Help for Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.) with Hypnotherapy in Maryland
Keep your own light bright with these holiday stress tips from a Maryland therapist.
The long, dark nights of winter, bare tree branches and colder temperatures might be delightfully inviting to some people that long for more rest and quiet, ready to cozy up with blankets and books for a while. But for others, it can be a disheartening time of year—the long nights can seem oppressive as they feel antsy or sluggish after being stuck inside all the time, frustrated in their melancholy or agitation. Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D), also sometimes called the winter blues, impacts millions of Americans every year, with higher rates among women than men, as well as for people already living with depression. Researchers aren’t completely how S.A.D. works, but believe that the reduced daylight hours impacts both melatonin and serotonin production in the brain, leading to the common symptoms of low energy and mood, problems with sleep, and difficulties with concentration. There are a variety of strategies for managing S.A.D. and improving wellness throughout the winter months. Many people find light therapy very helpful, as well as getting exposure to the daylight that is available. Physical activity, psychotherapy and medication are also proven treatment options and supports. In addition to these wonderful options, hypnosis can help provide a boost in lightening the load of dealing with S.A.D.
Harness Hypnotic Ideas to help with S.A.D.
I am delighted to share a full article about how to use some of the ideas that hypnosis and hypnotherapy can bring to managing S.A.D. in the most recent issue of Pathways Magazine. If you live in the Maryland, DC, Virginia area, pick up a free copy of Pathways in your community. Anyone can access the digital version online for free. Click here for the current issue and scroll down for my article Hypnotic Help For Seasonal Affective Disorder. The digital version has interactive links that will also take you to online resources for free guided relaxation practices, as well as a variety of other articles to help support your wellness this winter.
Accessing Inner resouces
There are a lot of misconceptions about what hypnosis is and is not. Simply put, it’s a focused state of relaxed awareness. In this relaxed, focused state, helpful suggestions may be more easily and readily absorbed. Many hypnotherapists believe that all hypnosis is essentially self-hypnosis—the client is always in control over what suggestions they wish to take in and also their own depth of absorption in the trance. A good hypnotherapist can help facilitate that for a client, with custom suggestions tailored to be optimally helpful for each individual, but, ultimately, the client is in full control. Hypnotherapy is all about helping clients access inner resources, and learning self-hypnosis is a key element in this.
Some elements from self-hypnosis can be used by anyone, even without any formal hypnosis experience, and may be useful for relieving some of the difficulties of S.A.D. When we can intensely imagine an event, using all of our senses, we can have the experience of feeling, in this moment, how we feel in that event that we are intensely imagining. While this can be a challenging thing when we are stuck in our thoughts, ruminating about a negative experience, it can be of great benefit by deliberately calling up positive experiences in order to enjoy some of those pleasurable feelings here and now. Whether we are actually experiencing something or intensely imagining it, our brains react in the same way, sending out corresponding signals and neurotransmitters. This can be an invaluable tool for boosting mood and opening ourselves up to helpful thought patterns, instead of negative ones.
Finding Light In The Darkness
Hypnosis can happen under a variety of conditions but often starts with relaxing and focusing within, much like a guided meditation practice. Some slow, smooth belly breaths can set the stage for slowing down and turning inwards. There are a number of wonderful, free resources online for guided practices of body scans or progressive muscle relaxation—ways of relaxing the whole body, part by part. Many major medical institutions recognize the benefit of these relaxation practices and have free audio or video tracks available to use—check out UCLA Health or Dartmouth College health resources for examples. If you already have experiences with using a body scan meditation or progressive muscle relaxation, you can do that on your own, to ease into greater relaxation, in preparation for opening the benefits of the next steps of this process.
After some relaxation of the body and breath, either guided or on your own, now is the time to employ the strategy of allowing the brain to experience something very pleasant, just like if it were happening right now. For managing S.A.D., many people find that they miss how they feel in the warmer, more light-filed months. Using the imagination, many of those positive feelings and sensations can be replicated, even in the dark, cold winter months. Pick a favorite warm weather experience, either from memory or imagined, and bring in all the senses to make the experience as vivid as possible. Move slowly through the senses, noting all the many things you can see, hear, feel, smell and taste in this imagined experience. Even if it is an imagined beam of warm, glowing, golden sunlight, there can be a real sensation of warmth experienced in the body, much like just remembering an intense argument of the past can create real muscle tension in the body now. Invite yourself to relax deeper and deeper as you move through imagining the use of each of your senses in this delightful warm-weather scene. Take as much time as you like to drift and float through this pleasant experience, taking in any enjoyable feelings and sensations.
Once you feel this part of your experience is complete, you will hopefully be in a very relaxed and pleasant state of mind, open to helpful thoughts and suggestions. This a great opportunity to repeat a thought that you’d like to plant, like a seed, in your mind. For managing winter mood concerns, helpful suggestions might include things like, “I feel light and energized”, or “I enjoy pleasurable activities with my friends”, or “I find enjoyment in the restfulness of this season, knowing more active times are coming soon”. It’s helpful to state these thoughts in the present tense, using positive language. After repeating this helpful suggestion to yourself a few times, you can completely return your full awareness to the present moment, perhaps stretch a bit and then go on with your day once you are fully alert, knowing that you can return to this practice any time that it’s helpful to access those resources within.
A SeAson For Everything
Just like all skills, the more this is practiced, the easier it is to use. Take charge of your winter wellness by finding that warmth and light within that is available all year long. Used in conjunction with other treatments and supports, hypnosis is a great way to find relief from the winter blues.
A free consultation For Maryland HypnoTherapy
If you are looking for support in finding your way through some challenging times, please reach out. I see folks for therapy and hypnotherapy in College Park, MD and online throughout Maryland. You can explore more information about my services as a Maryland therapist throughout the website and see my Maryland hypnotherapy specialty page.
