When we study evolution, we come to know that there are basic survival mechanism used by primitive man called fight-flight response. Fight response helps us to face the threat/danger and flight response helps us to run away from the treat/danger. But what used to happen in situations when they can't either fight with threat nor they can fly away?  They used to play dead. I found this interesting video which can throw some light on "playing dead" mechanism. 

What we say as depression today is nothing but a modern form of playing dead mechanism. Let us understand this with an example: Let's say you are the sole wage earner in the family. You hate your job because your boss is too dominating. Now you cannot fight with the boss as it can lead to termination nor you can leave and fly away from the job as you have a family to run. In this case you continues to suffer and choose to play dead. If this continue for a long period of time you slowly start losing interest in your job, getting out of bed for work becomes a hectic task. Frustration starts radiating in other aspects of life and sooner or later you find yourself diagnosed as minor or maybe even chronic depression. 

People who visit me generally ask what to do then? What is the solution to this? So although it varies from person to person, I will try to give a few suggestions:

  1.  Have a hobby or an area of interest: Now this could be anything but make sure you don't find cushion into another toxic habit like smoking, alcoholism, etc. It might give a relief in a short term but you yourself are designing a bigger and much more depressing cycle for yourself in the long term. Healthy area of interest could be: Swimming, Painting, Dancing, Gardening, etc. Something that excites you. Make sure that you invest some time in your day to those activities.
  2. Talk: Having a shoulder to cry and vent out is very important, holding things in your mind is like filling your own house with garbage and never venting it out. Sooner you yourself will feel suffocated in your head. So talk it out, choose someone who can listen without any filters. It could be a family member, friend, or if needed, then a counselor and don't hesitate to have one. You will feel excellent believe me. 
  3. Move: Our body and mind are connected, if you feel stuck in mind, then the best alternative is to move and vent out through your body, just sweat it out in the gym or at the park. Sitting and walking erect itself is a mood changer. 
  4. Language: Note what words you use. Unconsciously, our selection of songs and books changes our mentality a lot. Listening to motivational songs, reading inspirational books does help.
  5. Therapy: All the above mentioned suggestions can only contribute to coping with depression, but cannot necessarily solve the problem from the roots. Professional therapy is always better and easier to eliminate depression entirely out of your life. 

Hypnotherapy is an excellent therapy module to grow and evolve. From past few years I started using hypnotherapy for healing self and others. In my experience all I can say is that we all have unlimited potential, we all can bring a change and hypnosis is a perfect tool for that. The variety of healing work that hypnosis can do is immense. In case of any query kindly feel free to ask and I would love to answer. 

Hope you have an excellent week ahead.