Tim Maude Hypnotherapy

Tag: hypnotherapy

  • Controlling the Scrolling: Social Media and Mental Health

    Controlling the Scrolling: Social Media and Mental Health

    Social media is now part of our society. Research suggests that around 4.9 billion people around the world use social media, spending an average of 145 minutes (that’s nearly two and a half hours) every day. Studies suggest that this may cause an increase in anxiety and depression.

    Anxiety, Depression and Social Media

    You may wonder how social media can impact our mental health? It starts with the addictive nature of social media. These systems are designed to keep us scrolling. It effects the brain by giving us little hits of dopamine – when we see something we like, when someone likes our post, when someone mentions us … and so on. And the dopamine just encourages us to carry on scrolling, looking for the next hit.

    After a while, we need to keep checking our social media just to feel normal, and when we are deprived of it, we feel low – encouraging feelings of anxiety and depression.

    The content that we look at on social media can also cause feelings of anxiety and depression. When someone criticises you or your post, or when you are wondering why your post did not get as many likes as you would like – it creates bad feelings.

    When you see all the happy smiling faces of your friends, as they post about the highlights of their day, you may wonder why your day has not been 24 hours of delight as your friends appear to have.

    All these can lead to feeling bad about yourself. It allows the primitive, anxiety-and-depression-creating part of the brain to take over.

    Social Media Isn’t All Bad

    Please don’t think that I am saying that social media is a bad thing. It has many positive impacts too. It allows people to express themselves, maintains social contact with friends everywhere as well as being a useful source of information. It’s all about balance.

    Social Media Self-Control

    When I ask my clients what little thing they could do to improve their lives, one thing that often comes up is controlling the scrolling. They find that too much social media has a negative impact on their lives, so they resolve to cut it down. The common way to do this is to create self-imposed rules about when and where they use social media.

    Here are a few self-imposed rules that my clients have decided that they will take on:

    • Put the phone down at 8 in the evening – nothing more after that
    • No scrolling in bed
    • No scrolling while sitting on the toilet
    • No looking at the phone until after breakfast
    • Put the phone away while watching television
    • No looking at social media at meal times
    • A social media fast – a month without any social media

    You might like to think what self-control rules you might apply.

    And Finally …

    I always encourage people who talk to me about their anxiety or they mental health in general – find some changes they can do themselves to make it better. Even so, some people still need help.

    If you would like my help – I use hypnotherapy to help my clients regain control of their lives. I work in my clinic in Fleet, Hampshire as well as online, so Contact Me if you would like a chat about it.

    References

    Social media’s impact on our mental health
    https://health.ucdavis.edu/blog/cultivating-health/social-medias-impact-our-mental-health-and-tips-to-use-it-safely/2024/05

    Impact of social media on social anxiety: A systematic review
    https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=pTCRDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA129&dq=impact+of+social+media+on+anxiety&ots=YpmHilZJMr&sig=G5EGh9TTrSYkiZDpdVbsHt68qk8#v=onepage&q=impact%20of%20social%20media%20on%20anxiety&f=false

    Photo courtesy of fauxels on Pexels

  • Which Comes First: Action or Motivation?

    Which Comes First: Action or Motivation?

    Taking small steps is the best way to kick-start your motivation.

    Many of my clients come to me struggling to find the motivation to do something. It could be as simple as wanting to eat a bit more healthily – but they can’t find the motivation to start. Or maybe their job is causing them a lot of anxiety – but they don’t have the wherewithal to start looking around for a new one. And sometimes there are days when they have not got the motivation to get out of bed.

    “If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.”

    Admiral William McRaven

    There is a well-known speech by Admiral McRaven at the University of Texas. The Admiral sets out the principles of life that he has learned in the US Navy. The first principle is very simple: “If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.” It is the basic principle of starting off a big ambition by doing something small and achievable.

    In one sense, Admiral McRaven was quite right – If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed – if you want to make some big changes, start off with a small achievable goal.

    However, in another sense he has got it the wrong way round. Maybe it should read, “If you start off by making your bed, you can then find the motivation to change the world.” Because from a psychological point of view, motivation follows on from action, not the other way round. If you do something positive, the brain starts to build the motivation to do something else.

    It seems a bit perverse – surely you need motivation to then take action? But no! The way the brain works is that you start with action and the motivation to carry on follows. It only takes a small action, and that small action is like the starter motor to carry on.

    Many of my clients come to me because they are stuck – maybe they have a lot of anxiety and don’t know what to do about it, or they want to drive on motorways but can’t bring themselves to do it, or they are stuck in a pattern of drinking too much. The first thing that I want them to do is to take action – to find something (no matter how small it is) that they can do that will improve their lives just a tiny bit. Everything follows on from there.

    When you take some positive action to do something, then the motivation to do something else grows. It is then that they are able to move on and start getting out of being stuck.

    So if you find yourself struggling to find the motivation to move on with your life, start by taking one small step.

    And Finally …

    Some people need help taking the first few steps on their path to a better future. I help people make progress with their lives using the power of hypnotherapy. If you would like some help in taking the steps you need, I would be pleased if you Contact Me. I work from my clinic in Fleet, Hampshire as well as online.

    References

    University of Texas at Austin 2014 Commencement Address – Admiral William H. McRaven
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxBQLFLei70

    The Myth of Motivation
    https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/the-addiction-connection/201708/the-myth-of-motivation

    Picture courtesy of Mental Health Foundation / Angela Trevallion

  • How Does Hypnotherapy Work and Why is it So Good for Anxiety?

    How Does Hypnotherapy Work and Why is it So Good for Anxiety?

    Hypnotherapy is a form of Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR), a state in which the body and mind are at rest without being asleep. During NSDR the part of the brain associated with anxiety (the amygdala) reduces its level activity. So while you are in a hypnotic trance, your anxiety levels decrease.

    In a relaxed state, your mind is more open to considering suggestions and positive intentions and this allows your brain to make changes so that you can become calmer and less anxious. A hypnotherapist will use this to lead you into making the changes you need to become a more relaxed and calm individual.

    Of course, hypnotherapy isn’t just about anxiety reduction, although it is particularly effective in this respect. Hypnotherapy can allow an individual to make a wide range of changes that they do not seem to be able to do on their own.

    Some of my clients tell me that they fall asleep on my hypnotherapy couch. Although it may seem like it, they are not asleep – simply very relaxed. Within the brain, deep sleep is characterised by delta wave activity During hypnosis, there is an increase in alpha and theta waves, associated with creativity and relaxation.

    If you want help in controlling your anxiety levels, you may Contact Me. I use hypnotherapy to help people with anxiety to regain control of their lives. I work out of my clinic in Fleet, Hampshire as well as working online.

    References

    Unlock the Awesome Brain Benefits of Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR)
    https://thebestbrainpossible.com/nsdr-brain-mental-health-benefits-huberman/

    What are Delta Waves?
    https://sleepspace.com/what-are-delta-waves/

    Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels

  • The Anatomy of Anxiety

    The Anatomy of Anxiety

    Somewhere near my clinic lives a pair of doves, who occasionally land in the tree outside my window. They sit there without a care in the world. They do not know where their next meal is coming from, or even whether they will survive the rest of the winter, and yet I can see no signs of anxiety or stress. They appear calm and peaceful.

    Now, the thing that human’s have that makes us what we are is a powerful and imaginative brain. Unlike the doves, we can imagine what the future will be like. And we are very good at imagining the future to be a dismal place. We are very good at imagining all the things that could go wrong.

    This is our survival instinct. If we can anticipate the things that might kill us, we might just be able to avoid them. Unfortunately, even though we live in a relatively safe world, our survival instinct can still be put on high alert – and our survival instinct does not care how we feel, it only cares that we survive.

    So our survival instinct makes us worry about what might go wrong. It can create stress and anxiety, but it doesn’t care about that – it only cares that we survive.

    The very organ that makes humans so distinct from the animals also creates worry, stress and tension. The general term for this is anxiety. Anxiety takes on many forms, whether it is worry about things going wrong, fear of certain situations, flashbacks to past situations and so on.

    The part of the brain that is responsible for this survival instinct is the Amygdala. This has two parts – one in each side of the brain and each is about the size of an almond. When the amygdala recognises something as a threat, it reacts. It can react in a number of ways, but the one many people will be familiar with is anxiety.

    Anxiety makes us focus on anything that might go wrong. Our ancestors, who lived in a far more dangerous world than we do today, would need that anxiety when they went out searching for food. Their anxiety would keep them focused on the possibility of being attacked by wild animals or enemy tribes. It is this focus that would have helped them escape before they were noticed.

    In today’s world, those people who suffer from anxiety can find themselves focusing on the negative, anticipating the things that might go wrong, and worrying about the future. This is all a primitive survival instinct coming into play.

    Do the doves on my tree suffer from anxiety? Of course they do when they see a cat stalking them, but the anxiety last a few seconds while they fly on to another tree, whereas in humans the anxiety stays around for a much longer time.

    And finally …

    If you have difficulty coping with anxiety on your own, you might consider seeing your doctor or attending therapy. I help people with anxiety using hypnotherapy in my clinic in Fleet, Hampshire. You are welcome to Contact Me if you would like to discuss the help I might provide.

  • You are what you eat: Ultra Processed Foods and Anxiety

    You are what you eat: Ultra Processed Foods and Anxiety

    There is an old saying: “You are what you eat” – and there is a lot of truth in that saying when it comes to mental health. In my ongoing, and seemingly never-ending, efforts to keep on top of anxiety-related research, yesterday I attended a short course on the impact of food on the brain.

    One of the topics we covered was the impact of ultra-processed foods on anxiety and depression. There is a growing body of research that a diet high in ultra processed foods increases the chances of someone developing anxiety and depression.

    What Are Ultra Processed Foods?

    Go to your kitchen and look at the ingredients list on some of the foods you typically buy. You may find words like “antioxidants”, “food colouring”, “emulsifier”, “preservative” or “sweetener”. These are indications that the foods are ultra-processed. Put simply, if you find ingredients in a product that you could not buy yourself, it is likely to be ultra-processed.

    Ultra processing food is what food manufacturers do to make the food look better, taste better or last longer on the supermarket shelves.

    What is the Impact of Eating Ultra Processed Foods?

    There is growing evidence that a diet high in ultra processed foods is linked to a wide variety of poor health outcomes. We might expect someone who eats a lot of takeaway pizza, burgers and fries to become overweight and have heart disease or diabetes. What is less commonly recognised is that such a diet could impact people’s mental health – in particular, depression.

    Depression and anxiety go hand in hand. Most studies have focused on the impact of ultra processed foods on depression, but there are some that also link them with anxiety.

    What Should We Do?

    No one is saying that we should completely stop eating ultra processed foods. However, we should be aware of the impact on our mental health, and maybe consider cutting down on amount of ultra processed foods in our diet.

    This is a difficult ask in this busy modern-day world. Taking time to identify what we eat and cooking more foods from scratch is not easy. However, if you do suffer from anxiety or depression, it may be worth considering.

    And Finally …

    I am not a nutritionist. I cannot give medical advice on your nutritional needs. All I can do is point you in the direction of some up-to-date research that I am aware of.

    However, I do help people with anxiety and depression. I use hypnotherapy to help them get their lives back together again. I work out of my clinic in Fleet, Hampshire as well as online. So if you want to Contact Me, I am very happy to talk to you about your anxiety issues.

    References

    Consistent evidence links ultra-processed food to over 30 damaging health outcomes
    https://bmjgroup.com/consistent-evidence-links-ultra-processed-food-to-over-30-damaging-health-outcomes/

    What consumers need to know about ultra-processed foods
    https://www.food.gov.uk/safety-hygiene/ultra-processed-foods

    Do ultra-processed foods impact mental health?
    https://zoe.com/learn/ultra-processed-foods-mental-health

    Acknowledgements

    Thank you to Holly Stone Hypnotherapy for the inspiring course on the impact of food on the brain.

    Photo courtesy of Athena Sandrini on Pexels

  • Accentuate the Positive

    Accentuate the Positive

    In 1944, Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters released a recording of “Accentuate the Positive” – a jazzy number with a nice feel-good factor. As well as being an upbeat tune, its words to exactly what it says on the title – encouraging us to “accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative”.

    So what has this to do with anxiety, depression and hypnotherapy?

    So many of my clients come to me with a string of problems that they want help with. If I let them, they will talk endlessly about the problems, because that is what their subconscious is directing them to pay attention to.

    When you have a lot of stress, the primitive part of your brain starts to trigger the survival instinct. It thinks that if you are stressed, there must be danger about, so it gets you to think about all the things that are going wrong or might go wrong so that you can protect yourself against them. (I say it “thinks” – but it is too primitive to “think” in the sense that we understand it – it is simply an automatic reaction.)

    If our ancestors from thousands of years ago went out to look for food, they would be anxious – because it would have been a dangerous world. Anxiety makes you focus on the possibility of things going wrong. In a dangerous world, that focus will get you back to your cave before the predatory animals get you.

    In most parts of the world today, the life-threatening dangers that our ancestors faced are largely gone. The primitive part of our brain does not understand that, so when we are stressed, it gets us to focus on the negative in order to protect us from the wolves and tigers, and that focus on the negative leads to a miserable life.

    Fortunately, we can (with effort) turn our minds to the positive. We can stop and smell the roses. We can notice the smile on someone’s face. We can take a moment to really enjoy our cup of coffee in the morning. We can, as the song says, “Accentuate the positive”.

    And finally …

    If you are struggling to cope with anxiety on your own and you need some help, you might like to consider hypnotherapy. I work from my clinic in Fleet, Hampshire, as well as online, and would be pleased if you want to Contact Me.

    Accentuate the Positive: Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters

    Photo courtesy of Kerry at the Mental Health Foundation