𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐃𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐜 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭?

Every cardiac condition is chronic and requires you, as the patient, to care for yourself. It is essential to focus on important self-care activities and identify your strengths that will help you improve and identify barriers. Depression is an excellent example of a barrier that prevents you from participating in self-care. A survey from 2019 found that 6.5 percent of U.S. adults had symptoms of depression.

But it has also been reported cardiovascular risk factors were highly predictive of  depression. A total cholesterol of 280 or higher was linked to a 31% increased risk of depression, and a diastolic blood pressure reading of 100 or higher conferred a 50% increased risk. If you experience depression or depressive symptoms, you may have difficulty adhering to self-care activities such as taking medications, being physically active, eating whatever diet is prescribed, and monitoring your symptoms. People who are depressed don’t have the energy or the will to engage in activities.

Hypnotherapy tools are a well-accepted therapy for effectively managing depression and painful symptoms. It can prevent the onset of depressive symptoms because it works to help people work through negative thoughts about their condition and even erroneous thoughts. People with depression often turn a simple event into a catastrophe that negatively changes their lives.

Hypnotherapy reconceptualizes a situation and reframes it. Then you see how to work through an insurmountable barrier. You can use this therapy as a simple self-care intervention because it has a positive effect.

There is a phenomenon called the emotional contagion theory, which says that negative and positive emotions are transferred easily in a relationship between partners. Even though it is common for cardiac patients to be depressed, it is more common for their caregivers to be depressed.

So, you can have an interaction of depressive symptoms and poor quality of life between a patient and their caregiver. So that’s a good reason to also attend to the caregiver, not just the patient. So, when we teach hypnotherapy tools to caregivers, they will have the skills and the knowledge not to be so burdened by the condition. They also get some direct attention for their health, depressive symptoms, and quality of life.

The act of providing an outlet to caregivers is found to be helpful just in improving psychological health.

Depression sabotages self-care activities patients need to do independently, like monitoring symptoms, taking medications, eating well, and exercising. Hypnotherapy is effective for managing depression in the cardiac patient.