Anxiety and stress in small amounts can be what drives us on.
They stop us from being bored, let us focus: become stimulated, decisive, creative and effective. But too much and you may need hypnotherapy for stress and anxiety.
How stress and anxiety damage you
Beyond a certain point – that’s different for all of us – you go over a peak and harmful stress and anxiety kick in. You feel exhausted, on edge, burn out and in the most extreme cases, it can kill you with high blood pressure and heart attacks. This is what hypnotherapy for stress and anxiety aims to tackle.
Stress and anxiety - what's the difference?
Stress: This is your body’s reaction to a trigger and is generally a short-term experience. Stress can be positive or negative. When stress kicks in and helps you pull off that deadline you thought was a lost cause, it’s positive. When stress results in loss of sleep, poor concentration, and impaired ability to do the things you normally do, it’s negative. Stress is a response to a threat in any given situation.
Anxiety: On the other hand, anxiety is an ongoing mental health disorder that can be triggered by stress. Anxiety doesn’t fade once the threat has gone. Anxiety hangs around for the long haul and affects all parts of your life. You might have heard the phrase, ‘General Anxiety Disorder’.
Some examples include difficult relationships, unemployment, poverty, loneliness, exposure to violence and conflict.
And a more recent problem. Modern technology. The constant 24-hour connectivity and the problems this brings – the need to reply, the feeling you’re missing out and the idea that everyone’s having more fun than you.
Stress and anxiety - what do they have in common?
Stress and anxiety affect your mind and body in similar ways, making it difficult to spot the differences between them.
From the outside looking in, it can be difficult to spot the differences between stress and anxiety. Both cause:
. Sleepless nights
. Exhaustion
. Excessive worry
. Lack of focus
. Irritability
. Feeling overwhelmed
. You can’t calm your mind
. And similar physical symptoms:
. Rapid heart rate
. Muscle tension
. Headaches
. Back and/or neck pain
. Feeling light-headed, faint, or dizzy
. Sweaty palms or feet
. Difficulty swallowing
. Frequent illness
. Gut problems
. Low sex drive
Do you suffer with stress and anxiety? A simple test.
If you are experiencing any of the following, hypnotherapy for stress and anxiety may be worth considering.
The coffee has stopped working.
Whatever you try you’re tired. More coffee, less coffee. Going to bed earlier, not using screens before bed, supplements. You are still tired.
Sleep patterns.
Typically your usual eight hours is more like six as you are waking up very early, or can’t fall asleep fast. Sleep problems, stress and anxiety come hand-in-hand so often it can sometimes be a chicken or egg situation – hard to tell what came first.
You're snappy.
Your nice girl/guy image is getting tarnished of late because of a few ’episodes’. Perhaps you snapped at a colleague, got caught rolling your eyes at a manager, alienated a friend, or had a go at your partner.
Your social life does a 180.
Depending on your baseline — what you are like socially when you are feeling balanced — this can look like suddenly going out every night, or suddenly turning down social offers to stay at home doing nothing.
Work, work, work.
It started as a bit of overtime. But now you are saying no to social events in favour of work. You saying yes to every extra contract that comes your way. And oddly feel a sense of safety each time you tell someone, “No, I can’t, I’m busy working.” You also try not to notice the moment you stop working and feel uncomfortable in your own skin.
You're overeating.
Snacking is out of control. And you are not able to do portion sizes anymore. It’s not a few slices, it’s the whole pizza. You go out to eat and come home and eat again. Or buy food for the week, get home and eat it all in a day.
You're watching more Netflix.
What started out as a half-hour when you got home is now 3am. You’ve started watching stuff you don’t even like. But you can’t seem to stop. You might even have sneakily been watching at work.
Casual sex. This can be a sign that you're trying to escape your emotions. Deep down you know you are trying to avoid feeling something. Other signs that stress and anxiety are getting on top of you can also look like:
. Overspending
. Hours of online shopping
. Drinking too much
. Drug use
. All night video game sessions.
You think 'why bother?'.
If you’re known for being tidy, suddenly you go out of the house in the same clothes two days in a row, or don’t do your hair, or shave. Or you hand in a work assignment without checking it over like you usually do.
You take risks you usually don't take.
This is hard to answer because it depends on your baseline. We’ve mentioned Netflix at work, maybe a bit of lying to friends, or even things like eating expired food that might make you sick, or walking through bad areas alone at night. You’re caring less. It’s as if something in you is courting trouble or even danger - and you don’t know why.
Now. Ask yourself. Have any of these behaviours been going on for more than six weeks and seem to be worsening? If so, then maybe it's worth considering hypnotherapy for stress and anxiety.
Hypnotherapy for stress and anxiety. Does it work?
Simple answer. It does. To what extent depends on several of the following factors:
- how long you've been suffering. Feelings of stress and anxiety are different for everyone. And if, say, you've been burying it for years it may take some time to turn you around.
- your motivation. How much you want to start changing for the better here and now.
- The Therapeutic Alliance. This is the clincher. How well/much/deeply you 'connect' with your therapist. Form a good bond, believe in yourself as much as the therapist gives you their unconditional belief and you stand every chance of changing for the better
How can a Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapist help?
Firstly, why a Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapist? Well, that's my training.
I look at all of you. The 'cognitive' bit is how you're currently thinking and feeling. The 'behavioural' part is how you're acting. The 'hypno' simply means relaxing and focusing your attention and the 'therapy' is simply the steps you and I take to lower your stress and anxiety (the healing): helping you to learn how to be calmer - whatever situation you face.
Together we work on learning how to relax. To recognise when you're stressed and anxious.
Why? Because you can't hold these two conflicting thoughts at the same time. You're either stressed or anxious, or you're relaxed. We'll work on associating the pressure situations you face with relaxing. There is no need to keep going as you are.
Hypnotherapy for stress and anxiety can't stop them appearing in your life. What we can do is change how you think, feel and act in these moments. You may hear it called resilience.
It’s why I called my company 'The Gentle Mind'
I believe in calming things down through hypnotherapy for stress and anxiety reduction. Then we are kinder to ourselves. We don’t release cortisol. Constantly releasing cortisol means living your life in high gear. Increased blood sugar levels - Insulin typically helps your body’s cells turn glucose to energy. As your pancreas struggles to keep up with the high demand for insulin, glucose levels in your blood remain high and your cells don’t get the sugar they need to perform at their best.
Weight gain - As your cells are crying out for energy, your body sends signals to the brain that you’re hungry. These ‘false’ hunger signals lead you to crave high-calorie foods, overeat and put on weight.
Suppressed immune system - Cortisol’s positive action to reduce inflammation in the body can turn against you if your levels are too high for too long. They may actually suppress your immune system. So you could be more prone to colds and contagious illnesses. Your risk of cancer and autoimmune diseases also increases.
Digestive problems - When your body reacts to a threat, it shuts down other less critical functions, such as digestion. If the high-stress level is constant, your digestive tract can’t digest or absorb food well. It’s no coincidence that ulcers occur during stressful times and people with colitis or irritable bowel syndrome report better symptom control when they get their stress under control.
Heart disease - Constricted arteries and high blood pressure can lead to blood vessel damage and clogging up in your arteries. They could be setting the stage for a heart attack or stroke.
Hypnotherapy for stress and anxiety basically reduces your risk in all these areas.
And who am I? What’s my story?
To be honest I let stress and anxiety get to me. It wasn’t good. You can read about what happened here.
And the second part was just as bad. I worked and worked and worked. Got in earlier, left later and later. Commuted, paid bills, looked for more work. Then one day commenting home I had intense chest pains. I got off the train. Jumped in a taxi and went to A&E. I was close to a heart attack.
Something had to change. And that ‘something’ was me.
If any of what you’ve read rings true with you, get in touch.
You don’t have to go on. Life is not a dress rehearsal. So if you recognise any of the signs in you feel free to get in touch. I’m at jamesthomas@thegentlemind.co.uk or you can call me on 07787563099.
About the picture. I get stressed and anxious. I accept that. But to let it all pass me by I go to my happy place. The hills. The image is one of The Yorkshire Three Peaks.
And regards hypnotherapy for stress and anxiety, yes, I do practice self-hypnosis for my own good.
