Category: Stress and Anxiety

How much of the rest of your life will you put up with anxiety before choosing to do something about it?

Anxiety is something that creeps up on you. Everyone experiences moments of anxiety throughout their lives, but if you are particularly stressed – the moments of anxiety increase. And then one moment of anxiety starts to run into another, and soon you feel the anxiety most of the time without there really being a reason for it.

Some people I meet in my clinic have suffered from anxiety for years, but because it just crept up on them, it became their normal way of life and so they didn’t do anything about it. One client said to me, “I’ve had anxiety for the last ten years, and I think it’s about time to do something about it.” Later on he admitted, “Actually, I should have done something about this when it started ten years ago!”

As I write this, it reminds me of a story …

The Tale of the Dog on the Veranda

There was once young man who went for a walk in the woods. He came across an old shack, and sitting on the veranda of the old shack was an old woman on a rickety old chair. And on the veranda floor, a beautiful dog lay at her feet. The old woman pointed to the chair beside her and invited the young man to sit and talk.

As they chatted, the beautiful dog made a lot of uncomfortable grizzling and griping noises, so the young man asked the old woman, “Why is your dog grizzling and griping?” And the old woman replied, “Well, you see, this shack is rather old, and there’s a bit of an old nail that sticks up on the veranda, and he’s chosen to lie down right on the nail. It makes him uncomfortable, so he grizzles and gripes.”

The young man asked, “Why doesn’t your dog just move?”

“Well you see,” said the old woman, “it doesn’t hurt him enough yet.”

Step One – Make a Decision

The first step is to make the decision to do something about the anxiety. Many people suffer from excessive stress and anxiety because they have come to accept it as “the norm” and so it does not occur to them to look for a solution. It is easier to drift on, putting up with it, and trying to show a brave and smiling face – while boiling away with anxiety underneath.

You are going to have to put some effort into it, and maybe some money – but, rest assured, you can do something about it. So make a decision one way or the other.

Step Two – Consider Your Options

There are three broad ways of tackling anxiety – none of which give instant results – you have to be patient.

1. Self-help – There are lots of things you can do to get your anxiety under a bit more control, such as doing exercise, regulating your sleep, having more positive conversations with other people, paying attention to the good stuff that is happening around you (no matter how small), and so on. Searching the Internet will give you plenty of ideas.
2. Medication – Go and see your GP and talk about your symptoms. The GP may well prescribe one or more medications that will help you.
3. Therapy – Two of the most common forms of therapy are CBT (an analytical approach that analyses your anxiety and ways to reduce it) – and hypnotherapy (which deals with those subconscious thoughts and emotions outside your conscious control).

As a hypnotherapist, I strongly favour hypnotherapy, as I have seen so many successful outcomes – but, of course, different approaches suit different types of people. And of course, there is nothing stopping you doing several of these things at once.

Step Three – Start Doing Something

It doesn’t matter where you choose to start – just start something. If it doesn’t suit you, you can always move on to something else. Just don’t procrastinate over doing something – whatever it is.

And Finally …

If one of your choices is hypnotherapy, contact me and I will be happy to talk it through with you and answer any questions you might have. I run my hypnotherapy clinic in Fleet, Hampshire as well as serving clients online.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

When we think of anxiety, we mostly think about the mental impact it has. However, many anxiety-sufferers also have physical symptoms. Sometimes, they are so used to the mental impact that they consider it to be normal, and are surprised that their physical symptoms are related to anxiety.

Physical Problems

Before I go any further, I need to emphasise that if you do have any of these physical symptoms, you should go and see your doctor. Although they are often caused by high levels of stress and anxiety, there may be an underlying physical problem – so make sure you get the physical side checked out by a doctor.

Some of the physical problems that anxiety can create or exacerbate are:

• Migraine and headaches
• Muscle tension, leading to aching muscles and fatigue
• Digestive problems, such as IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), acid reflux or nausea
• Sexual problems, such as loss of libido, erectile dysfunction or vaginismus
• Skin problems, such as eczema
• Tics or twitching of muscles
• Increased heart rate or palpitations
• Increased blood pressure
• Sweating or hot flushes
• Grinding teeth (particularly at night)
• Mouth ulcers
• Poor sleep patterns

Why do we get Physical Problems from Anxiety

These physical problems come about because anxiety is created in the primitive part of the brain known as the limbic system. This is the part that takes over in case of emergency. It contains the fight-or-flight centre of the brain – the amygdala.

When you are under a lot of stress, the amygdala starts to behave as if there is something dangerous nearby. It is not an intelligent part of the brain. It is fairly stupid and associates high levels of stress with danger, so it starts to prepare your body to either defend yourself against attack or to run.

The amygdala moves the body’s resources into preparing for fight or flight. This is fine if it only occurs over short periods of time on odd occasions. However, when you are under chronic stress, the amygdala keeps the body ready to run or fight, and it ignores the needs of the other parts of your body. So over a longer period of time, the rest of your body will suffer from complaints such as those listed above.

And Finally …

If you have any of the physical problems listed above, first make sure you see a doctor. The doctor should be able to advise you if there is a physical cause for the issue. If it has no physical cause, they may advise you to do something about your stress levels. They may offer you a course of CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) or medications to help you control your stress levels.

If you want further help to control your stress and anxiety, I hold my clinic in Fleet, Hampshire, and would be very pleased to talk to you about it, and tell you what I can offer.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash