Glasgow Anxiety Therapy

 Anxiety appears in many forms. Whenever it comes on, whatever it is called, it is fear. It may seem extraordinary that a person may not be able walk to the end of his road, but that is the power of fear. It may be out of proportion, but it is paralysing.   But it doesn’t have to be forever. Anxiety in all forms can be treated. This text comes from the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Anxiety has a purpose. It makes us more alert, more aware, more ready for action. The fight or flight hormones rush through our body, getting us ready for action. That’s very useful in the jungle. And a little bit can help if we have to give a talk to colleagues. Too much and you want to run away. That’s panic.

The good news is that you can learn how to regain control. Methods have been developed over the last 50 years or so, and proved to work. So take courage. Decide to take action. Because you can get better.

In hypnosis, you can look at the things that make you anxious and learn to respond in a different way. Because of course, anxiety triggers more anxiety. And fear of anxiety is paralysing too.

With the sort of hypnotherapy that I practice, you can expect to feel significantly better after just a few sessions, armed with some practical techniques that will last you all your life. You will rebuild your self-confidence as your anxiety recedes. Why wait?

If we think about nice things that might happen in the future, we will feel happy and relaxed. If we think about all the terrible things that might happen, then we are likely to feel low.

This is probably the most important thing to know when you are wanting to manage your anxiety.

You can try it out for yourself. Remember a time when you felt really good about yourself. Smile to yourself. How do you feel? Then think of a ghastly mistake you made in the past, and notice all the feelings. With me, it is a hot face and dry mouth, maybe with a sense of shame.

So, knowing that it is your thoughts, or your belief systems and attitudes that are making you feel this way, you can accept that if you change these, then you will change your feelings. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) was developed to deal with just this sort of problem. If you want to have a go on your own, try David Burns' book The Feelgood Handbook. Or give me a call and try some cognitive behavioural hypnotherapy.

Some people say that they have always been very negative and pessimistic. It seems unchangeable, they were born that way. And of course it is true that we each have different temperaments. But being pessimistic is in part a habit. It is a particular way of thinking. And the good news is that you can learn a new way of thinking so that you don't always fear the worst outcome and feel your self-confidence taking another beating.

It is not so much about positive thinking, but realistic thinking. Pessimists sometimes discount the evidence in front of them. Just a few sessions of cognitive behavioural therapy, and you will find that you can think in a more helpful, realistic way, and feel better.

Most people get anxious at the idea of performing in front of other people. Professional musicians and actors suffer too, but they find that with experience, the fright diminishes. So, habituation, getting used to it, helps to reduce the anxiety. That means to get over your stage fright, get on the stage more! Practice in any anxiety-inducing situation helps, so that you get used to feeling stressed and under pressure, whilst coping with your anxiety and surviving.

Because we see so many polished performances at events, on the telly etc, we get the idea that we have to achieve that standard of fluency and skill, dropping in a few witty jokes even, right from the outset. If we are inexperienced, we can only expect to give a fairly mundane performance. Practice makes perfect. This is a skill and it takes time to learn. Just realising this can help by allowing you to be average rather than feeling you have to amaze your audience. Perfectionist expectations just put on more pressure, so just accepting that you will be average, even a little dull, is helpful.

Certain kinds of thinking can make matters worse. Catastrophising is one of them. So we can focus on more helpful kinds of thoughts. Rather than, O no, I am going to make a complete fool of myself in front of all these people and my boss will fire me (catastrophic and not helpful) then maybe I shall try to speak slowly, I have prepared my notes. I can make a mistake and still succeed. (Realistic appraisal and kind self-talk).

Cognitive behavioural therapy has been shown to work for performance anxiety.

Some feelings of anxiety, including panic attacks, seem to just come out of the blue. For no reason at all, the anxiety feels overwhelming. Many people who have suffered a panic attack say this.

How does this happen?  Well, anxiety can be triggered by a host of tiny triggers, only some of which you are aware of.  Your brain stores lots and lots of associations - some good, some bad. You might  link the sight of mince and tatties with being safe at home with your mum. Or the smell of perfume with someone particular.

Just as you can do this knowingly, your brain can do this in a flash without you being aware of it. A fleeting image passes through your mind and the association is made with some event in the past and the feelings of that event wash up and can sometimes be overwhelming. It is completely automatic. People who were hit by a parent in childhood similarly find they automatically shield themselves with their arms if they sense a rapid movement. Even into adulthood. Responses to triggers can be completely automatic. So what to do?

Sometimes, it is hard to identify the trigger. A qualified therapist can help you here. With panic attacks, part of the trigger is the rapid breathing. So learning to breathe deeply through your belly  is a preventive measure. Learning to relax is a major help too. In other cases, we know what the response is. So we can learn to become aware of our automatic response and use that as a cue to respond differently.

With a bit of practice using cognitive behavioural therapy, , maybe with the help of a professional, you can get a fair idea of the thoughts, ideas and images that trigger these reactions. One you have a clue, the techniques of this kind of therapy can help you work out what to do. And you can learn these techniques yourself so you have the skills to continue to take good care of yourself.

Cognitive behavioural therapy has been shown to be effective. As a result, both the Scottish Government and the UK Government have been seeking to extend its availability. The internet has made this possible. DIY therapy is well worth a go.

Living Life to the Full is a free online cognitive behavioural therapy course. It is devised by Chris Williams,Professor of Psychosocial Psychiatry and Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at the University of Glasgow. It is highly interactive and you can work on a single issue or a complete course. Very easy to use and fantastic content.

It is worth giving it a try. And if you find it is useful, but you need a bit of help, then get in touch with me. The addition of hypnosis speeds things along and hypnotic relaxation is very easy and extraordinarily deep - a good skill to learn for anyone.

The US Congress has declared today, 27 June 2011, National Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Day.

PTSD is an anxiety disorder that may develop after a person experiences a terrifying event. So it includes soldiers and workers in war zones. People who have been involved in an accident or assault. Rape is a main cause of PTSD in women. It also varies in intensity. But it is a serious anxiety disorder. It is known to increase the risk of depression, suicide, and drug and alcohol related disorders including death. But it is anxiety. And anxiety is well treated with cognitive behavioural therapy. So PTSD is treatable too. It is not a permanent condition. So that is a great source of hope.

According to the US National Insitute of Mental Health, the US population lifetime prevalence of PTSD is 6.8%.

Statistics are available for American soldiers suffering from PTSD.

• 2.4% of soldiers and workers returning from the Afghanistan or Iraq war are clinically diagnosed with PTSD;
• 17% of Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans exposed to sustained ground combat report symptoms of PTSD;
• PTSD is or has been experienced by 10% of Gulf War veterans and 30% of Vietnam veterans.

It is unlikely be any different for our soldiers.

The US Veteran’s Administration, through its National Centre for PTSD, has a great deal of excellent information about PTSD.

Many of us are chronic worriers. And we might worry about why we worry so much. What is the cause of all this terrible worry and anxiety?

Something will have initiated your anxiety response. But for many people that reason is done and dusted. The anxious response is like an old overcoat left behind by a forgotten visitor. It's a relic.  Anxiety gets triggered by a cue. We see, hear, smell or think something and the anxiety whizzes in out of the blue. The initial reason is so old, that the anxiety now is just a husk. An empty shell on the shore - it once served a valuable purpose for its owner, but he is long gone. Like the stain on a tablecloth from a meal long ago.

So what I am blethering on about here, is that if you have been at it for ages you don't need to know why you feel anxious. It probably is just anxiety for its own sake, feeding on itself. Self-perpetuating. You've got into the habit of it, and once you're on the worry bus, you keep missing your stop and end up at the depot exhausted. (We hypnotherapists like a bit of metaphor!)

So, don't worry about why you are worrying. It doesn't really matter. There is no point trying to clear up the cause - that is history. Better to concentrate on changing the response. What matters is getting better. You will be astonished how quickly your head will stop spinning. You will be back on track with just a few sessions of my sort of hypnotherapy - cognitive behavioural hypnotherapy, based on strong scientific evidence (I don't make it up as I go along).

Hypnotherapy is effective, safe and quick. Give it a whirl.