Living with depression can make even ordinary days feel like a slog, and this is often when people start looking for hypnotherapy for depression as another way forward. You might still be getting up, going to work, looking after family and doing what needs to be done, but everything feels heavier than it once did. It is as if someone has turned the colour down on life and you cannot quite remember what it felt like to enjoy things properly.
For some people, depression and low mood come in obvious waves. There are bad periods where nothing feels manageable, then stretches where you feel a bit more yourself.
For others, it is more of a constant, a background weight that has been there so long it almost feels normal. You might not be sure whether it really counts as depression, you might tell yourself you should just keep pushing on, even while wondering whether hypnotherapy for depression could offer something different.
At The Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy in Wallington, we work with many people in this in between space. Not in crisis, but far from okay. This page is here to explain how we understand depression and low mood, why it is not a personal failure, and how hypnotherapy for depression can support you to move towards something lighter, steadier and more hopeful. If you are exploring different issues and are not sure this is the best starting point, you can also browse our wider overview on our Problems We Help With page, then come back here when you feel ready.
If your main difficulty is more of a general low mood with a mix of different patterns, our Low Mood And Depression page gives a broader overview. This hypnotherapy for depression child page focuses more directly on ongoing, persistent depression and low mood that have begun to take over day to day life.
On this page
- How Depression And Low Mood Show Up In Everyday Life
- Why Depression Is Not Just In Your Head
- How Hypnotherapy For Depression Works
- Our Approach At The Surrey Institute Of Clinical Hypnotherapy
- In Person And Online Hypnotherapy For Depression
- How Long Does Hypnotherapy For Depression Take
- Taking The Next Step
How Depression And Low Mood Show Up In Everyday Life
Depression and low mood rarely look the same for everyone. Some people feel obviously sad or tearful. Others feel more numb than anything else, as if their emotions have gone offline. It is common to notice a mix of emotional, physical and mental changes building up over time.
- Loss of interest in activities that used to matter
- A sense of dragging yourself through the day
- Changes in sleep, finding it harder to get to sleep, waking in the early hours, or wanting to sleep much more
- Changes in appetite, eating less or using food for comfort more often
- Irritability, snapping at people you care about, then feeling guilty afterwards
- Difficulty concentrating, making decisions or finishing tasks
- Thoughts that are more self critical, hopeless or heavy than usual
For many people with depression and low mood, the hardest part is not any one symptom, it is the story that starts to grow around it. Thoughts like, there is something wrong with me, I am weak, I should be able to cope, this will never change. Those thoughts are part of the pattern, not a verdict on your character, and hypnotherapy for depression specifically targets that deeper level where those stories are held.
It is also very common for depression and low mood to sit alongside anxiety. You might find yourself worrying constantly and feeling flat at the same time. From the outside, what you are coping with might not be visible. Inside, it can feel as if you are carrying a weight that no one else can quite see.
If you are having thoughts about harming yourself or feel you are at risk of acting on them, it is important to contact your GP, NHS 111 or emergency services straight away. A page like this is not a crisis service, and getting immediate medical help is always the priority. Hypnotherapy for depression can be a useful part of recovery, but it is not a replacement for urgent support.
Why Depression Is Not Just In Your Head
Depression is sometimes talked about as if it is purely a chemical problem or purely a thinking problem. In reality, depression and low mood usually involve a mix of biology, life events and nervous system learning. Your brain and body are constantly trying to predict what is coming next and how much energy you need to spend.
If you have been through stress, loss, illness, long term pressure or repeated disappointments, your system can start to lean towards a kind of shutdown response. It is a bit like the mind saying, nothing changes, there is no point, spare your energy. Over time, depression and low mood can become a learned pattern. Certain situations, times of year or even times of day trigger familiar thoughts and feelings. The more often that loop runs, the more automatic it feels.
That is one reason it can be so hard to think your way out of depression using willpower alone. The pattern sits deeper than everyday logic, which is exactly the level where hypnotherapy for depression does its best work. Medication, counselling, lifestyle changes and support from friends and family can all be part of the picture.
Hypnotherapy for depression does not replace medical care, it adds a way of speaking directly to the part of the mind where those patterns live, so the changes you make are not just intellectual.
How Hypnotherapy For Depression Works
Hypnotherapy for depression works with the subconscious mind, the part that stores emotional learning, habits and expectations. When we use hypnotherapy for depression and low mood, the aim is not to force positive thinking or pretend life is fine when it is not. The aim is to gently update the stories and responses that keep pulling you back into the same heavy place.
- Notice the old assumptions running underneath your thoughts, such as nothing ever works out for me or I cannot cope
- Revisit key moments that seem to have shaped your sense of yourself, with more safety and perspective
- Rehearse doing everyday situations differently, so your mind and body learn there are more options than shutting down or pushing through
For example, someone might use hypnotherapy for depression to change the way they relate to mornings. Rather than waking up with an automatic sense of dread, they gradually build a new expectation around the first part of the day. Over time, that new pattern starts to feel more familiar than the old one.
Because hypnotherapy for depression works at the level of patterns, not just surface symptoms, changes can sometimes feel surprisingly deep even when they are quite subtle. You might notice you say yes to seeing a friend where before you would have cancelled, or you complete a task that has been sitting on your list for months. Those small shifts matter, because they begin to contradict the hopelessness that often sits at the core of depression and low mood.
Evidence And Research
Research into hypnotherapy for depression is still developing, however there are some encouraging findings. A randomised controlled trial by Fuhr and colleagues compared individual hypnotherapy with cognitive behavioural therapy for adults with mild to moderate major depression. It shows that structured hypnotherapy can sit alongside established talking therapies as a realistic option for some people. You can read the full paper in BMJ Open.
Broader analyses also point to potential benefits. A meta analysis of hypnosis for depressive symptoms reported that, across several small studies, hypnosis was associated with meaningful reductions in depression scores compared with control conditions or standard care. A summary of this work can be found through the evidence review at the University of York Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, listed as A meta analysis of hypnosis in treatment of depressive symptoms.
Finally, a large umbrella review and meta analysis by Rosendahl and colleagues examined hypnosis for a wide range of mental and physical health conditions. They reported medium to large treatment effects overall for hypnosis when added to usual care or psychological therapy, with particularly strong effects in some anxiety, pain and procedure related contexts, and smaller but still meaningful effects for depressive symptoms. The open access paper is available in Frontiers In Psychology.
Our Approach At The Surrey Institute Of Clinical Hypnotherapy
When you come to us for hypnotherapy for depression, we start by listening. Your experience of depression and low mood is personal, and we want to understand how it shows up for you, what you have already tried and what you are hoping could change.
We will usually explore how long depression and low mood have been around, any obvious triggers such as losses, health problems, relationship changes or work stress, and what a small but meaningful improvement would look like in your day to day life. From there, we agree a focus for hypnotherapy for depression that feels realistic and useful.
- Moving from all or nothing thinking towards more flexible, realistic expectations
- Easing harsh self criticism and guilt
- Rebuilding motivation gently, so activity feels achievable rather than overwhelming
- Supporting sleep and daily rhythm, which often play a big role in depression and low mood
Sessions themselves are usually a mix of talking, education about how the mind and nervous system work, and guided hypnotherapy for depression. You stay in control throughout. Most people experience hypnotherapy as a calm, absorbed state, like being drawn into a story or a film. You can move, speak and open your eyes if you want to. You do not lose control or hand your will over to someone else.
We respect the medical model and any treatment you are already receiving. If you are on medication for depression, hypnotherapy for depression can be used alongside it. We are happy to encourage you to keep your GP informed as things shift, and we will always stay within appropriate boundaries around mental health care.
In Person And Online Hypnotherapy For Depression
You can see us in person at our clinic in Wallington in Surrey. The space is quiet and welcoming, with easy access from surrounding areas. For many people with depression and low mood, simply having a regular appointment in a calm, private setting is part of what makes change possible, especially when hypnotherapy for depression is a completely new experience.
We also offer online hypnotherapy for depression. When it is set up properly, with a private space, headphones and a stable internet connection, online sessions can be just as effective as in person work. Some clients prefer online hypnotherapy for depression because it saves travel energy and allows them to work on depression and low mood from the familiarity of their own home.
We can talk through both options and help you decide what feels most manageable given your current energy, responsibilities and location. The important thing is that the format of hypnotherapy for depression supports you, rather than becoming another source of stress.
How Long Does Hypnotherapy For Depression Take
There is no single timetable for hypnotherapy for depression. Some people notice meaningful changes within a handful of sessions. Others, especially where depression and low mood have been around for many years or are complicated by other health issues, may benefit from a longer run of support.
Rather than promising a fixed number, we usually suggest agreeing an initial block of sessions, often four to six, then reviewing how depression and low mood are shifting in specific areas of your life. Together we decide whether it makes sense to continue, pause, or move to occasional top up sessions as part of a longer term plan.
The aim of hypnotherapy for depression is to help you become more resourced and self reliant over time, not to keep you in therapy indefinitely. Part of the work is helping you rebuild trust in your own capacity to cope and to steer your life in a direction that feels more like you, even if that begins with small, cautious changes.
If, as you read this, you realise that depression is only one part of what you are facing, you can always step back and look again at our Problems We Help With page or the Low Mood And Depression hub to see the wider picture of how we work.
Frequently Asked Questions About Hypnotherapy For Depression
In hypnotherapy for depression we use focused relaxation and guided imagery to work with the patterns that keep low mood going at a deeper level. You remain awake and aware, however your attention is narrowed so that it is easier to try out new ways of thinking, feeling and responding. We might help you rehearse being kinder to yourself, reconnect with small sources of pleasure, or picture yourself handling difficult situations more steadily. Over time the subconscious mind begins to treat these new patterns as more familiar, which can support the work you are doing in everyday life and in any talking therapy you may already have in place.
The strongest evidence base for depression at the moment is for approaches such as cognitive behavioural therapy, interpersonal therapy and behavioural activation, often combined with antidepressant medication when depression is more severe. Research on hypnotherapy for depression is smaller but growing.
Some controlled trials suggest that hypnotherapy can be as effective as cognitive behavioural therapy for mild to moderate depression, and that adding hypnosis to standard therapy may improve outcomes for some people. At the same time, recent reviews point out that many studies are small and that more high quality research is needed. For that reason we use hypnotherapy for depression as part of a broader treatment plan rather than as a stand alone replacement for medical or psychological care.
Yes, many people who come for hypnotherapy for depression are already taking antidepressant medication, and sometimes also receiving counselling or another talking therapy. We do not ask you to stop medication, and we will always encourage you to make any changes in discussion with your GP or psychiatrist. Our role is to complement your existing care by helping you change patterns such as negative self talk, hopeless beliefs and loss of motivation, so that the work you do with your prescriber and any other therapist has more room to take effect.
The number of sessions needed for hypnotherapy for depression varies from person to person. Some people notice a shift within three or four appointments, especially if their depression is linked to a recent period of stress and they are already getting some support. Others with more long standing or recurrent depression may benefit from a longer piece of work. In our first meeting we will discuss your situation and give you a realistic sense of the number of sessions we feel are appropriate, and we will review progress together as we go.
If your depression feels very severe, or you are having thoughts of harming yourself, it is important to treat that as a priority. Hypnotherapy for depression can still have a place, however it should sit alongside urgent support from your GP or mental health team. If you are in immediate danger, or feel unable to keep yourself safe, please contact emergency services or your local urgent mental health service first. Once the immediate risk is being managed, we can look at how hypnotherapy might support your recovery, always in a way that respects and works with your medical care.
Taking The Next Step
If you recognise yourself in any of this, you do not have to keep carrying depression and low mood on your own. You are welcome to contact us and talk things through. We can explore whether hypnotherapy for depression feels like a good fit for you right now, and what a realistic plan might look like.
You do not have to wait until things reach breaking point. Many people tell us they wish they had looked for help earlier. If something in this page has sounded uncomfortably familiar, that is often your system’s way of saying it is time to get a bit more support, and hypnotherapy for depression can be one of the ways you start to move in a kinder direction.