Tim Maude Hypnotherapy

Category: Stress and Anxiety

  • Not Going Out: Agoraphobia Problems and Solutions

    Not Going Out: Agoraphobia Problems and Solutions

    Some people have restricted lives because of a strong sense of anxiety that comes over them in unfamiliar places. Even the thought of going into a different shop can fill them with anxiety. This can be devastating to their lives, but it is quite possible to overcome it. Hypnotherapy is just one of the possible routes to choose to be able to lead a normal life again.

    What is Agoraphobia?

    Many people feel a sense of unease if they have to go to a place which they don’t know. If this feeling is too strong, they may find it easier to restrict where they go to. If it becomes stronger still, the sense of unease may turn into anxiety, fear and panic, and they stop travelling outside of their comfort zone.

    I have seen people in my hypnotherapy clinic who feel restricted about where they go. They may, for example, only go to work and to the local shops, but otherwise stay at home. In the worst case scenario, they may find themselves unable to go out of doors.

    Should You Do Something?

    This sense of unease or fear about going outside of familiar locations is known as agoraphobia. It is not uncommon to have a slight apprehension about going to an unfamiliar place, and as long as this is not restricting what one does in life, it is not a problem.

    It is a problem if the anxiety stops someone doing what they really want to. When it starts interfering with life, when they feel restricted about where they can go – that is the time to think about doing something about it.

    What Can You Do About Agoraphobia?

    My clients tell me how the anxiety they feel is irrational – and they are quite right. The anxiety they experience when going away from familiar places comes from a subconscious part of the brain. The subconscious has somehow got things wrong. It is trying to keep them away from places which are, in fact, quite safe, and it does this by generating fear and anxiety.

    Hypnotherapy helps change erroneous patterns that are held deep in our subconscious. The anxiety does not disappear overnight, and the hypnotherapy can only help if someone really wants to change.

    For some people, even the thought of travelling to a hypnotherapist is overwhelming. However, with modern technology, hypnotherapy can work well by using a video link, such as Zoom, so people can stay at home until they are sufficiently relaxed to be able to attend sessions in person.

    Hypnotherapy is not the only way to get over agoraphobia. Other methods, such as CBT can help as well.

    What Next?

    If you suffer from anxiety, brought on by agoraphobia or anything else, you can Contact Me. I am a hypnotherapist working in Fleet, Hampshire as well as online. I would be happy to help you regain control of your life.

    Photo by Fons Heijnsbroek on Unsplash

  • Hypnotherapy versus Anxiety

    Hypnotherapy versus Anxiety

    Hypnotherapy is not the only way to tackle anxiety; however, it is certainly an effective one. Other ways to combat this intrusive emotion are medication, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and self-help – but I am a hypnotherapist, so today I want to discuss the use of hypnotherapy.

    What a Hypnotherapist Can and Cannot Do

    Hypnotherapists are not magicians. They cannot make calmness appear like a rabbit out of a hat. They cannot make the anxiety disappear in a puff of smoke and then reappear on the other side of the stage dressed up as tranquility and peace. Hypnotherapists cannot make people change (especially if they don’t really want to).

    What hypnotherapists can do is to help the subconscious understand that being calm, peaceful and … let’s call it normal … is quite safe.

    The Anxiety Vicious Circle

    Anxiety is simply a reaction that the more primitive part of the brain has when it detects signs that the world might not be safe. It draws you attention to everything that might go wrong. It is a survival mechanism that is trying to make you be aware of what could endanger your life.

    The part of your brain that does this is very primitive. It is optimised to work in a world that is a lot more hazardous than the one we live in today (at least in most parts of the world). It does not care how you feel, it just cares about keeping you alive … and so it draws your attention to everything that might go wrong and makes you anxious.

    And of course, drawing your attention to things that might go wrong has the effect of making you even more nervous and stressed. That primitive part of your brain reacts to the stress and assumes that you are stressed because of something dangerous, and so repeats the pattern.

    And so the anxiety vicious circle builds.

    How Hypnotherapy Tackles Anxiety

    A hypnotherapist’s job is to help you break that vicious cycle. Through a process of discussion and hypnosis, the hypnotherapist leads their client into a thought pattern outside of the vicious circle. The client’s brain starts to build new pathways that do not follow the same route round and round that created the anxiety in the first place.

    Once these new neural pathways start to form, quite gradually, the client will find themselves able to take control of their thoughts and feelings. It does not happen immediately. Over a series of sessions, the client will gradually notice the changes.

    Typically, I see clients for around 5 to 10 weeks before they get themselves back into a position where they feel normal again. (Caveat – there are no guarantees of success in this timescale – it’s just what I normally expect to happen.)

    And Finally …

    Hypnotherapy is not the only way to tackle anxiety, you may want to try other methods as well. However, if you do want to experience the changes that hypnotherapy can help with, you can Contact Me. I work from my clinic in Fleet, Hampshire as well as working online.

    Photo by Ann Danilina on Unsplash

  • Anxiety, Lifestyle and the Choices We Make

    Anxiety, Lifestyle and the Choices We Make

    Our lifestyle choices will have a direct bearing on the levels of stress and anxiety that we experience. There are some anxiety-triggers that happen in our lives over which we have no control, but I want to discuss today how our lifestyle choices impact our levels of anxiety.

    Arts and Crafts

    Involving yourself in some creative activity – making music, pottery, painting, photography … or any of the creative arts and crafts will calm levels of anxiety. Engaging the creative part of the brain focuses attention away from your stress bucket and allows your subconscious to process some of that stress, outside of your consciousness.

    Exercise

    We all know that exercise is good at keeping our bodies in good shape, but it also helps keep our minds well balanced. Our ancestors spent a lot more time moving their bodies, and so our brains are built to expect the chemicals that come with a lot of movement. When we lead a sedentary life, the brain chemistry suffers.

    Healthy Diet

    The way your gut works has a direct impact on the levels of stress and anxiety that you suffer from. Choosing a diet that contains a wide variety of plants and reduces the amount of ultra-processed foods seems to be the way to go.

    A Good Night’s Sleep

    Sleep is the time that our brain gets to process all that stress we are under, so getting a good night’s sleep will diminish the content of that stress bucket that we all carry with us. It largely happens when we are dreaming – our memories of stressful events and anticipated stresses that might happen in the future are consolidated. Some are thrown out and we will never remember them again; others are simply calmed down a bit.

    And the Proof?

    This is not simply wishful thinking. There is scientific evidence that supports these lifestyle choices and links them to a change in anxiety levels (see references below).

    And Finally …

    If you find difficulty controlling your levels of anxiety and would like some help, please Contact Me. I use hypnotherapy to help my clients get back in control of their lives. I work out of my clinic in Fleet, Hampshire, as well as online.

    References

    Pathways linking organ and brain health, and impacts to mental health revealed
    https://mdhs.unimelb.edu.au/news-and-events/pathways-linking-organ-and-brain-health,-and-impacts-to-mental-health-revealed/_recache

    Arts and crafts boost mental wellbeing – study
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2yr0d3m1no

    Photo courtesy of Mental Health Foundation / Steve Somerset

  • Overthinking, Anxiety & Table Tennis

    Overthinking, Anxiety & Table Tennis

    Overthinking is both a cause and a result of anxiety. We overthink things we are anxious about, and that overthinking creates more anxiety. You want to know how table tennis is involved? … Then read on.

    Overthinking means being caught in that state of mind where you are going over and over the same thing in your head. Maybe something happened that you did not like, and you go through what happened time after time, trying somehow to square it all away. Or maybe you are concerned about something that is coming up, and think about what might happen over and over again. This is overthinking.

    What Is Wrong With Overthinking?

    The problem with overthinking is that no matter how many times you go over something that has already happened – you cannot change it. It is gone … learn from it and then move one. Thinking about it again and again will not change what happened and will not change how you think about it.

    If you are overthinking something that is coming up – something you are worried about – it does not change the fact that it is going to happen. Worrying about a work meeting, say, doesn’t stop the meeting happening – it just gets you more stressed about it.

    How Does Overthinking Effect the Brain?

    All the overthinking adds stress to your “stress bucket” – and more stress means that the fight-or-flight centre (the amygdala and other parts of the brain’s limbic system) are more likely to be triggered.

    The amygdala is not an intelligent part of the brain – it is quite primitive. It is not capable of thinking up new ideas. So when the amygdala starts to take control of your thinking, it will simply repeat patterns that it already knows. If you have thought through a situation a couple of times, the amygdala learns this as an “appropriate” response, and so it encourages you to repeat it. The more you repeat it, the more embedded the response gets … and so the vicious cycle repeats.

    How Do You Overcome Overthinking?

    Overthinking is all about repeating patterns of thinking. So you have to practice changing those patterns. When you catch yourself out overthinking, force yourself to think something else. This is a basic distraction technique.

    Simply doing something else that absorbs your thinking, like playing table tennis, will do it. Playing table tennis is something you have to concentrate on. You cannot play table tennis while you are overthinking something else.

    Of course, it doesn’t have to be table tennis. You can read a book, talk to someone (about something other than what you are overthinking), browse the Internet, bake a cake … anything that will absorb your mind into something else.

    And Finally …

    I help people who are only just coping with stress and anxiety. I use hypnotherapy to help them regain control of their lives and return to a state of normality. I work out of my clinic in Fleet, Hampshire as well as online. Contact me if you would like a chat about it.

    Photo courtesy of the Mental Health Foundation / Catherine Williams

  • Anxiety and the Never-Ending To-Do List

    Anxiety and the Never-Ending To-Do List

    One of the many things that gives rise to anxiety is having too much on your plate – that is, you have too much on your “to-do list” and not enough time to get it all done. If you have too much to do, you feel stressed. If you can’t get it all done, the stress never goes away. And if the stress never goes away, it can develop into anxiety.

    The Ovsiankina Effect

    When we have something that needs doing, or is only partially done, it stays in our mind. Intrusive thoughts will invade our mind, telling us that it needs to be completed. It will nag at us until it is completed, creating a tension that inhabits us. In psychology, this is known as the Ovsiankina Effect (after the Russian psychologist Maria Ovsiankina – and, no, I don’t know how to pronounce her name either!)

    So, when you have ten jobs to do in the day, you may find yourself rushing round to finish them all. You may also notice a tension in your body and mind while they remain unfinished. When the last one is completed, there is that “Aaaahhh” moment when you can relax.

    If you have too much to do, and never get to the end of the to-do list, you are always in a state of tension and never reach the point at which your mind can relax. If this goes on too long, it can lead to anxiety.

    Capacity for Stress

    Different people have different capacities for this type of stress. Some people are quite happy with a huge number of unfinished tasks, whereas others find it difficult to cope with just a few. So you need to get to know your own self. Learn what leads to anxiety, and what you can cope with.

    What Can You Do About It?

    What can you do about this source of anxiety? Quite simple, you have to reduce the amount of unfinished things on your plate. You have to get some of those jobs finished before starting new projects. Or you just have to take on less, so not as much is going on to your plate in the first place.

    It is often difficult for someone who is a naturally busy individual to slow down a bit, or for someone who likes starting something new more than finishing things off just to stop taking on new stuff and clear the backlog. However – this is exactly what you have to do.

    And Finally …

    I help people who are only just coping with stress and anxiety. If you need help in this area, if you don’t feel you can manage it on your own, then contact me and we can look to setting up some hypnotherapy sessions so that you can get back in control of your life.

    References

    The psychology of unfinished tasks, Dr Hannah Rose
    https://nesslabs.com/unfinished-tasks

    Photo by Meruyert Gonullu on pexels

  • Anxiety In Its Many Forms

    Anxiety In Its Many Forms

    Anxiety manifests itself in many different ways. Some people don’t realise that the cause of their problem are an excess of stress and anxiety. If any of these apply to you, don’t worry – you can get over it. There are many things you can do – hypnotherapy being just one of them.

    Anxiety suffers find that it pops up – sometimes in one way, sometimes in another – and often in many different ways at the same time:

    • There is that feeling of dread when they get up in the morning – a feeling that doesn’t seem to have a trigger. It is just an ordinary day, but when they wake, the feeling of dread is there.
    • Then there is the constant worry. Every little thing seems to be a potential for something that could go wrong. And then if that goes wrong, maybe something else will.
    • And for some, there is a trigger that kicks the anxiety off. Maybe an overwhelming feeling of nervousness when they are about to go and talk to their boss, fly on an airplane, give a talk, drive on a motorway, go on a date … and so on.
    • Some people have physical problems that they don’t even realise is associated with stress and anxiety – digestive problems like IBS, acid reflux and constipation – sexual problems such as loss of libido, erectile dysfunction or vaginismus – migraines, inability to sleep, eczema and so on. Almost any physical problem can be made worse by an excess of stress and anxiety.

    Too many people simply put up with these problems. They hide them from the world behind a mask – that forced smile they use to hold in their emotions. It is important to understand that you can do something about it. It is not permanent.

    I work as a hypnotherapist, every day I help people who are only just coping with anxiety and stress get back to being in control of their lives. It is possible to get over it. Other types of therapy can also be effective. You can get medication from your GP, and you can do a lot simply to help yourself.

    If you are interested in hypnotherapy, you can contact me and I would be pleased to have a chat. I work out of my clinic here in Fleet, Hampshire and also work online.

    Photo by Nicola Crichton at the Mental Health Foundation