Clinical Hypnotherapy, NLP, Coaching, Anxiety & Insomnia Specialist

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What Are - Anxiety & Stress?

Stress and/or Anxiety figure highly in many people's lives, at some point or other, for various reasons. You are not alone with this - we lead busy lives, in a stressful society, with demands and challenges facing us 24 hours per day - at work, at home.

Lots of us are Stressed or Anxious as a result.

However, although Stress and Anxiety may feel similar, they are different!

Both are powerful strategies to help us survive and would help in a challenging or dangerous situation - heard of 'fight or flight'?

But both can, in certain circumstances, become excessive or inappropriate over long periods and cease to be beneficial processes. It then may affect our long term physical and mental well-being and can be experienced to different degrees and at different levels.

Hypnotherapy can help you to deal with stressful or anxiety-filled situations in a calmer way, change perceptions of events and situations and how you are seeing them. Behave, feel and think more calmly, and move forward. Dealing with thoughts and feelings in a more logical and organised way.

Using Hypnotherapy I can look for the root cause, how you are approaching the causes of either Stress or Anxiety, and we can talk through what's happening and why. Through speaking directly to your subconscious we can change your perceptions of events, release emotions attached to the problem(s), and allow you to move forward into a healthier, calmer, less angst-filled future.

Anxiety

Am I Just Worrying Too Much?...

Well, maybe, yes.

Is it becoming over-whelming? Or taking over more normal, rational thoughts?

Are you spending your time worrying about, thinking about or obsessing about something that hasn't actually happened yet, but MIGHT happen, MAY happen, or could POSSIBLY happen at some point?

It can have negative effects on our physical and mental health. But it can have positive effects too - we just need to keep the effects balancing towards the positive, rather than the negative.

To paint a simple picture of when enough, is enough....It can make us hyper-vigilant - super-sensitive to things, noises, places around us. It keeps us on our toes, keeps us alive. If we were hunting through the woods in the days of a cave man, trying to provide food for our young, then we would want to be sensitive to the noise of bears, or other beasts around us. We would be super-alert, listening, watching.... It would protect us.

But if this became an intense daily fear, a terror, and so we avoided the woods because we were scared of the dangers and we wanted to ensure we were safe - how would we provide for our families then. How would we eat ever again?

Anxiety can be brought on by fear or dread. It may lead to avoidance of certain situations. It can cause relationship or career problems, and a fear that you are unable to achieve your best. That's when it's just become too much.

What Are The Signs of Anxiety... (do you recognise these)?

Physical Signs

Behaviours & Emotions

Feeling generally tense
Tightness (eg in breathing or muscles), aches and pains
Can't sleep, mind working overtime
Restless, nervous, 'on edge', jumpy
Nervous tummy, diahorrea, nausea

Behaviours & Emotions

Can't switch off, relax or enjoy quiet time
Can't concentrate or focus
Feel overwhelmed and put things off till later/tomorrow
Avoid places, people and situations that you 'think' might make you anxious

Thoughts

Behaviours & Emotions

Thoughts

Constant worry about something
Feeling totally out of control
Feelings of fear or dread
Blaming yourself for everything
Black and white approach (there is no grey, and no middle ground)
Can't see a different viewpoint
Unrealistic levels of perfectionism

Stress

Is It 'Fight or Flight' Syndrome?...

So if our explanation as to 'what is anxiety' referred to the hunter/gatherer providing food for the young, but being overly anxious about the threat of a bear in the woods - then Stress is what happens once the bear attacks! And when you have to deal with him!

It's about survival - fighting off or fleeing from the attack. With increased energy, strength, speed and stamina. There is a chemical and hormonal response that occurs, and that makes physical changes to the way our bodies operate.

People often refer to 'stress hormones' or the 'stress response'. It's not about the anticipation of what may or may not happen, it's about dealing with the here and now and what IS happening!

So whilst Stress is a good thing, helping and protecting us, problems arise when it's prolonged, on-going and becomes more and more intense. And can lead to increased factors of ill-health.

What Are The Short and Long-Term Effects of Stress?...

Short-term

Increased heart rate and blood pressure
Breathing rate - perhaps panting, short breaths, gasping etc
Increased blood supply to muscles, especially in the arms and legs
Reduced sensitivity to pain
Decreased blood supply to the skin
Less protection from disease and immunity problems

Not an exhaustive list - there are many more.

Long-term

Short-term

Heart Disease and consequences of high blood pressure, eg stroke
Panic attacks
Infections, ulcers, allergies
Isolation & loneliness
Failing memory and recollection, difficulty in decision making
Mood swings and/or depression
Irritability, anger, aggression
Reduced self-esteem and confidence
Reliance on other habits to cope - eg alcohol, tobacco
Paranoia

And:

Headaches, anxiety, increased phobias, over-focusing on the stress cause, appetite and weight issues, sleep disorders - plus overall increasing ill-health.

What Are - Anxiety & Stress?

Anxiety

Am I Just Worrying Too Much?...

What Are The Signs of Anxiety... (do you recognise these)?

Physical Signs

Behaviours & Emotions

Behaviours & Emotions

Behaviours & Emotions

Behaviours & Emotions

Behaviours & Emotions

Thoughts

Behaviours & Emotions

Thoughts

Stress

Is It 'Fight or Flight' Syndrome?...

What Are The Short and Long-Term Effects of Stress?...

Short-term

Short-term

Short-term

Long-term

Short-term

Short-term

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