[SmackytheFrog]

Has anyone tried it?

My boyfriend's dad is a hypnotherapist and I never really considered its uses in depression (I had always heard of it being used for addictions and the like) but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that hypnotherapy can be an aid in many other conditions like depression and finding the source of that.

So now I'm curious. Has anyone tried it for depression? Or for any other problems like quitting smoking or drugs or alcoholism? Has anyone thought about it and want to get some more information on it?

[Perna]

It hasn't really been studied much for use in mental health until really recently; there appears to be a front-runner expert, Michael Yapko. Interesting article:

http://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/01/hypnosis.aspx

[faith1983]

I tried hypnotherapy, not for depressive issues though. We didn't use it to try to recover memories or stuff like that but to try to calm down and to feel better about some stuff and it worked. every session we do hypnosis, I love it; I always feel much better and calm afterward. I wouldn't do only hypnotherapy though; I need to talk more from time to time... Anyway, I think it's worth trying, as long as the hypnotherapist is someone you trust and feel safe with

take care
faith

Originally Posted by SmackytheFrog

Has anyone tried it?

My boyfriend's dad is a hypnotherapist and I never really considered its uses in depression (I had always heard of it being used for addictions and the like) but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that hypnotherapy can be an aid in many other conditions like depression and finding the source of that.

So now I'm curious. Has anyone tried it for depression? Or for any other problems like quitting smoking or drugs or alcoholism? Has anyone thought about it and want to get some more information on it?

I don't trust anything I can't watch

My T says he doesn't think it is that helpful for issues like depression and absolutely refuses to use it to help me remember all the broken bits of my childhood.

[DrFrank]

Hypnotherapy is an accelerated form of counseling and accordingly it works as well as psychotherapy but faster.This is the primary reason most therapists do not use it (shortened therapy resulting in less income).However like other forms of therapy,it works in direct correlation to how much effort and cooperation the client expends,meaning that it is not magic and it will not work for those who are just play acting or fearful of it.

"This is the primary reason most therapists do not use it (shortened therapy resulting in less income)" really lol!

I did some hypnotherapy with my first T almost 20 years ago to help me process some of the memories I had from childhood. It deepened my understanding of what happened, but it wasn't intended as memory recovery, and it really wasn't.

My T's version of hypnotherapy was really more akin to guided imagery rather than hypnosis. I don't know if there are different styles, but it sure wasn't the party trick that I've seen hypnosis be.

Anne

[faith1983]

The principle behind show hypnosis and clinical hypnosis must be the same but t don't use it to make us do the chicken.. Anyway, we do what we wanna do, even "under" hypnosis, we're still in control of what we do, think and say. We can step out anytime we want; the hypnotherapist doesn't control us at all. There are many states you can be.. I guess I'm somewhere between light and moderate when we use hypnosis; I hear most of what t says and remember basically everything but there a state of relaxation and calm that is so interesting...
Everybody has his own perceptions and beliefs around it and it's fine this way but for it to be useful, you need to "believe" in it, trust your t and be ready to let go if I can say that this way... But I'm not sure for memory recovery as well. Like 3rdtimesthecharm says, what you can remember under hypnosis is not necessarely fact; it can easily be a construction of many thing or other said, a false memory

[twinkle_toes]

I was referred to a hypnotherapist by my pain management doc. I have not had an actual session yet, just an intake where we talked about me and my issues and then discussed how hypnotherapy works. She (the therapist) seems totally normal and down to earth. She's been a nurse for 30 years and I guess that makes me feel like she's more reliable.
I was surprised how logical it is and I couldn't stop crying because I felt like it has the potential to really help me with all of my issues including my chronic pain AND my depression.
My first session is on Saturday, so I'll let you know what I think!

[twinkle_toes]

My first session was great! We spent most of the time talking about my life goals. She said not that she has that info she can make a plan for the work we need to do. We did a brief relaxing hypnosis and it was vey cool. I was nervous, but it wasn't scary at all and I felt completely in control. I'm really interested to see what we do next week.

[Elli-Beth]

My T has hypnotized me just to help me calm down during an especially bad spell when I needed help relaxing enough to speak, but it was only one session out of an entire year of regular therapy.

I LOVED it! My scalp even tingled afterwards! I was kinda bummed when he stopped the session...