Depression - How to follow the road to recovery

Depression remains a very serious health issue in the UK with statistics showing that 1 in 4 Britons will suffer from a mental health problem within a given year. Most sufferers will commonly experience a combination of anxiety and depression. Between 8 and 12 percent of the population will struggle with depression and the effects on home, career, relationships and personal esteem are enormous.

Many people who present and are diagnosed with depressive symptoms by the time they reach the stage of contacting a therapist may have exhausted many avenues of treatment, such as their GP, taking SSRIs, self help books with varying degrees of success. Quite often sufferers may feel reluctant to try alternative therapies fearing they may not work or may do more harm than good and a whole host of other reasons.

The road to recovery for depression can, however, be experienced in a positive light if people are willing to view the illness as something that is there to inform them that something needs to change. As a former sufferer of the illness, I can confirm that the turning point to recovery for me was in understanding what it was that made me depressed, as a problem well stated is one that is half solved. I learned that how I thought about myself and the things that had happened to me in my past were affecting my feelings and my actions towards others and myself. The way we think about ourselves, our experiences and how we view the world forms a map which we construct from our own interpretations of what is said to us and what happens to us. Often as children we soak up all of these messages and make a number of errors in our thinking along the way. For example a child may have had a father who he constantly sought approval from but due to the father's own limitations was unable to give him the approval he so craved. The child may grow up to constantly seek approval from others in jobs, relationships and friendships. Once we learn that the map we constructed all those years ago can be reconstructed, we can travel on unchartered territory and enjoy that feeling of liberation as we shake off old limiting beliefs that have held us back from progressing forward.

If you are affected by depression you may want to start by looking at the negative thought patterns that are going through your mind right now, how are they are affecting you in your life? How are they limiting you? Where do you think they came from and how can you challenge them? Sometimes we can be totally unaware of these thoughts until we start to make an effort to focus on them, if it helps write them down.

Future orientation is also another part of the journey, what is it that you really want to achieve in your life and what will it feel like when you have arrived there? Can you think of a time when you felt really good, what it looked like, sounded like, felt like?

Motivation can often be a major obstacle to moving forward when depressed as we can often feel lethargic, tired and everything can feel like an enormous effort. The best way to improve general motivation is to learn how to relax this might the route of self hypnosis or meditation. Meditation is an excellent way of becoming at one with yourself and making peace with the mind. Simply learning how to watch the breath as we inhale and exhale the very breath that gives us life, or lighting a candle and becoming emersed in the flame can quiten the mind. When practiced daily, meditation can become a source of relaxation, enjoyment and a chance for us to experience feeling good again.

If you would like to know more about how to overcome depression and anxiety contact me at 01484 328 622 or visit www.whitelighthypno.co.uk