"If you suffer from: fears, phobias, anxieties, depression or 'bad habits' - you have come to the right place!"

We all experience stress from time to time and a degree of stress in our lives is good - after all it can be a strong motivation for change and success. But the life style that many of us have now, is busy and complex with many different demands on us and negative stress can build up within us often without our noticing it. Looking at the work context, the Health and Safety Executive puts forward the following figures:

"About half a million people experience work-related stress at a level they believe is making them ill"

* Up to 5 million people in the UK feel "very" or "extremely" stressed by their work.

* Work-related stress costs society between £3.7 billion and £3.8 billion every year so it is hardly surprising that many businesses and organizations take the problem of stress in their workforce extremely seriously and provide stress management programmes.

For the individual, though, the symptoms of stress are extremely debilitating and can be damaging to relationships, career development or many aspects of life. While there are many causes of stress, it is most damaging when an individual feels powerless to control a situation; when there is a feeling of some strong internal conflict "inside us - but out of our control". The effects of stress can affect us physically, emotionally and psychologically so it is important that you check with your GP to make sure that you are not suffering from any medical condition.

Physical effects such as:

Panic Disorder

Panic disorder is characterized by unexpected and repeated episodes of intense fear (panic attacks) which are often accompanied by chest pain, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness or abdominal distress.

Panic attacks can accompany generalized anxiety disorder or major depression. However, they sometimes affect otherwise healthy individuals.

It is not unusual for a person with panic disorder to develop phobias about certain places or situations where panic attacks have occurred, such as in supermarkets or other everyday situations. As the frequency of panic attacks increases, the person often begins to avoid situations where they fear another attack may occur or where help would not be immediately available. This avoidance may eventually develop into agoraphobia, an inability to go beyond known and safe surroundings because of intense fear and anxiety.

Origins of stress
The origins of stress are as old as time itself - it is a function of part of our primitive brain. If we look at the times of early cave man and consider him walking across a clearing with a club over his shoulder, relaxed and happy. Just then, around the corner comes a prehistoric wild beast. As you would expect our cave man would instantly register danger and signals would be sent to the brain which we generally refer to as FIGHT or FLIGHT. That's all very well, but we no longer come face to face with wild animals and of course our "stressors" come in different guises.

Taking positive control of stress
A person who is stressed is like a car running on high tick over - we need to examine the cause(s) of the problem(s) and take a positive control of the situation and reduce that "tick over" to an acceptable level. This is done over four separate sessions in surgery on an individual basis, or through bespoke seminars at Corporate level (please contact the practice for details).

 

If you suffer from stress and anxiety and you live in Southampton, Fareham, Portsmouth and Winchester then pick up the phone today and let us help you using hypnosis and hypnotherapy.