• The most common stress related complaints
presented to GPs are stress and anxiety which is reported to
affect 40% of the UK working population. In fact, we ALL suffer from stress at some time in our lives.
• Hypnotherapy is a major non-drug treatment which can greatly reduce stress.
• Up to 5 million people in the UK feel "very" or "extremely" stressed by their work.
• Bosses
can now be fined for worker stress such that every hospital, school
and business faces criminal prosecution unless it can prove it is
tackling stress in the workplace.
Many people visit their doctor with alarming symptoms, believing that they have serious underlying causes. They are often quite surprised and disbelieving when they're told they are suffering from anxiety and stress.
Anxiety is a state of fear, an over response of the mind - an ineffectual attempt to resolve personal difficulties. Physical reactions and fatigue are often present.
We need emotions and they have evolved for a reason to: protect us, creates interpersonal bonds, stimulate motivation and develop ideas and actions through self-expression. The negative emotions put the brake on our thoughts and actions, although more positively they can strengthen our resolve to achieve, for example, fear of poverty inverted as financial ambition. We need to understand and embrace our emotions, not hide from them. Emotions are closely linked to body language and last longer the more we try to suppress them.
Depression, anxiety, panic attacks all respond well to the increased self-awareness achieved by hypnotherapy.
With emotional problems it is the CAUSE which should be treated, not the symptoms. A particular symptom, such as a phobia, may well have a VERY different causes in different people - unlike a bacterial infection, for example, where the cause is known and clear-cut (the bacteria) and the same for everyone.
With emotional causes there is no clear-cut link between the symptoms and the cause. Clearly, it's first important to eliminate any physical origin (by consulting your doctor) before investigating the emotional source. Hypnotherapy is the best way to resolve the emotional elements. It 'reprogrammes' the unconscious mind in a way which no other medical or psychological treatments do.
Both depression and anxiety tend to be unconscious habits – with a negative focus. The unconscious mind automatically seeks out 'evidence' (reinforcing reasons, or justifications) for feelings anxious, or depressed – such that the effects can become self-perpetuating. We see what we want to see, hear what we want to hear, feel what we want to feel pattern.
Whilst consciously seeking to resolve issues, this habitual and circular well practised thinking can be the stronger influence. Some problems may be little more than imaginary fears of what could happen (with an active negative imagination). The unconscious is acting diligently, worrying unnecessarily about the future. This often stems from a desire for certainty - when, of course, life itself is often uncertain. Such need for certainty arises unconsciously from inner insecurities. Some people may also believe that worrying itself can actually influence future events – which it can't, taking action produces results.
Negative mental chatter can lead to mental 'rumination' – trying to mentally resolve actual and/or imagined problems by going over these time and time again...to see if we've missed something. Often it is better to acknowledge unpleasant feelings and avoid excessive self-protection as this is too self-centred and obsessive – ‘digging your own hole deeper’.
Anxiety can often initiates depression; and the reverse is, of course, possible. Commonly, anxiety is active, depression is inactive. It is considered by many in the mental health profession that depression will be the second bigger reason for disability ten years from now.
When someone is anxious they can lose weight due to reduced appetite, or put weight on through comfort and binge eating. Indigestion and nausea are common. Other common symptoms include urinary problems, such as passing water more frequently, and pain in the bladder.
Some people experience irregular heart beats, palpitations, maybe constrictions in their chest. In the absence of an organic cause, these are all stress and anxiety related symptoms. Panic attacks can also be common.
Blushing and self-consciousness can be a problem in company, whether at work or socially where feelings of insecurity arise. Shyness can restrict interaction with others. Feelings of inferiority can also inhibit the individual and undermine confidence. Phobias can develop, especially social phobia.
Headaches are common. Abdominal pain can also occur – sometimes diagnosed as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Constipation or diarrhoea is not uncommon. General pain in the neck and shoulders are often the result of bottled-up stress and anxiety. Sometimes buzzing and ringing in the ears can occur, giddiness may be a problem. Vision can be affected. Insomnia is a very common reaction to anxiety. Obviously, any possible organic reasons for any of these symptoms should be investigated with your doctor.
These are just a few of the many psychosomatic effects that anxiety and stress can have on health and well-being. Hypnotherapy and techniques of stress release which address the link between mind and body can work wonders. Restoring harmony and strengthening defences to cope with the stresses that are part of our competitive society are clearly desirable.
Importantly, hypnotherapy addresses the underlying subconscious causes unlike any other treatments.
Stress is usually caused by excesses and change from the norm – pressures to perform, uncertainty, recession, increased job load, maintaining quality, excessive hours, frustration, targets to be met, marital problems, bereavement, redundancy, to mention but a few.
However, it is not only unpleasant things in life which cause stress; it is also enjoyable things as well – like promotion, new responsibilities, holidays, retirement, or the arrival of a new baby. These too can cause an equal amount of stress.
In fact changes of any sort, good or bad, pumps up on the stress level considerably. |
