

In general, face-to-face work is better here, though some improvement can often be made via telephone or even online work.

Symptoms of depression
Depression symptoms can be enormously varied. Here are just a few – not an exhaustive list by any means:
Sleeping difficulties (waking early or laying awake)
Tired all the time
Tearfulness for little or no reasons
Eating when not hungry
Not able to eat
Loss of appetite
Obsessive thinking patterns
Loss of interest in personal care/hygiene
Poor memory/concentration
Loss of interest in sexual activity
Where therapy is indicated, it is impossible to forecast the number of sessions from this site, and indeed it would be irresponsible to do so, since if therapy did not produce a desired result within the suggested time, the depression might actually become deeper. When meeting with a therapist, though, it is often possible to get some idea of duration and number of sessions. It is fair to say that it is usually shorter than most people think.

For some people, the problem is at least partly dietary and many therapists are conversant with this aspect of the illness.

Two effective and easy self-help methods

Physical exercise
Although this can be difficult to start for the individual who is suffering depression, it is only difficult! It is certainly not impossible, even though you might think: “I just can’t…” Once you have started, it gets easier with every session.

The reason that physical exercise can be an effective aid with the condition is that it encourages the release of Endorphins – the human body’s natural ‘feel good’ chemical, that can work like an anti-depressant medication – into the bloodstream. The effects are often immediate and last longer as time passes, perhaps due to a ‘reconditioning’ effect upon the psyche.

If you are not used to physical exercise, be sure to consult your doctor before you start and also be sure to start slowly; brisk walking for 15 minutes is a good way to start and you can increase this as quickly as you feel comfortable to do so. You need to work hard enough to raise your body temperature and increase your heart/breathing rate but not to the point where speech becomes difficult. If you feel excessively tired or uncomfortable, STOP IMMEDIATELY.

S-M-I-L-E!
To many, the notion that smiling to yourself can help to make positive and lasting changes to depression seems ridiculous – yet it is well established that even a false smile, as long as it reaches the edges of the eyes, changes the body’s chemistry. Although the mechanism is not clearly understood, it appears to again encourage the release of endorphins into the blood stream. So if you smile broadly at yourself every time you walk past a mirror or other reflective surface, there is a high chance that you will soon start to feel better.

It is well know that laughter eases depression – for a while there were ‘laughter clinics’ in London where people suffering from depression were encouraged by various means to laugh long and loudly.

If you’re still not convinced, try this: Throw your arms into the air, force an expression of excitement/joy or happiness on to your face (ACT it!) and while keeping that position try to say: “I feel really depressed today” but saying it as if you mean it and actually sounding depressed. This proves to be impossible for most and usually, those who think they have managed it have not realised that they have lost the ‘happy shape’ that they took at the beginning.

This is, or should be, sound evidence that the body affects the mind; stand up, smile, walk briskly – and it is almost inevitable that you will feel better.

Many people are actually unwilling to attempt these self-help methods; investigation often reveals that they actually do not want the depression to lift. If this is you, search inside your mind to find out why (sometimes it’s because attention is being sought, for instance) then address the problem directly. Without doubt, that can be one of the best forms of self help

If you are suffering from any form of depression, the earlier you seek help the more effective any therapy is likely to be and the sooner it will start to work.

With thanks to Terence Watts @ www.symbiodynamics.com

Do you have difficulty getting motivated? Do you put things off?

Is your motto ‘Why do it today, if I can leave it until tomorrow’?

Is putting things off in your life impacting on your self worth and well being? Do you feel exhausted and downhearted by your lack of progression? Do you feel stuck in a rut?

If any of the above are true for you then just follow these easy tips below to motivate you into action & make things happen!

Firstly, write down on a piece of paper or in a diary/notebook, what 3 things you urgently need to get done? (You can start with small or larger tasks)

E.G : 1)   Eat more healthily

        2)   Consolidate my debts

        3)   Springclean my house

Next, for each of those things above, just ask yourself the following questions and write down the answers on your paper or in your diary/notebook.

• What would happen if I did (get it done-achieve this)?
• What would happen if I didn’t?
• What wouldn’t happen if I did?
• What wouldn’t happen if I didn’t?

E.G: using 1) Eat more healthily

• I would be slimmer and feel better about myself
• I would carry on feeling sluggish, heavy and disappointed with myself
• I wouldn’t worry about health issues in my future
• I wouldn’t feel really happy and healthy in life.

Now, experiment with putting each of the following sentence starters before each task on your 1-3 list. Notice how each one makes you feel and whether it inspires you into taking positive action.

• I have to………………..
• I should………………….
• I want to………………..
• In this moment I choose……..

 Here’s an example of 1) Eat more healthily

• I have to eat more healthily (True, but instantly makes me want to rebel & stuff my face with rubbish!)
• I should eat more healthily (Still true, but I want to rebel even more now!)
• I want to eat more healthily (Yes ok this is true too, but it doesn’t really make me want to do it!)
• In this moment, I choose to eat more healthily and if I feel like treating myself at a later time then I will (This encourages me to eat healthily as I can have a small treat later if I choose to and I feel like I control the situation)

Have a go and see how these simple questions change your thinking because once you change your thinking, you can easily change your actions and results!

Remember – Control your mind, Control your Mood!

Motivate yourself into action and feel better in life.

Financial Fight Back Tip No.1

Sit down and re evaluate your monthly finances. Get all your bank statements, standing orders, bank transfers, Direct Debits, monthly receipts out and onto the table or wherever you have a flat surface to work from and input all the info into a simple form with two columns, with incomings on the left & outgoings on the right. Take care when listing everything, go through handbags, purses, pockets, safe places etc and get ALL receipts and outgoings listed.

Once you’ve got it all down on paper, you can see where you are over spending and where you can cut back. You MUST make your outgoings, less than your incomings!

Financial Fight Back Tip No.2

If you have debts, get help clearing them from a professional. As you now have all your financial information written down from Tip No.1-you have created control and awareness of your financial situation. Awareness is the first step to change and control is empowering. There are many agencies, organisations & advisors that can help you clearing your debts-call citizens advise bureau or local authorities for advice.

Financial Fight Back Tip No.3

Recognize any negative language you’re using regarding your finances and put ‘for now’ on the end of all your sentences. I.E: ‘I am in so much debt-for now’ ’I am really worried about money-for now’ This makes the situation temporary and therefore changeable. This will improve your mental attitude to a positive one-start practising straight away and keep on adding ‘for now’ to any negative thought, sentences until you no longer speak or think in the negative-Do it now and it will improve your thinking straight away.

Financial Fight Back Tip No.4

Now you’re ready to write out your financial goals, make them S.M.A.R.T!

Simple, Measurable, Achievable, Responsible, Timed.

So for example,

Goal No.1 – It is now 1^st August 09 – I have reduced my outgoings by £…, by cutting down on luxuries & only, ‘for now’, buying necessities in my weekly shopping.

Goal No.2 – It is now Dec, 09 – I have saved £200 in a savers account, via monthly bank transfer by putting in £20 per month from the £40 per month that I no longer spend on coffees at Starbucks.

Goal No.3 – It is now Dec, 09 and I have paid £20 per month into my utilities account from the money saved on my annual spend re coffees, which totals £200.

Goal No. 4 – It is now Jan, 10 and all my debts are consolidated and being paid off monthly, I have reduced my total debt by …. %.

Goal no. 5 – It is now March,10 and I am sitting in my debt advisors office renegotiating my payments & getting an even better deal that will reduce my total debt to zero by 31^st Dec,10.

Financial Fight back Tip No.5

Now that your financial situation is ongoing and improving, now ask yourself ‘What have I done in the past to make money?’ What is it that you can do ‘for now’ to increase your incomings? Have you got a talent/gift/currently unused career experience?

People will always pay for service in any financial climate-Can you take in ironing? Walk dogs? Shop for the elderly? Do online surveys? Do an online admin service? Book-keeping? Sell goods online? Car Boot sales? Childcare? Babysitting? House cleaning? Gardening? Car cleaning? Attic clearance, etc, etc.

Make a list-what can you do to make more money? Once you have identified what you can do for a further income stream, you can now put into action the steps required to achieve it & make it happen. I.e., Advertise – put flyers in local shops, talk to schools re sitting service, Talk to your local library to se if they have any ideas, leaflet drops to homes, sort out your attic, cupboards, garage for things to sell, set up an online account to sell your products – create an income stream, be creative, there is always something you can do to make more money-Act NOW!

Fight Back Tip No.6

Now, it’s time to firmly believe that this is only a financial set back and ‘for now’, that it’s only temporary.

Believe that your goals will come true because you have written them down (that task alone has been proven to make them actioned and achieved-so well done!). You have taken control of your situation and therefore your outcome.

Believe that you deserve to reach your goals, to create & have the life you really want. Visualise your ultimate end result and be grateful for it and everything else along the way, gratitude is a sure fire way to get what you want, because if you are grateful for what you have and appreciate it then you will attract even more towards you. Repeat a daily mantra to help your positive thinking even further, say something like ’I deserve prosperity and attract even more wealth & abundance into my life’. ‘Wealth is my birthright, I claim it now’ whatever it is that you can say over and over to build your wealth building, belief system. At the end of the day, the old saying ‘ fake it till you make it’ really is true, just pretend that you are attracting wealth & abundance & just keep doing it, until you actually are!

Remember:

‘You get what you focus on – so you might as well make it good!’

And:

‘You don’t have to get it right-just get it going!’

Take action NOW!

For further tips or info on anxiety reducing techniques, Call Loran NOW on 0845 474 5615 or email Loran at info@lorannorthey.co.uk