Anxiety
Do you worry excesivley, feel anxious and stressed most of the time?
Anxiety & Stress
Anxiety is a normal response to stress or danger and is often called the'flight or fight' response. This process involves the brain sending signals to the body to release adrenalin, stress hormones, which quickly pumps through the body enabling it to cope with whatever catastrophes may come its way, increased heart rate, blood pressure and breathing, and increased brain activity and acute awareness.
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These responses are natural and helpful for survival in dangerous situations but become extremley unpleasent, confusing and stressful when we experience them in everyday life. We live in a complex society full of emotional stressors which can trigger hightened states of alertness,anxiety and worry, whereby, we lose the ability to self-regulate and struggle to feel calm, relaxed and refreshed.
Most people will experience a relatively mild form of anxiety when facing certain situations such as social engagements, presentations or public speaking. Whereas, other people can experience heightened states of anxiety, worry and the fear of something that happened, what might happen, and the worry of what people will think of them.​
When anxiety is left untreated it can become chronic through the use of safety behaviours​​
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Anxiety: A Vicious Cycle
Worries and anxiety are maintained for several different reasons:
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When someone is in a highly anxious state their mind become hypervigilant to threats. This causes the brain to selectivley attend to negative information (focus on worries) and ignore the positive information. This in turn leads to disqualifying the positives, such as ignoring evidence that refutes the worrying.
1. How the Brain Processes Information
2. Biased types of Thinking
Worries and anxiety are maintained for several different reasons:
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Black & White Thinking: 'It happened last time, it will happen again'.
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Over Generalising: 'I got really panicky in front of them, I will panick in front of everyone'.
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Jumping to Conclusions: 'If I mess up, they will think I'm a fool and laugh at me, everyone will laugh at me'.
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Magnification & Catastrophising: 'If I don't pass the exam, it will ruin my life'.​
3. Use of Safety Behaviours
People with untreated anxiety tend to respond to fears by:
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Suppressing Them (e.g. over working).
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Seeking Reassurance (persistenly).
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Avoidance (avoid situation altogether).
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Numbing (escapisum).
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These behaviours quickly reduce anxiety, but only serve to positively reinforce the behaviours, as they are a quick fix. However, short-term relief only leads to long-term negative consequences such as chronic worry, fear, anxiety and stress.
Reduce Anxiety with Hypnotherapy
If you suffer from anxiety, then its time to change. I can help you through a tailored combination of Hypnotherapy and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and which is an effective form of treatment for anxiety.
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When you suffer from anxiety, it feels like things are way out of control, and only going to get worse. That is what anxiety does to your thinking. You get lost in the world of ‘What ifs'.
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‘What if this happens?’…. What if that happens?’….’What if….What if…What if….!!’ It makes you think in absolutes, all-or-nothing terms, black or white thinking, it’s either this or that, black or white, and stops you seeing the subtle shades of greys in between.
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It drains the pleasure from all those things you used to enjoy, making the world seem a scary place. In short, anxiety hijacks your thinking and feeds off all your energy.
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But when you know how anxiety works; what starts and maintains it, then you start to gain control over it, instead of it controlling you, and optimism emerges once more.
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The very first thing we will do in our first session together is to ensure you understand why you are feeling this way. It has a lot to do with the nervous system and overthinking, which leads to that fog of mental confusion and exhaustion.
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The I will work speedily to help you feel calm by using deep relaxation techniques with you. This works to settle down that overactive nervous system, and slow down any racing thoughts, so that your brain is prepared to learn, ready to soak up new ways of being. Because as you’ve probably noticed, its difficult to focus, pay attention and retain any information.
When you leave my clinic after the first session, I would expect you to feel better, way more relaxed, than you have in a long, long time. However, anxieties don’t simply shift overnight. During the following sessions, we’ll work together to:
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reduce the amount of worrying and catastrophising you are doing
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resolve any negative thought patterns that are causing you distress
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work on any relationships, or work difficulties you may be experiencing
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reduce any stressors that may be causing you overwhelm and burnout
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as you feel better, we will upskill you with multiple stress management techniques that will enable you to self-regulate your nervous system effectively, promoting healthy thought patterns
Anxiety, if left untreated can become quite debilitating, affecting work performance and personal relationships. However, with the right support anxiety can become manageable, enabling you to live a more peaceful and relaxed lifestyle.
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