Some people call it the 'blues' and some people call it the 'pits' and some call it 'feeling down in the dumps'. But whatever you call it, depression is a terrible feeling that you don't need to live with. The most common types of depression are:

Major Depression, which is characterized by a sad mood, Insomnia and sleep disorders, and the lack of desire for food. Often when a person is in a major depression, the person feels a total lack of drive and motivation and the sufferer does not want to participate in life. Some people are completely disabled by depression, and some individuals even consider suicide.

Dysthymia: This is a less severe type of long-term depression that typically does not completely disable the individual. But it prevents the person from feeling motivated and functioning at their best. Sometimes people who are struggling with Dysthymia are also afflicted with Major Depression, and when this occurs it is referred to as double depression.

Manic Depression is also known as Bipolar Disorder. This form of depression is not as common as the first two. It involves cycles of the Manic state, alternated with the depressed state. This is often a long-term recurring disorder. Sometimes the mood swings are very rapid. But more often onset tends to be gradual.

There are many variations of depression; the types described here are only the three most common.

Some of the symptoms of depression include:

Sadness; anxiety; pessimism; insomnia and sleep disorders; guilt; feelings of worthlessness; weight loss; fatigue; restlessness; headaches; pain; and thoughts of suicide.

Sources of Depression:

Many types of depression run in families. Living in a stressful environment can precipitate a depression. A traumatic experience such as a serious loss, relationship problems, or financial trouble can also lead to depression.

Women are twice as likely to suffer from depression as men are, but scientists do not know why.

If you are suffering from depression, you will want to consult with your physician. He may prescribe medication for you. But keep in mind that every medication causes side effects.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could control and eliminate your depression just by thinking certain thoughts? I know that this might sound too simple, but very frequently, various types of depression are simply caused by having persistently negative thoughts.

You can see this for yourself firsthand, right now. It is really quite simple and basic. Just use your imagination to think about something that you feel is very troubling or sad. Go ahead, think about it right now! Then come back to this article.

What happened? If you really got into it and visualized the sad situation, you began to feel unhappy and a bit depressed. And the longer you allow yourself to remain in that pattern of thought, the sadder you'll feel. As you keep having negative thoughts and keep feeling sadder, you lead yourself into a gradually deepening depression.

The good news is that if you think about a happy thought, then you'll supplant that depression and sadness and replace it with happy feelings.

Please pay close attention now, because here are the solutions to ending your depression: Our persistent thoughts emerge from our unconscious. These are the thoughts that we find ourselves repeatedly thinking about during the day.

If the persistent thoughts that are continually popping into your mind are about your problems or sad experiences, then you raise your levels of anxiety, stress, and depression.

But here is the 'Light at the end of the tunnel': Since hypnosis can be used to change our unconscious thoughts, NLP and self hypnosis stress management CDs can quickly alter the way that you feel, think, and behave. The interesting thing is that the same exact techniques that help reduce stress also work just as well for eliminating depression!

Listen to me now, because I'm going to tell you exactly why and how it is going to happen. Hypnosis is a natural state of mind. Actually, it is the Alpha state of consciousness. We pass through the Alpha state as we fall asleep at night. And we pass through it once more as we awaken in the morning. We also enter the Alpha state when we are imagining and daydreaming.

The unconscious is the seat of our emotions, and it is similar to a computer; the input controls the output! Hypnotherapy is a wonderful tool for reaching directly into the unconscious and reprogramming it to automatically divert you away from negative thought patterns, and promote positive thinking. It is a tool that allows you to bypass the consciousness to create positive expectations, which will in turn create positive feelings. You can beat your depression through using hypnosis therapy.

Alan B. Densky, CH is a certified hypnotist and NLP Practitioner. Since 1978, he has helped thousands of clients. He offers CDs for self-hypnosis depression therapy. Visit his Neuro-VISION self-hypnosis site for the hypnosis article library, or watch his free videos on hypnosis.