Hypnotherapy for Depression
An honest guide from Fort Lauderdale hypnotherapist Gill Leon: how hypnotherapy can help with depression alongside your medical care, what it cannot do, and who it is right for.
Depression is more than a bad mood. It can drain your energy, take the color out of things you used to enjoy, and make ordinary days feel heavy. If that is where you are right now, you are not weak, and you are not alone.
If you are in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988 (Suicide and Crisis Lifeline) or call 911 now. Hypnotherapy is not crisis care.
Can hypnotherapy help with depression?
It can be a helpful addition to your care, but it is not a replacement for your doctor, your therapist or your medication. I work with people alongside that care, on the patterns that keep them stuck: a harsh inner critic, feelings that were never resolved, poor sleep and low energy.
Start with your doctor
Depression has many possible causes. Some are emotional, like a loss, a long period of stress or a big change in your life. Some are physical, like thyroid problems, hormone changes, other illnesses or the side effects of a medication. A doctor or a licensed mental health professional is the right person to find out what is going on and to diagnose it. I am a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, and I do not diagnose anything.
If you take an antidepressant, keep taking it. Do not stop or change any medication because of anything that happens in a session. Any change to your treatment is a conversation between you and your doctor. Depending on your situation, I may ask for a referral or a note from your doctor or therapist before we begin.
For a clear overview of the symptoms, causes and treatments of depression, this short video from Mayo Clinic is a good place to start.
How hypnotherapy can help
Talking about how you feel uses the conscious, thinking mind. Many of the patterns that keep depression in place sit below that level, which is why knowing what is wrong does not always change how you feel. Hypnosis is a calm, focused state that lets us work closer to where those patterns live.
Quieting the inner critic
Many people with low mood are hard on themselves in ways they do not even notice. We work on reframing how you see yourself, so the voice in your head becomes fairer and kinder.
Feelings that were never resolved
Guilt, resentment, regret or grief that was never worked through can sit underneath a low mood for years. In hypnosis we can go back calmly to where a feeling started and change your relationship with it.
Sleep and energy
Poor sleep and low mood feed each other. Deep relaxation and work on a racing mind can help you rest better, which often helps everything else. See hypnosis for insomnia.
Small steps forward
Depression makes even small tasks feel huge. As a life coach as well as a hypnotherapist, I help you pick small, realistic steps and build the motivation to take them.
How I work
I start by learning how your mind works. Everyone takes in the world mostly through pictures, sounds and words, or feelings. Knowing yours shows me how you experience the low mood and how to talk to the part of you that holds it.
From there I choose what fits you. That can include reframing, dynamic mental imagery, going back calmly to where a feeling began, or parts therapy, which works with the part of you that is holding a pattern in place for a reason that no longer applies. You stay aware the whole time. You can read more about this in what clinical hypnosis is.
Low mood often comes with other things, and I work with those too: anxiety and stress, grief and loss and low self-esteem. Sessions are in my Fort Lauderdale office or online, in English or Spanish.
Is hypnotherapy right for you?
Often a good fit
- A low mood that has hung on after a loss or a big change
- Feeling stuck, flat or hard on yourself
- You are already getting care and want more support
Talk with your doctor first
- Severe depression, or thoughts of harming yourself
- Bipolar disorder, or a history of psychosis
- Depression that is new, changing or getting worse
In some of those situations, hypnosis is not the right tool. If I think that is true for you, I will tell you so honestly at your free consultation.
Common questions
Want to talk it through?
Book a free consultation. We talk about what you are going through and what care you already have, and I tell you honestly whether I think hypnotherapy can help. No charge and no pressure.
Call (954) 839-4604 or send a message. Guillermo "Gill" Leon, CCHt, 2550 N. Federal Hwy, Suite 18, Fort Lauderdale.
Individual results vary. Gill Leon is a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, not a licensed physician, psychologist or psychiatrist. Hypnotherapy is not a substitute for medical or psychological care. In a crisis, call or text 988 or call 911.