“Stress is an ignorant state. It believes that everything is an emergency” Natalie Goldberg
We all feel healthy anxiety from time to time. For example, we might be anxious about a job interview or meeting new people, however, once this event is over, we restore to “normal”. It’s helpful to know that anxiety and stress are actually a part of the natural functioning of the brain. It helps us to be alert, to pay attention to something urgent and was useful when our early ancestors lived in the wild. However, in modern life, we do not need the primitive mind in the same way, but unfortunately, this subconscious part of you does not realise we have evolved, as such it still reacts in similar ways.
Anxiety only becomes a problem when you start to feel it all the time and it impacts your everyday life. You might start worrying about the smallest thing and start to question whether anxiety has a hold of you. We may become anxious about the past, present and future. This anxiety can lead to feelings such as fear, low self-esteem, or a lack of confidence. In addition, it can manifest itself in other physical symptoms such as IBS, skin conditions, nail biting, sweating, fatigue, insomnia, skin disorders etc. Anxiety is caused by negative thinking. It is the part of the brain which alerts us to potential threats (flight or fight) response. However, the brain sometimes perceives non dangerous everyday events as life threatening, it sometimes gets it wrong and becomes distorted and irrational.
“No one can make us feel inferior without our permission” Eleanor Roosevelt
Solution Focused Hypnotherapy will help you understand how the brain works and why you react the way you do, this will allow you to start to break the vicious cycle of negative, obsessive, irrational thinking and take the first steps towards positive change and freedom from the negative part of your mind, restoring balance once again. Hypnotherapy can help get the real you back. It is a very natural state and can help to create new neural pathways enabling you to become relaxed, controlled and positive. Hypnotherapy may also give you insight into why you are anxious, this will allow you to move forward and create new healthy thoughts, habits and behaviours.
Depression
The great Winston Churchill suffered from it, he called it “The Black Dog”. The majority of people throughout their lives will experience feeling depressed, so never feel alone.
The symptoms of depression can vary between people and can be very complex. If you are depressed you may feel hopeless, sad, tearful and lose interest in things you used to love. If symptoms persist for weeks and months and interfere with your work, relationships, and social life it maybe time to seek help. There are many other symptoms of depression, and you may see some of them outlined below. The psychological symptoms of depression include:
- Continuous low mood or sadness
- Feeling hopeless and helpless
- Having low self-esteem
- Feeling tearful
- Feeling guilt-ridden
- Feeling irritable and intolerant of others
- Having no motivation or interest in things
- Finding it difficult to make decisions
- Not getting any enjoyment out of life
- Feeling anxious or worried
- Having suicidal thoughts or thoughts of harming yourself or others
The physical symptoms of depression include:
- Moving or speaking more slowly than usual
- Changes in appetite or weight (usually decreased, but sometimes increased)
- Constipation
- Unexplained aches and pains
- Lack of energy
- Low sex drive
- Disturbed sleep – for example, finding it difficult to fall asleep at night or waking up very early in the morning
The social symptoms of depression include:
- Avoiding contact with friends and taking part in fewer social activities
- Neglecting your hobbies and interests
- Having difficulties in your home, work, or family life.
Hypnotherapy can help to lift low mood and depression. Depression can be extremely subtle and can slowly creep up on you. Depression however is a natural reaction from certain stimuli in life, a part of a range of reactions that were given to our early ancestors to help protect from wild animals and predators. Today it serves few useful purposes and most of us would like to remove the feelings of depression as soon as possible. The good news is that Solution Focused Hypnotherapy can help. It will help you break free from the destructive cycle of depression. I will give you the tools and techniques to enable you to have peace of mind, feel happier and healthier. Together we can work to get the “real” you back.
“The struggle ends when gratitude begins” Neale Donald Walsch, American Author
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