Hypnotherapy for Depression

I am now so depressed I have not an Idea to put to paper — my hand feels like lead — and yet it is an unpleasant numbness it does not take away the pain of existence

John Keats 

Introduction
What is Depression?

"The greatest sources of our suffering are the lies we tell ourselves." — Bessel van der Kolk

Depression is not simply a mood disorder — it is disconnection from the self, others, and life itself. Leading experts like Bessel van der Kolk and Gabor Maté emphasize that depression is more than just a chemical imbalance—it is frequently a response to unprocessed trauma, emotional repression, and chronic stress.

Modern neuroscience supports this view, showing that depression alters brain function, affecting regions like the prefrontal cortex (decision-making), hippocampus (memory/emotion), and amygdala (fear/stress response). Chronic stress and unresolved emotional pain cause neural dysregulation, trapping individuals in a cycle of emotional numbness, negative self-perception, and avoidance behaviours.

Depression is not a sign of weakness, but rather a survival adaptation to past experiences. Healing requires more than just symptom management—it involves reconnecting with suppressed emotions, retraining the nervous system, and restoring a sense of safety within the body and mind.

What Are The Common Signs Of Depression? 

Emotional

Depression manifests as a deep disconnection from emotions, self-worth, and a sense of meaning. According to trauma expert Gabor Maté, depression is often the result of early emotional wounds that were never processed, forcing the mind to suppress painful experiences at the cost of emotional aliveness. Individuals struggling with depression often experience chronic self-criticism, feeling as though they are never good enough. Feelings of hopelessness and despair can make even the smallest tasks feel overwhelming, reinforcing the belief that nothing will improve. Shame and guilt are also common, as many people with depression believe they are a burden to others or undeserving of love, happiness, or success. A lack of self-worth is deeply embedded, often accompanied by self-hate, harsh internal dialogue, and an inability to offer oneself compassion. Over time, many individuals experience emotional numbness, as the brain’s survival response dampens emotions to avoid further pain, making it difficult to feel joy, connection, or purpose.

Behavioural

Work- related implications

Depression frequently disrupts an individual’s ability to function in professional settings. Many struggle with focus, motivation, and decision-making, making it difficult to complete tasks or meet responsibilities. Procrastination and avoidance are common, as the fear of failure or incompetence leads  to withdrawal rather than engagement. Even when success is achieved, individuals can downplay their accomplishments and struggle to accept praise, believing their efforts are not good enough. Some may overwork or strive for perfectionism, using busyness as a way to escape their emotional struggles, while others may feel so overwhelmed that they disengage entirely.

Relationship-Related Implications

In relationships, depression often leads to people-pleasing and emotional suppression, as individuals prioritize others' needs while neglecting their own. Many withdraw from friends and loved ones due to feelings of shame, unworthiness, or fear of being a burden, leading to increased isolation. Struggles with setting boundaries can result in emotional exhaustion, as individuals may tolerate unhealthy relationships rather than risk rejection. Others may develop a deep fear of abandonment, leading to patterns of clinging to relationships for validation or, conversely, avoiding intimacy altogether to protect themselves from emotional pain.

Physical

Chronic depression has significant physical effects on the body. Many individuals experience chronic fatigue and low energy, feeling physically drained even after adequate sleep. The body often holds tension and stress, particularly in the shoulders, neck, and jaw, as it remains in a state of unconscious bracing. Shallow breathing or breath-holding is common, particularly in moments of stress or self-doubt, reducing oxygen flow and contributing to feelings of exhaustion. Depression is also closely linked to digestive issues, as gut health plays a crucial role in emotional regulation and stress response. Over time, a weakened immune system makes individuals more susceptible to illness, as prolonged stress and emotional distress disrupt the body’s ability to heal and defend itself.

Long Term Health

When depression is left unresolved, it can lead to lasting changes in brain function, nervous system regulation, and overall health. Bessel van der Kolk explains that depression is not just an emotional state—it is a nervous system shutdown in response to unprocessed trauma. Over time, chronic depression alters the brain’s ability to process emotions, form new neural connections, and adapt to change, leading to long-term cognitive and emotional impairment.

Neurologically, depression shrinks the hippocampus, the brain’s center for memory and emotional regulation, while increasing activity in the amygdala, which heightens the body's stress response. This leads to chronic anxiety, heightened sensitivity to stress, and difficulty processing emotions. Additionally, prolonged depression contributes to inflammation and immune dysfunction, increasing the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, chronic pain conditions, and autoimmune disorders.

Without intervention, depression reinforces cycles of isolation and avoidance, making it harder to re-engage with life. Individuals often experience deteriorating self-esteem, cognitive decline, and deep emotional disconnection, leading to a life that feels increasingly small, stagnant, and disconnected from joy. However, by addressing both the neurological and subconscious drivers of depression, individuals can break free from these cycles and restore emotional balance.

What Causes Depression? 

Depression does not arise without cause—it is influenced by both biological and psychological factors. While brain chemistry plays a role it is often a long-term adaptation to stress, emotional suppression, and unresolved trauma.

1. Nervous System Dysregulation & The Brain

  • Chronic stress causes dysfunction in the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex, leading to impaired emotional regulation.

  • The brain adapts by dampening emotional responses, creating a feeling of numbness and detachment from life.

  • Many individuals enter a chronic "freeze" state, unable to feel fully alive or motivated.

2. Childhood Conditioning & Emotional Repression

  • If a child’s emotions were ignored, punished, or invalidated, they learn to suppress feelings as a survival mechanism.

  • Over time, this suppression becomes depression, as the nervous system remains in a state of emotional shutdown.

  • Children raised in high-stress or emotionally neglectful environments are more likely to struggle with depression as adults.

3. Social Isolation & The Loss of Connection

  • Depression often arises from disconnection—from self, others, and a sense of purpose.

  • Loneliness and lack of meaningful relationships increase the risk of depression.

  • In today’s fast-paced world, genuine human connection is often replaced by digital distractions, deepening emotional emptiness.

4. Unprocessed Trauma & The Body’s Response

  • Trauma that is not processed or integrated remains stored in the body, keeping individuals stuck in emotional distress.

  • The body responds by dampening emotions, resulting in emotional numbness or exhaustion.

  • Depression is often the body’s way of protecting itself from pain, but healing requires reconnecting with suppressed emotions.

Benefits
Why Does Hypnotherapy Help With Depression?

Traditional talk therapy often focuses on cognitive solutions, but depression is deeply rooted in the body and unconscious  mind

  • Hypnotherapy works at the subconscious level, where depression is deeply stored. It helps by:

  • Releasing and processing trapped emotions and past trauma, allowing for emotional resolution.

  • Reprogramming limiting beliefs, shifting self-hate and self-doubt into self-trust and self-compassion.

  • Reconnecting individuals with who they are, restoring a sense hope and purpose.

  • Rebalancing the nervous system, reducing the freeze response that keeps people stuck.

By combining brain-based approaches such as neurofeedback with unconscious work, individuals can experience lasting relief from depression—not just symptom management. 

 

 Approach
How does Integrated Hypnotherapy work? 

 

Blocked by past?

Release

Stuck & looping in present?

Restore

Afraid of future?

Renew

The Process

Free Consultation

An opportunity for you to  share your challenge and desired outcome. I address your questions and explain how hypnotherapy can support you.

BESPOKE PACKAGAES

I recommend a package tailored your requirements   whilst remaining responsive to what may naturally arise throughout the process. 

HypNOTHERAPY

Appointments are one hour starting weekly, followed by longer intervals to observe progress pinpoint areas requiring further attention.

TAILORED SUPPORT 

I provide email support between appointments and a personalised hypnotherapy recording at the end to reinforce progress.

Client Testimonials

  • “It’s like therapy on speed. It has changed the way I view absolutely everything in my life.”

    —R

    Feeling Worthless

  • "Lucy managed to untangle the disoriented pangs of emotions within me. She set out to make sense of my madness and very fluidly, enabled me to start breaking down the barriers in my mind that had accumulated through years of unconscious conditioning.”

    —M

    Anxiety

  • "It feels like a deep cleanse - like dirt washing off in the shower.An un-numbing, a softening."

    —F

    Complex Trauma

  • “You made me realise some things that have blocked me for my entire existence.”

    —Caterina Occhio

    Founder of SeeMe, Sustainability Advisor, Board Member WFTO organisation

  • “A unique mix of professionalism and gentleness. Lucy helped me overcome a major trauma in finding a friend who had hung himself. She somehow helped me confront the experience and distance me from it going into the future. I am so grateful.”

    —M

    Trauma

  • “A beautiful way. Immediate results without a shred of judgement.”

    —A

    Unable to Express Creativity

  • "The whole subconsciousness exploration has done for more for me than talk therapy ever could."

    —T

    Depression

  • “It was so beautiful to journey through my subconscious. The work has brought me back home to me.”

    —Jeanne De Kroon

    Founder of Zazi Vintage

  • “Lucy’'s listening skills, flexibility and presence means that each session has felt tailored to exactly what I needed at the time. She has supported me in rebuilding my sense of self."

    —N

    Self Hatred

 FAQs

  • Deep, therapeutic transformation
    Hypnotherapy is therapy conducted in a hypnotic state, a natural and heightened form of relaxed, focused attention. This state allows the mind to bypass the critical, analytical filter of the conscious brain, accessing deeper emotional and sensory experiences stored in the unconscious. In this state, cognitive flexibility is enhanced, making it possible to explore, reframe, and resolve issues without judgment or resistance. Hypnotherapy creates a safe environment to unlock patterns and beliefs that may have been formed as protective responses to past experiences.

  • A natural state of focused awareness
    Hypnosis is a state of relaxed yet focused absorption, where the mind becomes more receptive to changes it might normally resist. It occurs naturally in everyday life, such as when you’re absorbed in a book, daydreaming, or lost in thought. Hypnosis works by shifting the brain from its usual conscious, analytical processing into a state of focused receptivity.

    “Hypnosis is roused, attentive, focal concentration with a relative restriction of conscious awareness. It’s like looking through a telephoto lens—you see in great detail but are less aware of your surroundings.”
    – Dr. David Spiegel, MD

  • A wide range of challenges and goals 

    Hypnotherapy can address mental, emotional, and physical challenges, as well as enhance performance. Common issues include:

    Addiction, abuse, anger, anxiety, burnout, creative blocks, lack of confidence, depression, fear, grief, heartbreak, insomnia, low self-esteem, OCD, pain, performance enhancement, phobias, PTSD, self-sabotage, self-doubt, shame, stress, and trauma.

  • Proven to be more effective than talk therapy
    “    Trauma is not what happens to us, but what happens inside us as a result of what happened to us.” – Gabor Maté

    Trauma imprints itself on the mind and body, fragmenting memories and disrupting emotional regulation. These unprocessed imprints often manifest as hypervigilance, anxiety, depression, insomnia, anger, despair, shame, and a profound sense of loss or lack of control.

    Hypnotherapy bypasses the analytical mind to engage the unconscious, where these fragmented memories are stored. In a relaxed, focused state, clients can safely process their trauma, so that the system can recognise that  danger has passed and regain a sense of control and agency.

    As Dr. Bessel van der Kolk explains, “Hypnosis can induce a state of relative calm from which patients can observe their traumatic experiences without being overwhelmed by them.” This approach enables deep emotional healing and the release of long-held pain.

  • Relaxed and absorbed
    You may wonder, “What if I don’t go deep enough?” or worry, “What if I get stuck?” Hypnosis doesn’t require a deep trance for change—your unconscious mind is engaged even in lighter states, where transformation naturally occurs. Some people go so deep they lose track of time, while others remain lightly aware. You cannot get stuck in hypnosis—you are always in control. 

    As Dr. David Spiegel explains, “Hypnosis is roused, attentive, focal concentration with a relative restriction of conscious awareness. It’s like looking through a telephoto lens—you see in great detail but are less aware of your surroundings.” This focused state enables effective change at any depth.

  • Brainwave shifts and heightened receptivity
    During hypnosis, brainwaves shift from Beta frequency (normal waking consciousness) to Alpha or Theta states, resembling deep relaxation or a daydream. Three key changes occur:

    1. Reduced Salience Network activity: Decreases distractions and intensifies focus.

    2. Increased connectivity between the Executive Control and Salience Networks: Enhances attention and mind-body regulation.

    3. Increased connectivity to the Default Mode Network: Enables freedom to explore new perspectives and self-perceptions.

  • Equal results, wherever you are
    Hypnotherapy works by engaging the unconscious mind, which is not dependent on physical proximity. Once connected to the unconscious, the environment becomes peripheral, making online sessions as effective as in-person ones.  Hypnosis can be induced through conversation alone, and results rely on the mind’s receptivity, not the setting.

  • A natural process
    When conducted by a trained and certified professional, hypnotherapy is safe and natural. You remain fully in control throughout the process and cannot get "stuck" in hypnosis.

  • The evolution of hypnotherapy
    Hypnotherapy has ancient roots but has evolved into a modern therapeutic practice supported by neuroscience and clinical research. Advances in neuroplasticity validate its role in creating lasting neural changes without medication.

    While psychedelics and plant medicines are gaining attention for their ability to induce altered states of consciousness hypnotherapy presents a compelling, drug-free, and more cost-effective alternative for achieving similar transformative mind states.

    “Hypnosis is a psychological technique used in medicine and psychology as a tool to help bring about positive changes to both the mind and the body” University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

  • Deep beneath the surface
    Jung’s iceberg analogy likens the conscious mind to the small, visible tip of an iceberg above the water—representing our analytical, rational awareness and the aspects of ourselves we control. Below the surface lies the vast, submerged unconscious mind, which holds memories, experiences, dreams, and belief systems. This hidden realm influences approximately 95% of our mental processes, often without our direct awareness. It communicates through metaphor, symbolism, imagination, and emotion. Hypnotherapy works at this deeper level, addressing unconscious patterns to create lasting, automatic change.