Anxiety is such a growing problem that it could be considered the ‘malady of the 21st century’. It has grown to such a point that the National Health Service have even published a white paper on Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD); this plus the massive increase in prescribing of anti-anxiety medications, anti-depressants, referrals to mental health and ever lengthening waiting lists point to a service reaching crisis point.
So what is a solution?
What can they help with?
Anxiety comes in so many forms for example:
- Social Anxiety
- Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
- Separation Anxiety
- Phobias / fears
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
- Overactive Bladder Syndrome (OBS)
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Performance anxiety
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCS)
Even the anticipation of anxiety, fear of a problem reoccurring, worry about panic attacks etc can lead to an anxiety attack!!
Common terms suffers hear are Hyper vigilance meaning noticing the slightest thing that could be an example of the problem; this constant hyper-sensitivity to possibility can be exhausting and even lead to complete avoidance of everything. Magical thinking where suffers can start to add things and possibilities together; it is the attribution of causal relationships between actions and events and can lead to such conditions as OCD. These thoughts and actions have Triggers that fire off the anxiety responses; until this trigger-response relationship is changed the sufferer can be stuck in a never ending loop that can lead to depression, self-medication and more.
How can hypnotherapy help?
This may initially sound strange, but our unconscious mind can not tell the difference between imagination and reality; this is how book and movies work for example – you know they’re not real but you still respond to their suggestions getting scared at scary movies and crying at a tear-jerker. When we ‘imagine as if’ something can happen our sympathetic nervous system (fight-or-flight) acts as if its real and responds accordingly by increasing your heart rate and blood pressure, changing your circulation to feed the large muscle groups, changes your breathing (pulmonary function) etc. It even sometimes wants to evacuate excess to make you lighter and quicker (make you want to be sick or go to the toilet). I spend a lot of my time working with patients with lung conditions who believe they will get out of breath and die but that anxiety brings on breathlessness which serves to support their belief.
If you consider for a moment that hypnosis is really using you imagination in a more useful way, whilst in a safe state of relaxation, then using your imagination in a scary way whilst in a state of agitation is really a very similar thing – a sort of negative self-hypnosis.
How cool would it be if somebody could give you a ‘pause button’ that enabled you to stop the world for a moment? That is what it feels like when you learn to relax your mind, and believe it or not it can take less than a minute!!
As a fully qualified and accredited hypnotherapist I can help you begin to learn how to relax both your mind and body. From that state of relaxation you can learn how to change your thought patterns, build confidence and free yourself from those chains of anxiety that have held you back. As a bonus, in addition to overcoming your anxiety, you will learn the skills of ‘self-hypnosis’ that will enable you to continue to develop and strengthen your life now and into the future.
What is Mindfulness?
There is a great saying that goes something like this "The past is history, the future is a mystery, NOW is a gift that is why we call it the PRESENT"; Mindfulness (or being mindful) is about being in the PRESENT. Anxiety is about having future beliefs/expectations based on your experiences in the past; learning to be mindful is like having a pause button that enables you to stop your mind running, fears building and anxiety taking over. How wonderful would it be to be able to just "Press pause" and relax? Mindfulness is the tool to do this.
How can I book a session?
To take that first step please contact me to discuss. The typical wait time for an appointment is 1 week as we do not believe anybody should have to wait longer than that. To give you some idea, on average it takes around 3 sessions which is not a massive investment for the return you can gain.
Call me on 0121 251 6172 or email by clicking here