NLP for Depression

How NLP Can Help in Dealing with Depression

Globally, more than 264 million people of all ages suffer from depression. It has become a leading cause of disability worldwide and is a major contributor to the overall global burden of disease.

​Do these facts on depression which were published as recently as January 2020 by the World Health Organisation, sound disheartening? Well there’s more. Sadly, depression and other mental health conditions are on the rise globally.

So the question is can we become more proactive now in stemming out this disease that seems to attack people under the radar? We need to do everything to help ourselves and those around us by improving emotional wellness.

One way to do so is to learn about NLP for mental health. Before I talk about how we use NLP for depression, it’s useful to first know what depression is, what causes it and how to recognise it.

The Mayo Clinic defines depression as “a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. It affects how you feel, think and behave and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems. You may have trouble doing normal day-to-day activities, and sometimes you may feel as if life isn't worth living.”

A simple and straightforward first step could be to register for an NLP program. The remarkable point about this is that once you raise awareness of this debilitating condition, achieving work-life balance surfaces naturally

You may wonder how depression and work-life balance tie together. It is all about re-programming your mindset – getting rid of old thought patterns that are then replaced by more empowering, balanced thoughts.

​So, if a person decides to attend an NLP for depression class, they will learn about their belief systems and negative emotions that have caused the problem in the first place.

​Getting down to the root cause and improving emotional wellness, becomes the order of the day where you begin to feel good about life and are then able to carry on making decisions for the future.

Another aspect that is addressed in an NLP for mental health course, is how to remove ‘learned helplessness’ that many believe to be true. They live life like they have no control over what happens to them, so they think, feel, and act as if they are helpless.

In stark contrast to self-managing which is a far more empowering way to be, an NLP program removes this helplessness and replaces it with a powerful positive anchored state of confidence for example.

Traumatic events are also a major factor in causing depression and this is dealt with in NLP for depression programs, by eradicating negative emotions. This is a big one and a common one in my experience, which many past participants have resolved comfortably in a short space of time.

Improving emotional wellness in this way is a preferred and recommended option as NLP has the propensity to produce accelerated results. As depression also stems from a chemical imbalance, it is a wonderful feeling when balance is achieved.

Clients gain more control once they are taught how to rewire the way their brain reacts to triggers that cause depression.

When signs of depression emerge though, it’s no longer about merely improving emotional wellness. It needs to be treated. These are some things that you may see, hear or feel from people who are depressed:

• Feel continuous sadness
• Loss of interest or pleasure in usually-enjoyed activities
• Changes in appetite - weight loss or gain, unrelated to dieting
• Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much
• Loss of energy or feeling fatigued
• Increase in purposeless physical activity (e.g., inability to sit still, pacing, hand-wringing) or slowed movements or speech (severe enough that others notice such actions)
• Feel guilt or worthlessness
• Difficulty thinking, concentrating or making decisions
• Thoughts of death or suicide

​There’s no single magic cure for depression. Medication, various psychotherapies, lifestyle and diet change, radical change in environment, getting out of dysfunctional relationships or jobs, are some of the common prescriptions.

Over the years, a number of healthcare systems in the UK, Australia and the US have added NLP to their treatment list:

• NLP techniques directly impact an individuals’ mental performance.
• NLP works with knowledge of the nervous system and its responsibility for the body’s functioning.
• NLP works with the language system, which forms the basis for all interactions.
• NLP works with how we create different concepts, beliefs and patterns in our lives.

An NLP program will provide you with a solid foundation on the above. You can use it for improving emotional wellness and achieving work-life balance. More importantly, it offers people with depression a gateway to the healing process.

Four Ways NLP for Depression Helps:

1. By working with NLP beliefs. A powerful one is the map is not the territory. Clients learn that what goes on in the head is not actual reality but only our perception of reality.
   
   Therefore, anything we experience is filtered through our individual beliefs, attitudes, memories and experiences. Clients realise they can choose to change their thoughts. Seeing a way out is the first step to improving emotional wellness.
   
   
2. By shedding light on what a depressed person sees, hears, smells, feels or even tastes when they’re in that state. When depression stems from trauma, visual/kinaesthetic dissociation helps to eliminate intense emotions related to it.
   
   The client is guided to replay the event in black and white from a bystander’s perspective thus leading to dissociation via desensitisation. This is an example of using NLP for depression which produces immediate and lasting results.
   
   
3. Timeline therapy can eliminate negative emotions from past trauma and events that trigger depression. This powerful process helps clients acknowledge the lessons they need to learn from a traumatic event.
   
   It helps them permanently shed emotional patterns from past events and frees them from limiting beliefs which act as obstacles to improving emotional wellness.
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4. Using NLP for mental health in combination with other modalities leads to greater effectiveness. Treatments that include NLP techniques give clients more choices, more control and more power.
   
   Because it all starts with the presupposition that ‘everyone already has all the needed resources available to achieve the desired results’ the client can move away from helplessness.

​Improving emotional wellness is now more important than ever. It helps safeguard immunity in the current environment. Learning about NLP for mental health helps in protecting physical and emotional wellbeing.

Depression is termed as ‘the common cold’ of mental health problems. It’s no longer a stigma in most developed countries. We, as individuals and as a community, must be alert to its presence among our loved ones, friends and colleagues. Seeking help, whether through NLP for depression or other therapies, is perfectly fine. It is after all a holistic solution that remedies the situation. 

​As a first step, equip yourself by attending an NLP program to learn more about how the mind works. This will provide self-management tools and enable you to spot the signs in yourself and others, especially if someone is off kilter.

​Sylvia Fernandes is the Founder & CEO of VIA Frontiers. She is a Master Trainer of NLP who is specialised in corporate applications. She started her business in Sydney in 2002 and has been operating in the Asia Pacific Region ever since. She is currently based in Singapore. She is also the author of Bye Bye Black Cat -- Turn Your Luck Around and Realise Opportunities. Visit VIA Frontiers for more information.