Digging into depression

>>The unconscious mind and
neuro-transmitters

by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Dave Thompson

Age: 26

Occupation: NLP therapist

Bio: This highly articulate, happy, happy Westmount resident and certified hypnotherapist first came into contact with the concept of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) at age 13 after discovering a book on the subject in the garbage. A curious lad, teenage Dave was soon inspired to explore ancient religions, hypnotherapy and a bunch of stuff “that would help me live the life I really wanted to live.” Upon arriving here from his native Edmonton to study linguistics at McGill, he was reintroduced to NLP from an academic perspective and soon discovered “the power it has to transform people.” These days he’s offering his therapeutic services to the depressed and anxiety-ridden among us, guaranteeing that his 12-hour program will stop you from yearning to die, or your money back. “When a client comes to me, they can’t not change. You will change, you will make links inside, things will shift.” Contact him at (514) 377-0735.

What the hey NLP is: “We all have an unconscious mind. Learning, change, behaviour, emotions, all these things happen at the unconscious level. Employing language and other techniques, I help clients get in a state of awareness, a trance, and in that state, I can communicate with their unconscious mind, producing positive change.”

So NLP is just another word for hypnotherapy? Not quite, “but much of NLP is based on similar principals.”

Doesn’t all the muck your conscious mind takes in—like forever listening to your therapist explain why you’re such a big loser—eventually sink down into one’s unconscious mind anyway? “Sure, to a point, but anyone who’s suffered from depression will recognize they’ve tried many things and nothing works. There’s a specific recipe people have to follow to feel depression. You probably focus on something that really bothers you and delete everything else from consciousness, sitting around at home, not thinking about anything positive or exciting. There are certain things you have to do mentally to participate in creating this state. But when I show you what else you can do, it frees up the pattern. We have all of the resources inside to accomplish what we want. It’s just a matter of accessing them. NLP allows us to get rid of the negative encoding people have developed based on past experience and start afresh, letting go of these negative emotions and making new choices for the future. We help them get rid of their emotional baggage.”

Isn’t the root cause of depression often hereditary, a chemical imbalance only the good people at Pfizer etc. can cure with all their wonderful drugs? “Maybe, but it’s your thinking that creates depression, and by changing your thinking, you change the depression. There can be hereditary factors involved, but you’re never stuck. Based on the latest research, we know that whatever we’re thinking is producing neuro-transmitters and they bathe every cell in the body. So sure, you can have a chemical imbalance, but it’s being produced at a deeper level. That’s the level that we reach through NLP.”

Last book read: The Book of Secrets by Deepak Chopra.

Musical preferences: Delirium, the Tea Party, electronica.

Words of wisdom: “Whatever you think you are, you’re always more than that.”

Comments: dimwit@hdot.net