Roger Foxwell Hypnotherapy » depression

Do we know when we need help?

Roger — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 21:23:32 +0000

Here I am following on from my last post about getting help with one’s problems. Suffering from some states such as depression or anger can often leave one in denial about any need for help. Maybe everyone around can see that obviously their partner, friend or colleague needs to address certain issues and behaviours in their lives but the person acting these out is often unable to see that anything may be wrong. Eating disorders are classic cases of the person with the problem stubbornly refusing to respond to any idea of having treatment. This leaves the people around in an almost impossible situation because even if one can drag someone to therapy it is very difficult to get a satisfactory reponse unless the patient is ready to respond under their own volition. We often have to hit rock bottom or experience some uncomfortable lifestyle change before we are able to put into perspective where we really are and find the motivation needed to change.

Drugs and depression

Roger — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:03:10 +0000

When I first meet a client I always want to know if they are on any medication or seeing a doctor for their presenting issue. This is especially important for more serious mental health issues and for any physical issues that may be related to how they feel. For certain problems long term medication may well be the best answer and as far as I am concerned that is to be left to my client and their doctor. But even then some form of talking therapy is likely to be of benefit in many cases alongside any drugs.

However in a lot of cases taking drugs long term is never going to solve the underlying issues of why a person has feelings or behaviour patterns that they would rather be without. I subscribe to regular newsletters from Dr Mercola in America and they always make very interesting and entertaining reading. This article from Dr Mercola talks about how he feels that there is an over medicating in America of people suffering from depression and is well worth a read. Although there seems still to be a prevalent view that depression is something that one perhaps just has to live with or at best may take years to overcome in my experience that is not always the case and I have first hand experience, as have many of my colleagues, of being able to help clients make significant changes in their emotional wellbeing in as little as just a few sessions.

As an update to the above this is a recent article on the BBC (health) website by Dr Joanna Moncrieff where she talks about how putting patients on medication for pschological issues can be just a case of putting them into a “drug induced state” without ever addressing the real issues behind the problem.

Is your bag heavy enough?

Roger — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:02:43 +0000

Liked this post from helpothers.org so thought I would pass it on.

“One of my teachers had each one of us bring a clear plastic bag and a sack of potatoes. For every person we’d refuse to forgive in our life, we were told to choose a potato, write on it the name and date, and put it in the plastic bag. Some of our bags, as you can imagine, were quite heavy.

We were then told to carry this bag with us everywhere for one week, putting it beside our bed at night, on the car seat when driving, next to our desk at work.

The hassle of lugging this around with us made it clear what a weight we were carrying spiritually, and how we had to pay attention to it all the time to not forget, and keep leaving it in embarrassing places.

Naturally, the condition of the potatoes deteriorated to a nasty slime. This was a great metaphor for the price we pay for keeping our pain and heavy negativity!

Too often we think of forgiveness as a gift to the other person, and while that’s true, it clearly is also a gift for ourselves!

So the next time you decide you can’t forgive someone, ask yourself… Isn’t MY bag heavy enough?”

- from www.pravsworld.com