Treatment for Anxiety & Stress
Are you struggling with anxiety or stress and its very unpleasant side effects?
Do you want to be FREE from the hold that anxiety has on your life?
Let me explain how I can help you to be free...
I work with people who are suffering from stress and/ or anxiety all the time.
Being under pressure is one thing and can of course be really useful as it tends to increase our levels of focus and drive, energy levels and desire to achieve results.
Sadly, today, anxiety and its symptoms are often the unwanted by-products of too much stress. Lives lived at a hectic pace, too many things on our minds, a heavy burden of expectation on our shoulders as we strive to meet our own demands of ourselves and those of everyone around us. We rarely give ourselves a break or a pat on the back. Whether at work or home or both, life can at times feel very overwhelming and stressful. Some of my clients describe it as feeling unsafe, ill at ease in their own skin.
Anxiety - or "fear spread thinly" -affects many people in many different ways. Indeed your experience of anxiety is unique to you. It may have things in common with other people who would describe themselves as being anxious or stressed but the exact pattern of your anxiety experience i.e. the exact triggers for the anxiety, the symptoms you experience as a result of those triggers, the effects they have on your thoughts, feelings, moods and behaviour and the events or circumstances that bring a reduction or end to those symptoms before the anxiety is triggered again - this stress or anxiety pattern is unique to YOU.
You may, for example, find that anxiety or stress affects you in response to a single trigger such as the imagined experience of a future scenario (e.g. giving a speech, attending an interview, taking a driving test, sitting an exam or being assessed, spending time with someone who you find intimidating etc). Or, you may find there are multiple triggers/causes for the anxiety - you may not even be consciously aware of what those triggers are but find that you experience a heightened sense of agitation most of the time. Either way, the exact elements that comprise each trigger and that actually cause it to be a trigger for the anxiety or stress response in you will be unique to you.
When we are triggered into an anxious or stressed state our
bodies instantly release stress hormones - cortisol and adrenaline. This
is our body's automatic way of protecting us from whatever we are
fearing by preparing us to physically respond to a threat ( you may know
this as our "flight or fight response"). Anxiety symptoms that we then experience vary hugely from person to person both in terms of the actual symptoms, how frequently they occur, how prolonged they are and their intensity. They can range from tightness in the chest, shoulders or abdomen, sweaty palms and quickened heart rate to hyperventilating and panic attacks. Prolonged stress can cause chest pains, high blood pressure, sleep problems, chronic tiredness and carry an increased risk of long term heart problems or stroke.
Ongoing anxiety symptoms can be debilitating physically and mentally and you may find that your mood, behaviour and performance are detrimentally affected as a result. This can lead to developing mental health problems. You may constantly worry, feel tearful, sad, lonely, helpless, experience low mood or feel depressed. You may notice that you are avoiding people or things, are indecisive or procrastinating. You may be frequently irritable, have a short fuse and react angrily in certain situations.
The unpleasantness of the thoughts and feelings that accompany stress and anxiety, cause us to naturally try to resist them or want to push them away. Paradoxically, this resistance usually causes the symptoms to get worse and we find ourselves more agitated, more stressed, more uncomfortable and the list goes on.
The very good news is that it is possible to free yourself from the particular patterns of anxiety and symptoms that you are suffering with and increase your emotional resiliance to cope with stress-making situations going forward.
Let me briefly explain the work I do with clients to help them overcome the distressing, unpleasant effects of their particular experience of anxiety and/or stress and how I can work with you to create lasting change...
Setting YOU Free - how I can help
The unique way that you experience anxiety and its effects in your life forms the central focus of my aim to ultimately set you free from its grip.
By sitting down with you at the start of our time together, I will put you at ease as we discuss your situation. I take the time to really listen to you non-judgmentally in order to gain real insight into both the pattern of your anxiety experience, the symptoms you experience, the effects it has on you and your life. I'm also aiming to help you get crystal clear about the outcomes that YOU want from our time together.
From this and only with your full agreement throughout, I then develop a personalised therapy plan. The focus of this plan is simple- to help you move quickly and easily from where you are currently with your anxiety/stress problem present to where you really want to be - free from your problem and achieving your desired outcomes.
Your plan may include a blend of clinical hypnosis, mindfulness and other evidence-based psychotherapy interventions ( NLP, CBT, EFT, EMDR ) as appropriate to your needs. All of these, I am trained and experienced in using.
You also have the option of attending one of my courses in mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy recommended by the NHS as a proven effective treatment for stress, anxiety and depression.
During our session(s) together, we'll focus on:
- Breaking the pattern(s) of stress/anxiety that you are experiencing
- Experiencing the power of turning towards unwanted thoughts and feelings to release their hold on you rather than resisting them and keeping them stuck
- Dissolving your anxiety response to the circumstances/triggers that previously caused your anxious symptoms
- Introducing more helpful responses to the situations or events that previously triggered the anxiety
- Re-enforcing these new responses at a subconscious level so that they become automatic for you
- Building your confidence and resiliance by teaching you self-help techniques to equip you with the practical tools to use quickly and easily to keep anxiety at bay in the future if life gets tricky. These may include Mindfulness, EFT, NLP, relaxation and CBT techniques.
- Helping you to feel safe and at ease in future circumstances that previously were part of your anxiety problem
The number of sessions required for each client will vary depending on the nature and extent of the anxiety problem. Anxiety about future performance for example, may require between 1 and 3 sessions, whilst a general anxiety problem may require between 4 to 6 sessions. I will be able to advise you on the number of sessions that you are likely to require during your initial consultation.
As well as my role as your therapist, your role and your commitment to change during our time together is really important to your success.
The first step in making any changes is just to get started.
So,if you would like to find out more, in confidence, about how I can help you get control over the stress and/or anxiety that you are currently suffering with, please call or email me. Alternatively, if you would like to just get started and book your first session with me by clicking on the link below: