Treating Recurrent Blues With Hypnotherapy

Are you becoming concerned that your bout with seasonal sadness is lasting longer, or is more severe than you have previously experienced? How do you know if this is only a temporary issue, or if you could have an actual case of Seasonal Affective Disorder(SAD)? Do you need to seek counseling? Educate yourself about the symptoms of SAD, how it can affect you, and what therapies are most helpful.

SAD is not just feeling "down" when the weather is bad. This condition starts to develop when the fall season begins to change to winter and the days become shorter. The majority of people experience symptoms sometime during late summer or early fall. Moreover, because of the severity and consequences of SAD and other types of depression, doctors require extensive evidence of the condition before they are willing to make a definite diagnosis. Even though symptoms may be very severe, doctors rarely diagnose a patient with SAD before he or she shows strong evidence of the disorder for at least three winters in a row.

Those who are affected by this condition start to experience feelings of depression, reduced motivation, and often sleep for long periods. Furthermore, they develop a dependence on sugar or candy. Additionally, the majority of persons who experience SAD also have immune systems that do not function adequately. Frequently, they develop illnesses much sooner than people who do not suffer from SAD.

This condition can negatively decrease a person's ability to function professionally or at school. This decreased motivation can make getting out of bed or engaging in one’s usual daily activities difficult. Sufferers have trouble participating in social situations, or even at home. These persons often experience times of intense anxiety and irritability. Sometimes, symptoms become severe and disabling enough that some sufferers even think about suicide and require hospitalization for therapy.

Not surprisingly, females seem to experience SAD more frequently than men do. Additionally, this disorder usually improves yearly at springtime. In fact, in March or April, symptoms usually decrease or disappear completely - until the following autumn. This is the case even in states that are frequently cloudy or rainy throughout the entire year. In fact, as many as one-fifth of those who are treated for seasonal depression will at some point develop symptoms of bipolar disorder.

These people primarily tend to be depressed during wintertime, but report normal moods throughout the rest of the year. At times, however, individuals report experiencing instances of unexpected elation, which is also called mania. As with other types of depression, SAD can become very serious and even disabling if left untreated. Additionally, some individuals suffer from very mild forms of SAD; they may struggle with exhaustion, decreased vigor, and loss of appetite. These individuals, however, rarely endure instances of depressed moods or anxiety.

This kind of depression is relatively rare in sunny areas such as Tennessee, southern California, and even Colorado. Others, who reside in places with a large number of cloudy days, like Ohio, Illinois, or Washington are at higher risk for developing this condition. Residents of countries including Finland, Sweden, and England also face an increased risk of seasonal depression.

Medical researchers have attempted a number of alternative approaches to assist affected individuals recover from this debilitating condition. They have tried exposing people to artificial light in an attempt to help them produce more serotonin and reduce depression symptoms. Researchers have also used medicines such as anti-anxiety drugs, and supplements, like melatonin, in an attempt to relieve these symptoms of depression. Often, those who develop this condition also seek out psychiatrists during those times when they are suffering most greatly.

Each of these techniques have been used with varying degrees of effectiveness. All, however, are significantly more costly and time-consuming than two recently introduced, innovative methods. Hypnotherapy practitioners have perfected the art of coaching clients to learn both NLP and hypnotherapy strategies for depression. Using self-hypnosis, people learn to talk themselves out of a depressive period and resolve their symptoms. These innovative treatments, hypnotherapy and NLP, have resulting in a phenomenal degree of success in helping individuals to heal from, and avoid future problems with SAD.

Summary: Seasonal Affective Disorder season. Only those who struggle with this problem are able to choose whether they wish to continue battling the symptoms alone, over and over, or to seek assistance in healing from this condition forever. Hypnosis and NLP to treat seasonal depression are two effective, innovative therapies that promise a quick relief from these feelings without spending enormous amounts of money or energy.

Alan B. Densky, CH specializes in depression and stress related symptoms as an NGH certified hypnotist. He has helped thousands of clients since 1978. He supplies CDs for hypnotic depression therapy. Visit his Neuro-VISION NLP site for the hypnosis article library, or watch his free video hypnosis collection.