Fears and Phobias and Anxiety Related Issues
We all encounter a certain amount of stress in our lives which may be manageable but too much stress can have an adverse effect upon your health and well-being.
Fears, Phobias &
Anxiety Related Issues.
Using a combination of cutting edge techniques, New Beginnings hypnotherapy can have a life changing effect on the way that you deal with challenging situations and how to face them with confidence.
To fully understand anxiety, first you need to understand the effects of stress and the ‘fight or flight’ response.
The Fight or flight response
When faced with a dangerous situation, your body prepares for immediate action. Adrenalin is released, increasing your heart rate so blood can be quickly pumped to your muscles.
The fight or flight response is an automatic physiological reaction to an event that is perceived as stressful or frightening. When you believe yourself to be in a dangerous situation, the sympathetic nervous system is activated and triggers the body to fight or flee, releasing adrenalin and increasing your heart rate so that blood can be pumped into the muscles. This is an evolutionary process to increase chances of survival in threatening situations. Unnecessary, frequent, or intense activation of the fight or flight response is implicated in a range of clinical conditions including most anxiety disorders.
There is also a psychological component to fight or flight response. Automatic reactions include heightened thinking and focus on things such as the source of the threat and potential ways for escape. There may also be a greater focus on bodily sensations and reactions. The fight or flight responses are often misinterpreted as a sign of impending disaster, eg; “I can’t breathe” “I feel like I’m having a heart attack” “I’m going mad”.
The good news is that by implementing relaxation, calming breathing techniques and visualisations during hypnosis it is possible to get a greater sense of control over this response.
What is
Stress?
Stress and anxiety is present in most of our lives at some point, whether due to a bereavement, separation/divorce/moving home or any number of other triggers. For short periods of time we may be able to deal with it but unresolved stress can effect us both physically and psychologically. When the fight or flight response activates frequently, and for prolonged periods, we feel increasingly stressed. In short bursts, stress is helpful: it motivates us, and it’s vital in dangerous situations. However, when stress spirals out of control people become overloaded and increasingly unable to cope. Awash with adrenaline, we struggle physically and our thoughts become frantic and irrational. Too much stress in life is very unhealthy.
Stress can be caused by internal or external triggers. External triggers included work or family difficulties, traumatic events, financial or health troubles, and even just the build up of routine problems. Everyone will experience this kind of stress in their life. Problems pile up and we go through difficult times. Learning to manage stress effectively is a useful skill – one which will help at such times.
Internal triggers of stress are more problematic. Sometimes, the negative thoughts and feelings we can have, either relating to ourselves or to the events we face in life, cause a great deal of stress. These thoughts – our inner perception – will often reflect some kind of distorted thinking. For example, thinking in catastrophic terms, or with low confidence, or with excessive pessimism all create personal stress. Unchecked, these negative thoughts and feelings become entrenched, leading to difficulties in coping with everyday life.
What is
Anxiety?
Anxiety is the feeling of fear we have when the fight or flight response activates based on our perception at that time. To put it simply F E A R = Future Events Appearing Real.
When negative thoughts and feelings (internal stress triggers) overwhelm us, we become increasingly anxious and afraid. Again, our heart rate increases, stress hormones are released, we sweat more, and our mouths become dry. Our stomachs churn or tingle, and we might feel shaky, hot and unsteady on our feet. Emotionally, we may become tense, agitated and afraid.
Our psychology also changes: our thoughts become all-or-nothing, irrational, and catastrophic. Simple truths become hard to grasp, and we can feel trapped.
Over time, anxiety becomes habitual; we automatically feel afraid in certain situations, and start to ‘fear the fear’. We modify our behaviour in your hypnotherapy session to enhance your outcome. During your initial consultation we would look at your response to stress .Past experience, and self – limiting beliefs. During hypnotherapy we would use suggestions for change, enabling you to react more positively to the stress triggers, exchanging negative, self limiting behaviours for a more positive outcome. New Beginnings Clinical Hypnotherapy will help you to understand and control your anxiety and cope with challenging situations in a calm and effective way.