Those Who Enjoy Feeling Bad.

    In the last several years I have had clients that claimed to be depressed. In such cases, I require a doctor’s referral before I will work with them. I do this for two reasons; first to see if it is self-diagnosed or if a medical professional has determined this and secondly, I am not a licensed medical professional and must get a waiver that what I do will not interfere with their current treatments. I don’t know how it would, but legally, I have to. But back to the first reason, who diagnosed or how the client was diagnosed with depression. In many cases, the doctor or therapist just takes the word of the client based on the client’s description of how he/she feels. Having been on this earth for almost 62 years and like a lot of other people, I am an avid student of human behavior as a people watcher. Add this to my years of experience as a private detective, I have developed some opinions and thoughts about what is going on in the human mind. Let me say here that I do not doubt that people can be depressed. They can be in such a state of depression that it can incapacitate them. It can lead to being a danger to themselves and to others. But I also believe that not everyone is manic depressed, bipolar or whatever the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) current manual now calls it. I also know that almost everyone can be sad, have the blues or other some other lay term for some level of depression. But I do question the number of people who have depression at its severest definition of the term.
    But there are others who claim they are depressed, and maybe even diagnosed as such by a medical professional. But these people are wearing their depression for everyone to see. They go around in a constant dark and dreary state. You avoid them when you can or walk on eggshells when they are around. Subtly or very overtly they make a point of letting everyone know they are depressed but it’s not their fault that they are this way. It is as if that is the way they want to be identified. People might say something like, “Oh, that’s Harry. He’s depressed.” Do you know the type? Well, I do and a couple of them have sneaked in to see me. They say they want help, but in reality, they lied. And here’s why.
    I have learned some powerful techniques to help people who want to change and turn their lives around. One of the techniques is to go deep inside and discover their laughter. The laughter and giggle they had as a child. I use this technique for most of my clients because it is so powerful. I use it for a number of other reasons, too, but it is not necessary to explain that here and now. But this technique is so powerful, they don’t realize the change is happening right away. But there are “depressed” clients who really don’t want to change. They don’t want to lose that thing that identifies them. They get something for the power knowing people have to work around them and forgive all of their faults because they are “depressed” and it not their fault. They have too much to lose if they fix the problem.
    Here’s how it goes. The client will be sitting in my magic hypnosis chair. He will be in a state of trance. I will begin to guide him to begin feeling the laughter grow inside him and it grows stronger until he eventually laughs. The laughter gets stronger and stronger. And as this is starting to happen, I observe the “depressed” client begin to smile, his belly may begin to shake a little, a smile starts to form on his face and a chuckle begins to escape from his lips. And then it happens. The client catches himself and stops. It’s like they said to himself, “No, stop laughing, I can’t feel good, I’m depressed.” He just cannot let this happen. He would no longer be special. He wants to say that he tried hypnosis and it didn’t work either. Again, it’s not his fault. But in reality, he didn’t want the hypnosis to work.
    I have had clients that were depressed to the point they were in tears when they walked in the door. When they left, they were laughing and all smiles. Some more so than others, but still 100% better than when they came in. And as I tell people, it can literally happen that way. But like most things we do with hypnosis, you have to want the change to happen. I tell people change can happen almost instantly. It still amazes me even after seeing it happen so often.
    Check back soon and hear about My Metaphoric 2X4.