Middle-Aged Women and Depression

I came across an article which appeared on livescience.com entitled “Middle-Age Women Have Highest Rate of Depression.”   It caught my attention because I work with many clients in my hypnotherapy practice who are depressed.  Their reasons vary, but depression, like its close cousin ‘stress,’ leads to physical, psychological and emotional issues, and those issues often exacerbate the depression (i.e. I overeat because I am depressed, and because I am overweight from overeating, it makes me even more depressed.  You get the picture!)  The article, which you can read by clicking here, says 12.3 percent of women ages 40 – 59 have depression, the highest rate among all groups.

If your car was showing signs of serious mechanical failure, you would absolutely take it in to have it worked on.  But when people show signs of serious problems, especially emotional or psychological problems, they often ignore the signs and go on about their days and weeks and months and years, suffering through what could be so ably resolved.  If we watched a loved-one go through something like serious depression, we would do whatever we could to get them help.  Yet, when it is us who are depressed, we often do nothing to help ourselves.  We never even consider how dramatic an improvement to our lives that help could bring.

I have personally known people who committed suicide because of depression.  I have known people who turned to drinking, drugs, overeating, self-mutilation, and many other self-destructive behaviors because of it.  It is partly why I chose to become a hypnotherapist – because I could help.  Can you imagine how frustrating it is to know that you could help someone, and they will never seek out your help?  Is it because they would rather suffer than to get relief?  Of course not!  It is often because they don’t know the help is there or even that help is possible.  I get that.  Not everyone thinks of hypnotherapy as an effective modality for treating depression.  Heck, most people think the only thing hypnosis is used for is smoking and weight loss.  And while it is highly effective for those issues, it is also just as effective for dozens and dozens of other issues, and depression is one of them!

If you or someone you care about is depressed and needs help out of it, please contact me at Skipnotherapy in Salem, Oregon through my website at www.skipnotherapy .com.