According to news sources ⁽¹⁾, Jennifer Capriati suffered from an accidental drug overdose.  Apparently, Capriati has admitted to being depressed and having suicidal thoughts. ⁽²⁾

The main question of this article is this: Could hypnosis have prevented the overdose from occurring if indeed it was due to depression?

In short, clinical evidence indicates yes, hypnosis can help a great deal with depression.

What is hypnosis?  It is a person's ability to convince themselves of anything.  This means that ultimately, all hypnosis is self-hypnosis.

Now, being very familiar with life threatening depression (that I have been recovered from for many years now),

I know that lethal depression results from being utterly convinced there is no escape from deep, inner pain.

So, IF Jennifer Capriati attempted suicide by over dosing, the reason is that she unknowingly hypnotized herself into believing that her life was only going to consist of unbearable pain until she died.

Therefore, if a person can hypnotize themselves into beliefs that are harmful, they can also hypnotize themselves into beliefs that are life sustaining and life enhancing (usually with well trained help).

However, here's the problem: Using hypnosis to overcome depression takes some work and time.  Plus, popping an antidepressant fits most people's "emotional effort budget". 

What most people aren't aware of however, is that antidepressants in many cases are ineffective and in too many cases, harmful.⁽³⁾  However, in cases of severe depression, antidepressants are shown to be of some value.⁽³⁾Keep in mind this fact: In 1999, Americans were consuming 75% of the world's supply of Prozac and yet in every category, we were more depressed.  And chances are this situation has not changed.

Another thing that most depressed people are not aware of is that it takes more work to be depressed than not.  The reason this doesn't make sense to a lot of people is because when doing something different, it typically feels harder than doing the same old thing.

Ask any person who has overcome depression (and is antidepressant free) if it was easier to be depressed vs. happy and, if they are truly recovered, they will tell you (as many of my clients have told me) that it took much more effort to be depressed than it did to feel good.

In my experience both personal and professional, a big reason why more people don't attempt to truly heal from depression is because they are afraid of failing by initially feeling better and then for some reason, falling back into the depression.  That "fall from grace" is excruciating and devastating and that pain is often worse than the perceived pain of death.

You know what else is interesting?  Some people don't even know they are depressed! 

That was my case for several years as a younger person.  I just figured the way I felt was normal.  Then my so-called "pride" got in the way of accepting my emotional condition.  You see, being depressed was a weakness and I could not admit to that.  I had too many flaws⁽⁴⁾ as it was and to admit one huge one simply was not possible.  I know from my professional work in helping clients to discover a better life that this "denial of depression" is a contributing factor in many cases, to entrenching depression even deeper. 

Anyway, if you are curious about whether or not you, or someone you know, may be depressed and you want to know what the signs and symptoms of depression are, then visit the website, Depression-Hypnosis.com or click here to go straight to the "Depression Symptoms" page.

Here's the bottom line to this article: if you know someone who feels that there is no escape from the pain that causes depression, remind them to keep in mind the following 3 quick points:

1 - Feelings are not facts. 

2 - Hypnosis is deeply involved in both the onset and elimination of depression⁽⁵⁾

3 - The ultimate truth is that it takes much less effort to feel okay than it does to feel depressed. 

Hang in there and never give up. 

Warm regards,

Devin

The article author,  C. Devin Hastings, is the President of the Minnesota Institute of Advanced Communication Skills, owner of MindBody Hypnosis and creator of several hypnosis books and over 30 hypnosis/self-help audio and video programs.

REFERENCES:

(1) http://www.orlandosentinel.com/fl-folo-jennifer-capriati-overdose-20100629,0,6812374.story

(2) http://backseatcuddler.com/2010/06/28/update-jennifer-capriati-od-was-from-prescriptions-depression-suicidal/

(3) Read the eye opening article:

(4) To happily discover why you are NOT flawed and to learn an easy NLP method for eliminating self-sabotage, then visit the following page: http://mindbodyhypnosis.com/Self-Sabotage.htm

(5) To learn more about how hypnosis is involved with depression, read the article, "The Role of Hypnosis In The Cause and Cure Depression" by clicking here