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allied
academies
March 18-19, 2019 | London, UK
6
th
World Congress on
Anxiety, Depression and Stress Management
Anxiety and Depression: Treating Trauma through Hypnosis
Zoe Clews
Zoë Clews and Associates, UK
A
nxiety and depression, along with addiction, Obsessive
Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and phobias are very often the
conscious manifestation of unprocessed past trauma. As such,
they are symptoms, rather than the condition that needs to be
addressed and treated. The evidence of trauma is often seen
in self-destructive behaviours, such as drug and alcohol abuse,
emotionally and/or physically harmful sexual activity, self-harm-
ing and anti- social behaviour. These responses represent cop-
ing mechanisms used by the subconscious to deal with buried
emotions that may include shame, grief and rage. Hypnosis is
the process by which we are able to negotiate with the subcon-
scious to acknowledge, honour and then heal the wounds of
the past in a way that offers emotional protection to the individ-
ual, within an environment that is completely safe. The subcon-
scious neither recognizes nor understands the concept of linear
(chronological) time. In this sense, buried trauma remains as
fresh today as it was at the moment of the event that caused it,
resulting in the subconscious manifesting a heightened state of
alertness and vigilance in the form of negative behaviour.
Hypnosis is an effective treatment for trauma, and therefore
anxiety and depression, because it actively works with the sub-
conscious, which is the gatekeeper for the root problem (the
original trauma). As the old saying goes, you cannot heal what
you cannot feel.
Anxiety is essentially a threat-detection and self-protection
mechanism triggered by the two amygdala neurons, which con-
trol emotions, memory and survival instincts. Humans, unlike
prey animals, are not designed to operate in a prolonged state
of heightened anxiety, but the amygdala links past experience
to present responses.
Past trauma – even if experienced only as a witness rather than
victim – remains in the ‘now’ as an ever-present threat, and the
amygdala responds accordingly. Rewiring the brain with new
and more positive associations to create the behaviour we de-
sire can be achieved through Neuroplasticity. This describes the
brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural con-
nections throughout life, compensating for injury and disease
and adjusting responses to new situations or environmental
changes.
The result of associated learning is that the more you repeat
a task the more it becomes a habit, and when you repeat an
experience over and over, the brain learns to trigger the same
neurons each time.
e:
info@zoeclews.co.
Journal Clinical Psychiatry and Cognitive Psychology | Volume 3