Strategic Hypnotherapy & Integrative CBT for Depression in Melbourne

Addressing both conscious thought patterns and subconscious emotional blocks to help you regain vitality, emotional balance, and clarity.

Depression drains your energy, motivation and ability to find pleasure in the things you used to enjoy. Working at both the conscious and subconscious level gives you practical tools for the thoughts you can see, and addresses the emotional patterns underneath them that talk alone often cannot reach.

Take the First Step Without Pressure

Not sure if integrated therapy is right for your situation? Call 0412 694 720 or book a complimentary 15 minute phone consultation with Michael Greaves.

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Image of woman realising her path out of depression

Understanding Depression Beyond Just "Feeling Sad"

Depression is not simply sadness or a bad day. It is a complex condition that affects brain chemistry, thought patterns, behaviour and physical health, and it often develops alongside other challenges such as chronic stress, insomnia, chronic pain, smoking or addictions, and weight gain through comfort eating, or low self-esteem.

These conditions often interact. Stress or pain can trigger low mood, while depression can intensify fatigue, sleep problems and reliance on unhelpful coping behaviours. Depression also creates a self-perpetuating cycle: low mood reduces activity and motivation, which further deepens negative thoughts and isolation. Breaking that cycle requires working at multiple levels: thoughts, subconscious emotional patterns, and the body's stress response.

My practice is conveniently located in Caulfield North, providing accessible, evidence-based depression support to clients across Melbourne and the surrounding suburbs.

Why Combining CBT and Hypnotherapy Works for Depression

Conscious Level: CBT

Practical cognitive tools to identify negative automatic thoughts, manage rumination, and break the cycle of behavioural withdrawal that keeps depression in place.

Subconscious Level: Hypnotherapy

Calming the nervous system, addressing subconscious emotional blocks, and restoring a felt sense of hope and self-agency that conscious effort alone struggles to reach.

Common Symptoms We Help Support

  • Persistent low mood, apathy, or feeling emotionally flat
  • Rumination, overthinking, and harsh self-criticism
  • Fatigue, sleep disturbances, and lack of motivation
  • Overwhelm, burnout, and anxiety accompanying depression

What to Expect in Your Sessions

Sessions are structured, safe and collaborative, and paced to what you need rather than a fixed script. Your first session runs 60 to 90 minutes and covers the nature and history of your symptoms, what makes things better or worse, any previous treatment, current medication, and what relief would look like for you. From there we combine CBT and hypnotherapy across a typical 4 to 8 session framework, reviewing progress as we go.

You can see me in person at the Caulfield North clinic, with online sessions also available if that suits your situation better.

Important: If you are experiencing severe depression, suicidal thoughts, or an inability to function day to day, we will recommend you work with a psychiatrist or psychologist alongside hypnotherapy, or that you seek immediate medical care first.

Local, Experienced Support Across Bayside Melbourne

The Caulfield North clinic serves clients throughout Caulfield North, Brighton, St Kilda, Malvern, Elwood and the surrounding Bayside Melbourne suburbs, with online sessions available wherever you are.

About Michael Greaves: Michael brings over 40 years of therapeutic and clinical perspective to his practice as a Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapist and Strategic Psychotherapist, and holds accredited memberships with the AHA, ASCH, AACBT and IASP.

Frequently Asked Questions About Depression Hypnotherapy

  • How many sessions will I need?
    Treatment length varies with the person and the depression, but most clients work within a structured 4 to 8 session framework rather than open ended talk therapy. We review progress as we go and adjust the plan to what you actually need.
  • Do I need a doctor's referral?
    No referral is required to book a session. We do welcome collaborative care with GPs, psychiatrists and allied health professionals, and are glad to liaise with your treating team where that is useful.
  • Is hypnotherapy safe if I am currently taking medication or seeing a psychiatrist?
    Yes. Strategic Hypnotherapy is designed to complement your existing medical care, not replace it. Never stop or change prescribed medication without speaking to your doctor first.
  • How does combining CBT and hypnotherapy help manage depression?
    CBT provides conscious cognitive tools to interrupt negative automatic thoughts and rumination, while hypnotherapy works at the subconscious level to reduce emotional overwhelm, calm the stress response, and rebuild motivation.

How Strategic Hypnotherapy Supports Depression Recovery

Working at Multiple Levels

Depression saps motivation and creates a cycle of inactivity that makes mood worse. Hypnotherapy works with your subconscious to rebuild that motivation and make activity feel less overwhelming. On the cognitive side, depression tends to produce distorted thinking: catastrophising, black and white judgements, mental filtering that only lets the negative through. We identify these patterns consciously in session, then use hypnotherapy to help install a more balanced, realistic perspective underneath them.

A lot of the work also happens with mood itself. We draw on memories of times you felt good to gradually rebuild your capacity for positive emotion, and use hypnotic technique to interrupt the rumination loops that keep depression circling. Sleep usually improves alongside this, since depression and poor sleep tend to feed each other. Where depression is tangled up with old grief, trauma, chronic stress or a difficult life transition, we work through that underneath the surface rather than only managing the symptoms it produces, and we build genuine self-compassion where harsh self-criticism has taken hold.

Understanding When to Seek Medical Help

Our hypnotherapy approach is appropriate for:

  • Mild to moderate depression
  • Depression that has not responded fully to medication alone
  • Depression related to life circumstances, stress, or past experiences
  • Clients who want complementary treatment alongside medication or therapy

You should see a doctor or psychiatrist first if you have any of the following:

  • Severe depression interfering with basic functioning
  • Suicidal thoughts or self-harm urges
  • Psychotic symptoms, including hallucinations or delusions
  • Depression that has suddenly worsened significantly
  • Depression alongside substance abuse issues

We can work alongside your medical treatment, but severe depression requires medical intervention as the foundation.

Research Supporting Hypnotherapy for Depression

Clinical studies point to hypnotherapy's value as a complementary depression treatment. Research published in the Journal of Affective Disorders found that hypnotherapy combined with cognitive behavioural techniques produced significant improvements in depression symptoms, including elevated mood and better engagement with life. Contemporary Hypnosis reported that depressed clients receiving hypnotherapy alongside standard treatment improved more rapidly and maintained their gains better at follow up. The American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis indicated that hypnotherapy helps address the cognitive distortions and negative self-talk characteristic of depression, often more quickly than talk therapy alone.

The most significant peer reviewed study in this area comes from the University of Calgary. Assen Alladin and Alisha Alibhai randomised 84 people with depression into 16 weeks of either cognitive hypnotherapy, hypnosis combined with CBT, or CBT alone. Both groups improved, but the cognitive hypnotherapy group produced greater reductions in depression, anxiety and hopelessness than the CBT-only group, and those gains held at both the six month and twelve month follow ups. The cognitive hypnotherapy group received standard cognitive therapy for depression alongside hypnosis introduced in the first session, plus a take-home recording covering relaxation, positive mind-frame work and ego-strengthening. The researchers were testing hypnotherapy as an adjunct to established treatment, not a replacement for it, and the study was the first controlled comparison of hypnotherapy with a well established psychotherapy for depression to meet APA criteria for a probably efficacious treatment.

You can review the full University of Calgary study on Taylor and Francis Online.

Real Recovery Stories from Melbourne Clients (anonymised)

Sarah, 44, Elsternwick

Overcame postpartum depression: "After my second child, I sank into depression. I loved my babies but felt nothing, just exhaustion and emptiness. Everything felt pointless. I was on medication but still struggling. My doctor suggested trying hypnotherapy alongside the medication. Over eight sessions, something shifted. The hypnotherapy helped me access positive feelings again and gave me energy to engage with my children. Combined with the medication, it pulled me out of the fog. I feel like myself again."

Daniel, 47, Malvern

Freedom from chronic depression: "I had been depressed on and off since my teens. I had tried medication, regular therapy, everything. They would help temporarily, then depression would return. Hypnotherapy was different because it worked at a level traditional therapy did not reach. We addressed deep beliefs I had developed in childhood about being unworthy and unlovable. Ten sessions changed patterns I had carried for 15 plus years. I have been depression-free for over a year now."

Your Investment in Depression Recovery

Per session: $200 (60 minutes)
Typical complete program: $1,200 to $2,000 (6 to 10 sessions)

It is worth weighing that against what depression itself costs you. Relationships strain when you withdraw. Career opportunities get missed when motivation and energy are gone. Health suffers under the stress and the poor self-care that comes with it, and years can pass in the fog before you notice. Working at both the cognitive and subconscious level tends to produce results that hold, which is often more than medication or talk therapy manage on their own.

Begin Your Path to Relief

You do not have to keep living under depression's heavy blanket. Whether you are currently in treatment or seeking help for the first time, Strategic Hypnotherapy can support your journey toward feeling like yourself again.

Imagine waking up with energy and purpose, finding pleasure in activities again, engaging meaningfully with people you care about, and feeling hope about your future. That recovery is possible.

Call 0412 694 720 for your free 15 minute consultation. We will discuss your depression compassionately and help you understand how hypnotherapy can support your recovery, with no obligation and no judgment.

Your brighter future begins with one conversation.

IMPORTANT NOTE

If you or someone you know is in crisis and needs help now, call triple zero (000). You can also call Lifeline on 13 11 14 — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or your nearest hospital emergency department immediately.

If you're experiencing domestic violence, contact 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) for confidential support 24/7.

Lifeline provides 24-hour crisis counselling, support groups and suicide prevention services.

Call 13 11 14, text 0477 13 11 14, or chat online.

Suicide Call Back Service provides 24/7 support if you or someone you know is feeling suicidal.

1300 659 467

MensLine Australia is a professional telephone and online counselling service offering support to Australian men.

Call 1300 78 99 78 (24/7) or chat online.

Beyond Blue aims to increase awareness of depression and anxiety and reduce stigma.

Call 1300 22 4636 (24/7) or chat online.