Postpartum depression: What can hypnosis do?

Edwin Selij
November 04, 2019

You've been pregnant, you've brought a very sweet baby into the world, you're still breastfeeding, and you're suffering from postpartum depression. The doctor wants you to take medication, but because you are breastfeeding you think it is important to take as few pills as possible. So is there another way to get rid of postpartum depression? That's why in this blog I'm going to take a closer look at postpartum depression and how to deal with it

What is postpartum depression

Postpartum depression is depression that occurs within the first year after the birth of a child. Many people think that only mothers can suffer from postpartum depression, but this is not true.

Fathers and other family members can also suffer from postpartum depression.

As a woman, don't be immediately alarmed if you feel a little downcast a few weeks after giving birth. This is also called the baby blues and is quite normal.

Postpartum depression exists when:

  • You are depressed for more than 2 weeks at a time.
  • You don't like anything anymore and have no interest in the rest of the world.
  • You have no energy and are always tired.
  • You have trouble sleeping and are sleepy during the day.
  • You are struggling to bond with your child.
  • You want no/less contact with other people.
  • You have trouble concentrating.
  • You have scary/bad thoughts, such as wanting to hurt your baby.

If you think there's more going on than the baby blues, it's time to seek help. For example, you can tell your doctor that you are suffering from the above symptoms.

Symptoms can become more severe over time. So get help if you think you are suffering from postpartum depression.

Causes of postpartum depression

There are a number of things that increase the likelihood of developing postpartum depression, namely:

  • A history of depression.
  • A history with mental health issues during pregnancy.
  • Not having friends or family supporting you.
  • A troubled relationship with your partner.
  • A recent stressful event.
  • Getting the baby blues.

Even without these obvious points that can trigger postpartum depression, you can suffer from postpartum depression.

Treating postpartum depression

Several treatments are available for postpartum depression. For example, you can use self-help techniques such as daily walking.

In addition, you can get psychological help

And medication, such as antidepressants[1].

Alternative treatments for postpartum depression

Especially if you want more than just a psychologist who may only help you with cognitive behavioral therapy, it is helpful to know what other treatments are available to help you suffer less from postpartum depression.

Baby Massage

A great way to suffer less from postpartum depression is to give your baby a baby massage. This was found in research on 2 groups of women in which one group went to a support group for postpartum depression and the other group was taught baby massage.

The group that took baby massage classes suffered less postpartum depression over time than the group that went to a support group alone[2].

Movement

As mentioned, daily walking can already help one suffer less from postpartum depression. This is because exercise and sports can cause you to suffer less from depressive symptoms[3] and therefore less from postpartum depression.

Hypnosis

Hypnosis is effective against depressive symptoms, according to a meta-research. Using hypnosis and reducing depressive symptoms has a correlation of 0.57[4]. The more hypnosis treatments you have, the less you suffer from depressive symptoms.

Hypnosis during pregnancy can also reduce your risk of developing postpartum depression. Two weeks after the birth of your baby, this difference is not yet apparent, but mothers who underwent hypnotherapy during pregnancy experience fewer mental health issues and depressive symptoms 10 weeks after giving birth than mothers who did not undergo hypnotherapy during pregnancy[5].

You can also start hypnotherapy after pregnancy to suffer less from postpartum depression. In those cases, hypnosis allows you to be more relaxed and have a more peaceful mindset than during a depressive moment[6].

This can be done during and after pregnancy with Erickson's hypnosis techniques and ego state therapy, among others[7].

Milton Erickson's techniques are indirect suggestions. This means that as a hypnotherapist, you don't always tell the person exactly what to do, but you use:

  • Metaphors
  • Opposites
  • Symbols
  • Antidote

Sometimes by using these techniques, you also don't have to dig for the cause or when a problem arose.

For this to work, 3 aspects are very important, namely:

  1. Report - The bond between the hypnotist and the hypnotized.
  2. Flooding the conscious - providing so much distraction to the conscious that the subconscious is open to change.
  3. Indirect communication - Indirect hypnotic suggestions[8].

Ego state therapy

Ego-state therapy is based on the assumption that a person’s psyche consists of a mixture of multiple egos, such as your inner child or a controlling personality. This does not mean that you necessarily have multiple personalities.

It's more about having multiple roles. As a mother, you are often protective of your children, but you have been a child yourself and can feel like the ignored child. So you then already have a role of mother and a role of child in your mental world.

It is not at all helpful when you as a mother remain stuck in that role of the ignored child. When you remain stuck in a certain state, in a certain role, it can be very unpleasant. You can develop fears and unhealthy patterns as a result.

It can also cause you to enter into the wrong relationships, for example, if you continue to feel like the ignored child, this can cause you to enter into a relationship with someone who is a lot older who gives you the attention you didn't feel your parents gave you.

Like girls (and boys) with daddy issues.

In ego state therapy, you are helped to let go of the role that is no longer helping you move forward in your life. Perhaps it was once helpful to avoid certain relationships, but if that is now causing you to not move forward or keep getting into the wrong relationships, it is better to dissolve that role.

To process the trauma —or whatever else led you to take on that role.

Ego state therapy to change an unhelpful role to a helping ego state can be done with cognitive behavioral therapy and hypnosis or a combination[9].

So ego-state therapy and Erickson therapy help reduce symptoms for postpartum depression, and this can be done while under hypnosis. Perhaps you have a role within you that causes you to secretly find it scary to be a parent anyway. Then that role or ego state needs to be helped so that you no longer experience this feeling.

So in ego state therapy, sometimes it is actually important to go to the origin of the role of your ego state to resolve it.

With hypnosis, you use regression. Regression is a technique that helps you trace the origin of a particular feeling—to identify when something in your life began. This is where regression comes in.

While under hypnosis, you’ll go back to the moment when a certain belief—for example, about motherhood or parenthood—first arose, a belief that is now contributing to your postpartum depression. You then work with that moment so you can experience it differently, which can transform the entire belief. Who knows—you might even resolve your postpartum depression very quickly with the help of the hypnotherapist.

Would you like to know how hypnosis works and what it feels like to be under hypnosis before you take the next step? Then come to a hypnosis workshop in Zwolle or Wormerveer.

Instead, do you want to get started directly with Erickson's techniques and Ego State Therapy? Then enroll in Hypnosis Institute Netherlands' training courses in Zwolle, Wormerveer or online.

[1] https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/post-natal-depression/

[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165032707003886

[3] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10880-008-9105-z

[4] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00207140903099039

[5] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02646830600644070

[6] https://go.galegroup.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CA151663253&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=00296570&p=AONE&sw=w

[7] http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.1014.4459&rep=rep1&type=pdf

[8] https://britishhypnosisresearch.com/about-ericksonian-hypnotherapy/

[9] https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/types/ego-state-therapy