Hypnotherapy and Depression - Research Paper Example

?Hypnotherapy and Depression The proportion of mental health problems is widening in recent time. The impact of these problems on the physical health is also undeniable. Depression is the leading cause of such problems where mental and physical problems compound together so fitting solutions for depression are required. Typically mental health practitioners have relied on anti depressants and psychotherapeutic techniques to deal with depression. These practices have failed to live up to expectations as they project partial or complete failures in the cases of patients. This has forced the modern mental health practitioner to look for solutions beyond the regular scope of treatments. Hypnosis and hypnotherapy are among the leading solutions being investigated in this regard. This paper will look into the problems and the current state of solutions being offered through the use of hypnotherapy. Introduction Depression is an all encompassing phenomenon that tends to affect the mind, body and social well being of a person. A large amount of research has been put into treating depression but most of this research relies on the use of antidepressant medication and psychotherapy. The use of these devices stems from the fact that depression has been viewed historically as a physical and mental problem. However, there is evidence to indicate that the long term use of anti depressant medication may actually be unable to resolve depression. In addition, there is some evidence to indicate that patients may actually suffer due to the use of anti depressant medication in the longer run as it may aid in sustaining depressive symptoms (Barlow, 2005). Another problem with the current line of treatments is that certain patients may not respond to either anti depressant medication or psychotherapy at all (Alladin, 2009). It must be kept in mind here that depression may only be connected to a person’s state of mind but its negative consequences tend to affect the entire human being. Depression tends to affect a person’s thought process such that the person feels listless and hopeless. This promotes a large chance for suicide especially for the case of major depressive disorder (MDD). In addition, fatigue, insomnia, aches, digestive problems, cardiac issues, excessive sleeping, loss of energy and other such problems could also affect a person suffering from depression. Hence, depression tends to enervate a person in both mind and body so there is dire need to look for sustainable solutions to the problem. The issues discussed above force healthcare practitioners to look elsewhere for solutions to deal with depression. Contemporary approaches to depression are being abandoned in favor of novel methods such as hypnosis and hypnotherapy. Hypnosis Hypnosis refers to a mental state in which a human being is open to suggestibility, feels highly relaxed and operates in a region of heightened imagination (Lynn, Fassler, & Knox, 2005). This state is often induced using the hypnotic induction technique that relies on suggestions and instructions delivered to the patient. These instructions and suggestions can be delivered by the individual or by a mental health practitioner. Hypnotherapy The utilization of hypnosis for therapeutic purposes is better known as hypnotherapy. Hypnotherapy tends to boost the patient’s attention to particular areas by reducing the peripheral awareness (Valente, 2003). This can be used as a potent method to deal with depression both in the short term and the long term. The current state of practice in this field already has psychiatric nurses who are allowed to administer hypnosis to a patient. This is however generally done to relive symptoms for issues such as anxiety, negative behavior, low self esteem, arousal, uncontrolled behavior and low confidence levels. These practices are as yet limited to short term relief for patients suffering from such symptoms. It is however being speculated that hypnotherapy has a bright future in mental healthcare for dealing with depression and its allied problems. Applications of Hypnotherapy to Depression Clinical depression has appeared as the most probable psychiatric disorder that needs treatment from psychiatrists as well as psychotherapists. As mentioned before, depression tends to affect a person completely so dealing with depression requires the practitioner to work on multiple fronts at the same time. This problem is compounded by the fact that antidepressant medication and associated psychotherapies may not respond and work well for the patient all the time. These limitations posed by current practice issues have forced mental health practitioners to look for alternatives. Hypnotherapy has appeared over the years as such an alternative and shows the potential to deliver both short term and long term solutions for depression. Research by Alladin (2009) focused on the application of Cognitive Hypnotherapy (CH) to a large base of patients suffering from depression. The application of CH was multi modal, which indicates that it was operating on various fronts at the same time to tackle depression. The results of the research indicated that patients showed considerable improvement compared to patients who are subjected to conventional therapeutic practices. This research has also hinted that hypnotherapy may also be used to treat a host of other physical and mental health problems if applied with a structured approach (Alladin, 2009). In a similar manner, CH has been combined with Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) in order to deal with patients suffering from MDD. In the case of patients suffering from MDD, there is a high risk that patients might actually be suffering due to the protracted use of antidepressant medication. The research focused on using a combination of CH and CBT to deal with MDD without the use for any conventional therapeutic practice. The results show that this combination can have several benefits for the patient as well as substantially reducing the cost for treatment (Alladin, 2010). The use of hypnosis as an integrated treatment system is also being bolstered. The use of hypnosis has been increasing in clinical settings and has proved that hypnotherapy offers not only to a reduction in anxiety and stress but it also changes physiological parameters. The use of conventional medicine and therapeutic practices has been unable to offer any of these benefits to patients of depression even after protracted use. Hypnosis for clinical treatments can be undertaken using either “eye fixation” techniques or through the utilization of the “weight of authority” of healthcare professionals. The power of hypnosis can be realized from the fact that patients under anesthesia can recall exact situations from the operating theater after being induced into hypnosis (Hartman & Zimberoff, 2011). Research has also documented the efficacy of hypnotherapy in dealing with a number of other ailments including (but not limited to) gastrointestinal disorders, dermatologic disorders, neurodermatitis, pruritus, psoriasis, acute and chronic pain, burns, surgery, nausea, vomiting, childbirth, hemophilia, allergies, asthma, hypertension and others (Hartman & Zimberoff, 2011). This not only demonstrates the efficacy of hypnotherapy but also delineates its true potential to the treatment of chronic issues such as depression. It has also been suggested that hypnotherapy is effective in removing the repressive energy assumed after traumatic events. If this repressed energy is not removed, there is a high chance that human beings may develop “physical, emotional, physiological and spiritual” problems of one form or the other (Hartman D. , 2010) (Hartman & Zimberoff, 2006). This stands to indicate that under such a hypothesis, human beings are susceptible to assuming problems such as depression, which may affect their other physical and mental functions. Hypnotherapy has come through as an alternative and potent method to deal with depression and its allied problems. Hypnotherapy has been explored over time through various psychotherapists and mental health practitioners. A number of techniques have been developed to deal with hypnotherapy including the use of “clean language”, utilizing metaphors and the like. The basic contention is to bring the patient through a state of bifurcated awareness to a state of heightened awareness. This ensures that the patient’s attention is now focused to solve his or her own problems. Hypnotherapy provides the right platform through hypnotic methods to deal with a human being’s state of awareness. The central focus of hypnotherapy has been and is the diversion of a person’s attention to his own state of problems by reducing the focus on peripheral issues. Furthermore, it was previously held that hypnosis was a state of nervous sleep but this view has been repudiated in recent times by recent research (Stubbs, 2011). Therefore, hypnosis can be seen as a state of heightened awareness only that this awareness is diverted to one particular focus or the other depending on the practitioner’s manipulation. Conclusion There is little doubt that hypnosis and hypnotherapy hold great promise as valid techniques to deal with depression. It is apparent that a framework exists for dealing with depression using hypnotherapy but there is more research required to develop repeatable methods. References Alladin, A. (2010). Depression. In A. F. Barabasz, K. Olness, R. Boland, & S. Kahn, Medical Hypnosis Primer: Clinical and Research Evidence (pp. 73-81). New York: Routledge. Alladin, A. (2009). Evidence-based cognitive hypnotherapy for depression. Contemporary Hypnosis 26(4) , 245-262. Barlow, D. H. (2005). Abnormal psychology: An integrative approach . Belmont: Thomson Wadsworth. Hartman, D. (2010). Hypnosis & Hypnotherapy Citations. Journal Of Heart-Centered Therapies 13(1) , 3-142. Hartman, D., & Zimberoff, D. (2006). Healing the Body-Mind in Heart-Centered Therapies. Journal of Heart-Centered Therapies 9(2) , 75-137. Hartman, D., & Zimberoff, D. (2011). Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy in the Milieu of Integrative Medicine: Healing the Mind/Body/Spirit . Journal of Heart-Centered Therapies 14(1) , 41-75. Lynn, S., Fassler, O., & Knox, J. (2005). Hypnosis and the altered state debate: something more or nothing more? Contemporary Hypnosis 22 , 39. Stubbs, S. (2011). What Is Hypnotherapy - How Does It Work - And Why Do We Need It....? Positive Health 189 . Valente, M. S. (2003). Hypnosis: A Useful Strategy for Symptom Relief. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association 9 (5) , 163–166. Read More