SO LET’S TALK ANXIETY
To kick off Anxiety focused month, I am offering 15% discount on anxiety related treatments.
Anxiety is the nemesis of the modern humans and it is helpful to understand what happens in our brain and body when we are exposed to stress. I wish, I would have known this 30 years ago myself. But it is never too late for anybody. .
In moderation and in appropriate situations, anxiety can be helpful and act as an engine to produce better results. If a mild anxiety gave you a shot of adrenaline during the interview, it might help you to think faster. Anxiety becomes problematic when it gets out of control and starts to rule your life and becomes default mode of behaviour.
Regrettably, it is undeniable fact, that the stress and anxiety are invisible causes of so many physical and emotional problems.
It is sad to see so many people living with a different degree of anxiety for years, suffering needlessly without seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. The interesting thing is that the anxiety can affect almost anybody irrespective of the job, sex or age. It does not matter if you are a student, housewife or high flying executive. I can arrive rather unexpectedly or fester for years.
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF ANXIETY?
The intensity of your anxiety can vary, at best, it usually feels unpleasant and uncomfortable. These can include a racing heart, sweaty palms, dizziness, shakiness, stomach aches, nausea, feeling like using toilet repeatedly. At worst it can hold control over your life and can become a chronic anxiety problem leading to fear-related thoughts and out of control worries. You struggle to progress in your life, feeling uneasy about certain situations, overwhelmed by your responsibilities. Student might produce high quality work during the year but he crumbles during the important exam. Relationship breakup can trap some people in limbo for years and completely wipe out their confidence. Avoidance is a common symptom, when you try to avoid the anxiety inducing situation as quickly as possible. Avoidance can also take the form of using unhelpful coping strategies to mask your anxious feelings – such as getting drunk to calm your nerves. However, this brings only short-term relief and does not address the cause. While it might bring short-term relief, it risks fuelling your anxiety. In contrast, confronting your anxieties can be challenging in the short term, but is often the best route to easing them.
SO WHAT CAUSES YOUR ANXIETY?
Anxiety and stress, responses of our primitive mind have very important role in our life and that is to keep us alive. So it’s completely normal to experience anxiety from time to time. Our primitive mind (that is the part we share with animals) is constantly scanning our environment, is constantly vigilant for any sign of a danger. If we are faced with a danger our body get stressed and releases powerful mix of chemicals and hormones, especially adrenaline, that activate your sympathetic nervous system, that will help us to mitigate the danger. This primes your body to survive a threat – we might need to fight or run as fast as we can to survive. If you’re confronted with a truly dangerous situation, it could save your life.
However, in our modern life, anxiety will often start with negative thoughts about an upcoming situation. For instance, worry that an exam will be too difficult and end in failure or that something will go wrong during our presentation. Other causes of anxiety include past traumatic experiences that leave you in a permanently fearful state. This could be even an event that upset us and made us feel bad. If these negative thought patterns persist they are likely to feed your anxiety in the long-term. In short, the anxiety is caused by negative thinking ! WE ARE are the cause of the majority of OUR anxieties. It sounds counterintuitive, but that is really good news, because logically, we are also able to change our thought patterns and step out of the vicious circle. In my next blog I will write about the mechanism that the body uses to eliminate everyday stress and how we can use it to get our stress under the control.
As you expect me to say – Hypnotherapy is very effective and safe treatment for stress and anxiety! Not only that, it is really empowering. If you are more curious about how hypnotherapy can help with your own problem or issue with anxiety, do not hesitate to contact me. I offer all my new clients, free, no obligation Initial Consultation.