Tim Maude Hypnotherapy

Tag: hypnotherapy

  • Motorway Driving Dread: Welcome to Amaxophobia

    Motorway Driving Dread: Welcome to Amaxophobia

    Does driving on motorways fill you with dread? Do you take an alternative route just to avoid those busy, multi-lane roads? Do you avoid travelling just because it would mean driving on a motorway? Welcome to Amaxophobia!

    How Common is Amaxophobia?

    A lot of people are nervous about driving, but around one in ten drivers are so anxious that doctors would diagnose Amaxophobia – a fear of driving in certain circumstances, such as motorway driving, or being a passenger while someone else is driving.

    Where Does Amaxophobia Come From?

    How is it that someone who has been driving happily for years gradually begins to develop massive anxiety about motorway driving? Or maybe they have never been comfortable with it. Where it comes from is different for everybody.

    For some, it arises from a specific incident, like an accident, that happened to them when driving. For others, it could just be a near miss that started the worry. For many, however, there is nothing specific that you can nail down to attribute to being the cause. It could be a combination of many things. It doesn’t really matter where it came from – what matters is how you get over it.

    How Do You Get Over Amaxophobia?

    It can be very inconvenient to be scared of motorway driving. You may have to drive on slower roads. You may have to be constantly giving excuses to friends or family as to why you can’t visit them. You may try to suck it up, go through the shear terror of it all, and arrive a nervous wreck.

    You can do something about it. Most doctors will send you off for some CBT sessions, but there are alternatives.

    I have helped quite a few people get over their fear of driving using hypnotherapy. Hypnotherapy is a way to access the subconscious fear that your brain creates. It is not a miracle cure where I just snap my fingers and you change. It takes time, as it is a complex phobia. This is particularly the case if it has been there for a long time.

    What Happens When the Fear of Driving is Gone?

    Once the fear of driving is gone, life opens up again. You are able to make those long trips without the worry about them. Some of my clients are very surprised; they tell me that it is an odd feeling when it is so easy to drive on motorways again.

    If you want help getting over that dread of driving on motorways, you might want to consider hypnotherapy. I work out of my office in Fleet, Hampshire as well as Online. You can Contact Me if you want to talk about the possibilities that hypnotherapy can offer.

    Further Reading

    What Is Amaxophobia? – Fear of Driving or Riding in a Car

    https://www.verywellmind.com/fear-of-being-a-passenger-2671535

    Why thousands of midlife women are too afraid to drive on the motorway

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/features/midlife-women-amaxophobia-terrified-of-driving-motorway/

    Photo courtesy of Mike Bird on Pexels

  • Is Hypnotherapy Safe?

    Is Hypnotherapy Safe?

    Generally speaking, hypnotherapy is quite safe. It’s normally very relaxing and pleasant. In fact, clients tell me that the hypnosis part of a session is the bit they really look forward to.

    A hypnotherapist doesn’t make you do things you don’t want to do. They don’t make you do things … they suggest … they lead you … it’s up to you to decide whether or not you want to follow them.

    I practice solution-focused hypnotherapy, which doesn’t dig into your past, because I don’t care where your issues have come from. What I care about is where you’re going to. So I don’t ask you to re-live your past traumas, which might make you more stressed about them.

    There are a few exceptional times when I would consider it potentially unsafe to use hypnosis. So I wouldn’t hypnotise someone with psychosis or someone in the manic phase of bipolar disorder, for example, or someone who came to me drunk or high on drugs.

    When performed by a properly trained hypnotherapist, hypnotherapy is very safe … and it’s a pleasant way to help you sort out your issues.

    And Finally …

    If you want to see a hypnotherapist, you might like to Contact Me. I work out of my clinic in Fleet, Hampshire and also online. I specialise in anxiety-related issues, but I am not limited to these.

    Photo by Alex Green on Pexels

  • Why I Don’t Ask My Clients About Their Problems

    Why I Don’t Ask My Clients About Their Problems

    When clients come to me, they do so because they have a problem. Usually, it is a problem involving anxiety. Maybe they worry about their children, their partner, their work, the cleanliness of their house, their health, driving on motorways … or anything else. Maybe they have anxiety about anything and everything. Or maybe they just wake up in the morning with a sense of dread for no particular reason …

    … and I don’t ask my clients to tell me all the intricacies of their problem, in fact, we often have a good laugh about other things.

    Problem-Focused Therapy

    In many types of therapy, the therapist will ask their client to talk about their problem – when it happens, where it came from, how bad it gets and so on. The analysis of the problem is a key part of the therapy.

    This problem-focused approach is the way that doctors treat patients. A few years ago I broke one of the bones in my finger. The doctor wanted to know how I did it (… a sporting injury), what sort of break it was (… an X-ray revealed it was a spiral break), and how much it hurt (… not much).

    Having established all that, they could work out what the best treatment was for me. The best treatment for me turned out to be a splint for my finger and, later on, physiotherapy to help get the full range of movement back into my finger. The splint and the physiotherapy allowed my body to heal the finger by itself – but it all started with an analysis of the problem.

    Solution-Focused Therapy

    When clients come to see me, I do not analyse their problems. I do not ask them where the problem came from or the situations where it is really bad. I ask them about solutions: What are their best hopes for when the problem goes away? What is it like when the problem isn’t there? As the problem eases off, what positive differences will they notice?

    When you worry about a problem, the limbic system (the primitive part of the brain that is concerned with survival) starts to raise the threat level. It assumes that whatever it is you are worried about may actually be just about to happen. So it starts to go into a fight-flight-or-freeze state and generates a lot of anxiety, just to make sure you are paying attention to the problem. In other words, it exacerbates the anxiety you already have.

    However, when you focus on the things that are going right, and what it will be like when it is all sorted out, that is when the healing process can start. It is like putting a splint on the broken bone and doing physiotherapy – it tells the brain how it should be behaving, and allows the natural processes to move you back onto the road to normality.

    Solution-Focused Hypnotherapy

    A solution-focused discussion allows the brain to imagine the anxiety-free state that you want to be in. Hypnosis puts you into a nice relaxed state where your brain can more easily make the changes it needs to make to get there. Solution-focused hypnotherapy is a very gentle and natural way to get back on track.

    If you want help getting over your anxiety, you might consider solution-focused hypnotherapy to help you. I usually see people between 5 and 10 sessions before they get to where they want to be. If you want to Contact Me, I would be happy to talk to you and answer any questions you might have. I work out of my clinic in Fleet, Hampshire as well as online.

    Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels

  • When Your Head is Too Full

    When Your Head is Too Full

    I’ve just come back from a good walk in the woods nearby. My head was so full of stuff that it was buzzing round my brain. I found that I couldn’t settle and focus on one thing. I had a gap between clients so took the opportunity to clear my head a bit with a good walk.

    When my head is too full, I don’t try and resolve everything. There’s too much there to resolve. I just have to let it go. Walking round some beautiful woods is a great way to let it go. Of course, every now and then some of those thoughts would creep back in, so I just noticed they were there and let them go again.

    When I let the clutter in my head go, just taking in what is around me, it often happens that a resolution pops into my head. In the last 10 minutes of my walk, it suddenly occurred to me that there were two important things that needed doing, and all the other stuff didn’t really matter.

    Somehow my subconscious had resolved the head full of ideas that I had and given me the answer. I realise that this is a bit like hypnotherapy. When I take my clients into trance, it allows their subconscious to sort out the problems they have come to see me about.

    So if your head is too full of stuff, go for a walk and, as far as you can, just let it all go. You never know what might occur to you when you are detached from it all. If you still need help after that, you are welcome to Contact Me about the possibilities that hypnotherapy might offer you. I work out of my hypnotherapy clinic in Fleet, Hampshire as well as working online.

  • Morning Dread – Morning Anxiety

    Morning Dread – Morning Anxiety

    You wake up in the morning and feel a sense of dread – for no particular reason. If only you could step outside of yourself, even for a few moments, to analyse what is going on.

    Is it a fear of something that might happen that day? (… but it’s just a normal day.) Is it worry about something you messed up yesterday? (… but you didn’t mess anything up yesterday.) Is there something overwhelming that you have to achieve today? (… but, like I said, it’s just a normal day.)

    That sense of dread first thing in the morning (or at any time of day) that does not seem to relate to anything – that is a symptom of high levels of anxiety. A doctor might diagnose it as “Generalised Anxiety Disorder” (GAD). But giving it a diagnostic name might help you identify what it is, but it doesn’t take away the awful feeling that you are left with.

    Why We Get Anxiety Over Nothing In Particular

    When there is a build-up of stress, worry, regret, justified anger and so on, the subconscious recognises that something is wrong. The “stress bucket” becomes full. The subconscious does not know what is wrong, it just senses there is something wrong.

    So our subconscious starts to make us anxious. Why? Because anxiety makes us look out for things that might go wrong. When wake in the morning, our subconscious immediately makes us anxious so that we start looking out for the threats to our lives. Of course, there are no threats to our lives, but because of all the overload of stress, the depths of our brain reacts as if there is … just in case.

    The anxiety, of course, simply adds to the stress and makes the situation worse. We can get stuck in a seemingly never-ending life of waking up each morning feeling the anxiety that invades our minds and bodies.

    What To Do About Morning Anxiety

    As with any form of anxiety, there are (in broad terms) three general routes to follow. You can try one or more of these to help:

    1. Medication – go to your doctor, explain the symptoms and ask for medication to help.
    2. Self-help – look up “self care for anxiety” on Google and find a plethora of advice (see, for example, the advice from MIND listed below).
    3. Therapy – find a hypnotherapist, CBT specialist, counsellor or some other type of therapist who specialise in anxiety.

    Hypnotherapy for Anxiety

    I specialise in helping people who are only just coping with stress and anxiety. I use hypnotherapy to help that get back to their normal selves again. I would be happy to have a chat if you would like to Contact Me. I work out of my clinic in Fleet, Hampshire and also online.

    There are other hypnotherapists out there – and if you choose someone else, make sure they are properly qualified, follow good ethical practices and are fully insured. Check them out on the National Council for Hypnotherapy website or the Association for Solution Focused Hypnotherapy website.

    References

    MIND advice on self-care for anxiety

    https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/anxiety-and-panic-attacks/self-care/

    Generalised Anxiety Disorder

    https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/generalised-anxiety-disorder-gad/

    National Council for Hypnotherapy

    https://www.hypnotherapists.org.uk/

    Association for Solution Focused Hypnotherapy

    https://www.afsfh.com/

    Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels

  • Breaking Up is Hard To Do … and Also Anxiety-Inducing

    Breaking Up is Hard To Do … and Also Anxiety-Inducing

    Breaking up a relationship can be very stressful and can lead to anxiety. This is particularly true when your ex-partner was at fault, as it feels so unfair that they caused the break-up and now you are suffering because of what they did.

    The sudden changes in life that a breakup can create are stressful enough, but a toxic breakup can seem more than one can bear.

    • If your ex left you for someone else, you can feel rejected and it is a massive punch-in-the-guts to know that they chose someone else over you.
    • If your ex was gaslighting you, you might feel that you don’t really understand what actually happened
    • If your partner cheated on you and then asked to come back, you will probably sense alarm bells going off every time they even glance at anyone else.
    • If your ex is not being reasonable over the divorce settlement / separation agreement, you are likely to have a lot of anxiety not knowing how it will resolve itself.
    • If you and your ex have children, you are likely to be worried about how the breakup will effect them.

    The problem is that you are no longer entirely in control of the situation. Your partner or ex-partner controls part of the break-up and probably has a different idea of what they want out of it.

    It is a very hard situation to be in, but you should remember that you can only control what you can control. You will not get an ideal result in the end, and you will have to live with that. So look to what you can do with the situation you are in and (as far as you are able) put the past behind you. It’s time to create a new beginning.

    I see a lot of people suffering from anxiety after going through a messy breakup. I cannot patch up the relationship, but I can help people cope with the situation and move forward.

    If you are struggling getting through a rough time in your relationship and you cannot cope with it all on your own, you may like to consider hypnotherapy. I work out of my clinic in Fleet, Hampshire and would be happy to have a chat and let you know what I can do to help. You can Contact Me whenever you are ready to do so, and then take your time to decide whether you want to see me for hypnotherapy, cope on your own, or try something else.

    Photo by RDNE Stock Project on Pexels