Do you worry, panic or feel anxious much of the time?

E veryone feels anxiety. It's an important factor in keeping ourselves safe and responding to danger. But sometimes our minds and bodies over-react as though there is a threat when objectively the risk may be quite small, or we go over things in our heads repeatedly unable to accept the evidence of reality. If this pattern becomes a habit then the tendency to worry or feel fearful can dominate our lives and limit the options we feel are open to us.

Instead of being a normal part of being human, anxiety can become pervasive and debilitating, and at this stage (or sooner if possible) it is wise to seek professional help. It is believed that around 13% of the population suffer from one form of anxiety or another.

Anxiety is divided into several distinct categories:

• General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) - which includes persistent worry, anticipating problems, and general unease 
• Panic - anxiety attacks and extreme stress reactions
• Phobias
  • Simple specific phobias - eg. fear of insects, animals, needles, flying
  • Social Phobia, or Social Anxiety Disorder - fear of being judged negatively by others
  • Agoraphobia - fear of leaving a safe place, frequently manifests as panic in "unsafe" places
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• Stress and Burn-out
• Health anxiety and mind-body disorders
  • Insomnia
  • Some headaches and migraine
  • Certain skin conditions and allergies worsened by stress
  • Some cases of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
  • Other stress-related conditions such as infertility, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) 

In the United States it is believed that the symptoms of panic (e.g., racing heart, dizziness, sense of unreality) affect between one third and a half of the people (NIMH, 2001), and approximately 2.4 million people suffer from recurrent panic attacks (Kessler et al., 1994). Often symptoms of anxiety can be mistaken for signs of physical illnesses such as heart complaints, which generates further anxiety creating a vicious cycle of fear and symptom.

CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) is the recommended treatment for anxiety conditions in the UK. Though anxiety and panic seem irrational and uncontrollable, clinically proven research has demonstrated that techniques such as changing the way you breathe and think, and gradually confronting the object of your fear, can rapidly and effectively bring your anxiety down to manageable levels.

Often when people think of hypnosis, they imagine a hypnotist waving a watch or shiny object in front of someone saying, "Relax, relax." This is a stereotype which doesn’t reflect the complexity of the problem, or the processes involved in alleviating anxiety and changing established patterns. But behind the stereotype is a certain truth – hypno-psychotherapy is indeed an effective treatment for most anxiety related problems.

Recent research has shown that hypnotic methods can be integrated in a seamless manner with cognitive-behavioural principles and techniques that have demonstrated efficacy in the treatment of anxiety. The approach involves hypnotic and non-hypnotic self-control training procedures, cognitive hypnotherapy, guided imagery and exposure techniques. Training in self-hypnosis helps you to regain a sense of control over your fears, once the experience of hypnosis is established and fully understood.

If you have been suffering from the symptoms of anxiety described here or on any of the linked pages, and you live in Bristol or north east Somerset, do contact me to discuss how hypno-psychotherapy could help with your difficulties.