Depression Case Studies - the ways in which we can recover from depression

These case studies are representative of the scores of depressed clients that have seen me over the last few years. In all cases, names and other details have been changed to preserve complete anonymity.

Freda a married woman in her early thirties had been depressed for all her adult life.

She had been told and believed that depression was a chemical condition and had been on anti-depressants for many years. She had spent time in a mental hospital and was now six months into counselling on the NHS which was making her feel even worse. At the first session, I explained why most depressions could be quickly relieved and Freda was liberated by the realisation that her depression was not an illness. By the second session, Freda was more actively engaged in her life and feeling better. Certain traumatic experiences from her childhood were then successfully addressed and removed. In fact Freda had a lot going for her - she was intelligent and had a loving and supportive husband. To her delight, she told me in her third and last session that she was pregnant.

Liam, now 50, had been chronically depressed for over thirty years.

Over these years, Liam had been to counsellors and periodically took anti depressants. But the periodic decline into depression, particularly as spring approached persisted. We identified some possible patterns that went back to his teenage years and we worked to relieve these - by a combination of deep relaxation and rehearsal, insightful conversation and powerful metaphors. We also looked at his life now - which in many ways was blessed and good but needed some redirection. After five sessions Liam felt better than he had for many years. He also was confident he had the tools to handle any times when previously he would have sunk back down.

Barbara was in her early 20s and having come to London and not really being happy in her work was sinking into a depression.

The first task of therapy was to explain very clearly to Barbara how worrying and bad sleeping was destroying her capacity to take control of her life. This was immensely relieving for her and having listened to my CD religiously over the week she was feeling much better by the second session. It was increasingly clear as we talked that Barbara needed to find something else to do that would bring a much more satisfaction and there was also a severe doubts of her continuing to live in London. There are also some problems in her teenage years and we both recognised pattern matching from the lack of confidence at that time to her present life. These were resolved in trance and Barbara continued to feel much stronger. I've since heard from her - she has left London and is working in South Africa.

Harold had retired from his career in the city but still very unhappy - burdened by financial worries and a profound lack of motivation.

Harold definitely had practical difficulties to resolve around his life now. But much more important were the continuing active pattern matching from much earlier on in his life. One was the sadness and trauma around the death of his mother. And the second was actually much more important and was in truth quite hard to uncover – the profound belief that life was meant to be difficult and hard. It was only when this began to clear by a combination of reframing work and trance that Harold could begin to see what changes he could make to his retirement life. The most important thing was that he should stop the part-time work he was doing and really engage in his passion which was to devote himself spiritually in his church.

Tim was referred to me by a couples counsellor who was seeing Tim and his wife. Tim came to me classically depressed. Clearly his marriage was part of the problem but there was more. First he had strong memories of a previous breakdown which impacted on him and he was also losing motivation at work – he was a senior lecturer at a local university.

The first urgent task was to encourage Tim to worry less and get his sleep better and this took three sessions – before Timmy was listening to my Depression Mp3 and really understanding what was going on for him. But then progress was rapid. He began to find genuine pleasures in his daily life (that he has forgotten about) and as he felt better he could take some control and so improve his relationship with his wife. Finally he began to make plans for adapting his work schedule in a more interesting and creative way. Within two months his depression had completely lifted and as important he was confident that he could better handle any future stressful times.

Carole, in her early twenties was again depressed – living in London, increasingly shunning friends and uncertain at work.

Carole came to exhausted and tired and lacking energy and motivation. I asked her to listen repeatedly to my depression Mp3 over the next week, which she did and by our second session, she was much improved. She had gone out, was resuming some exercise and beginning to see her situation as manageable. Critically her sleeping was improving and she was more energised. We then discovered that although she had many resources (a happy family life and considerable intelligence and sharpness), this was often sabotaged by the unhelpful emotions and memories that went all the way back to her early schooldays. We cleared these using trance and rehearsal tools. Of particular importance also was the recognition that Carole could now have, to recognise the early stages of depression in the future. This was partly a very practical approach but also about laying down better and more empowering templates – that she could trust her intelligence to build a life that worked for her.

Frances is a single mother in her mid fifties – who has spent many years depressed and taking anti-depressants.

The source of Frances’s long standing periods of severe depression and then only moderate easing, were two fold. First very challenging life circumstances around work, home and her extended family and second the difficulty she had in dealing with these while life was so difficult.

Frances came to see me for an unusually large number of sessions – around ten and since that time, she periodically comes back (every three monthly on average) for a few top up sessions when events again get too burdensome. She is highly intelligent and resourceful and in many ways her problems stem from her not recognising how well she is doing and not being clear in her need how to use these resources to build a life that really works well for her.

Frances is at last no longer depressed and is ready to slowly come off anti-depressants which she has been taking for 18 years. The key trigger for the change was to stop being a teacher which now realises was absolutely hateful for her. She now works at a solicitors office and loves it.

And by having some spare capacity for the first time for so long she was ready to confront and process what was the great tragedy and sorrow of her life - namely the ending of a relationship which was her fault with the man that she now knows was the great love of her life.

I believe Frances sees me as an important additional source of support and someone who can keep her on the straight and narrow. But of course she has largely healed herself. I am delighted though that her ambition remains undimmed – to build that life where her needs are properly met by using her own resources to the full.

I keep up-to-date and reliable evidence of results for all my counselling clients. I know that around 90% of clients who come to me for counselling with moderate or severe depression will either recover or feel substantially better, normally in less than six sessions. Most can scarcely believe it.

You can be confident of real help.
Also do read Michelle's amazing depression recovery testimony

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