This session on depression took place in 1985. There are two other post on this blog dealing with depression:
https://clintmatheny.cdn-pi.com/healing-major-depression/
& healing-depression-disassociation-using-clean-language-16-year-follow-up/
A 28 year old man I will call “Bill” came to see me for depression. Bill told me that he had been depressed since age 5. I asked him when he was last depressed. He told me that he was depressed at that very moment and he wakes up every morning depressed.
I had Bill locate the feeling of his depression (inside or outside of body) and had him go back to the first time he had the feeling of depression. Using hypnosis and age regression, Bill stated it started from a nightmare at age 5. In the nightmare there were sticks with legs and they were chasing him. Bill then stated he hid behind a big US mailbox and then he looked up
and looming above him were these walking sticks .That would then awaken him causing him to feel hopeless.
Bill then stated since that night at 5 years old he had a similar dream every night. He was always in a hopeless situation and would wake up. He stated he always tried to get back into the dream to experience a better outcome; however, he always failed and therefore felt even more hopeless.
39 years ago I did this process with Bill:
I told Bill to pretend that he could go back before the sticks chased him on that very first nightmare. I told him to introduce himself to his 5 year old self. “Tell him that you are from his future and you have survived all of his nightmares. Tell him that you are going hold his hand before the sticks appear.”
I then told him to start the movie in his mind’s eye. A minute later, Bill started laughing. I asked, “what happened “? Bill stated that he and his younger self hid behind the mailbox, and when the sticks came to the mailbox , Bill and his younger self jumped up and screamed, “Boo!” That scared the sticks and they ran away. I then asked Bill and his younger self if they were interested in growing up to now. They grew up to now and the five year old was inside of the 28 year old Bill and grown up. That was the only time I saw Bill.
Follow Up
About 3 years later, I received a phone call from Bill. He told me the 1985, session had turned his life around. He recently had married and had a great career in the airline business. His mother had visited him over the holidays. She told him that he was a changed person in a positive way and wanted to know what he had done to change.
He shared details of our session with her. Tearfully, she recounted taking him to the theater to watch Walt Disney’s movie, “Fantasia.” During the film, he grew so distressed that they had to leave. In the weeks following, he experienced nightly nightmares.
No matter how perfect the parent of a child, the child can still be traumatized by an event. Even in the most nurturing and supportive environments, unexpected incidents or distressing experiences can leave lasting emotional imprints.
The walking sticks were actually brooms walking in the movie:
I revised this procedure that I now call, “Back to the Future”:
https://clintmatheny.cdn-pi.com/back-to-the-future-part-1-healing-anxiety-panic-attacks/
clint77090at gmail.com