Tackling Anxiety and Stress with Hypnotherapy

“Not more budget cuts and staff reductions and increased workloads. We’ll be getting reorganised again soon!”

During my over 30 years working in Social Services and Education this was a recurring refrain and usually meant a change (often radical) in how we worked. I don’t think a lot has changed since I took early retirement, but the present Covid-19 situation has heaped extra stress and pressures on those working in the caring professions.

Click here for My Story (How Hypnosis helped me manage stress)

Many of us will be aware of that stress feeling; the mind races, the body feels tight, the appetite can go and sleep at best, is often restless. Not only are the caring professions inherently stressful and practitioners subject to all the same stressors as the rest of the population, but they often take on board the emotional and personal issues of patients, students pupils and service users with whom they work.

Whilst working in education and Social Work, I experienced most if not all of the common symptoms of stress and which for me were underpinned by an ongoing sense of anxiety:

• tiredness and fatigue
• poor sleep patterns
• irritability
• fractious work and personal relationships (from time to time)
• dreading work
• avoiding social occasions and important tasks
• lack of concentration
• I was not always aware that these were signs of stress and regarded them just as a part of life. I was even less aware of how they effected my physical health. Like many I was subject to frequent colds and infections, aching limbs, headaches.
• I was also unaware that stress can actually shrink the brain and kill off neurons. Experts tell us if we are exposed to stress for long periods our bodies become tired and our immune system supressed.
• personally I was never more stressed when faced with more staff and budget cuts and increased workloads which led what was felt to be inappropriate work practices. In short, a lack of control over circumstances.

However, I never experienced the same pressures that front line staff are experiencing in these strange times. While stress at times can feel overwhelming and we are unable to control external stressors, we can control how we react to them. With the ongoing uncertainty and radically changed working practices that the pandemic has brought and with no end in sight it is clear that the caring professions are in a precarious situation and now, more than ever, have to develop strategies for self care and stress management. So how do we manage self care and stress? It is important in situations where circumstances and events seem to be beyond our control to accept the situation as it is and and exert control wherever we can in our lives by investing positively and structurally in personal and professional relationships and our own self-care. Self-care it has to be emphasised, is much more than a self-development platitude and goes beyond bubble baths, scented candles and massage and, dare I say it, comfort eating and drinking. Some of these are helpful in themselves to a degree but it is important to have ongoing, regular practices and strategies to allow for effective relaxation of the nervous system and to ensure that as caring professionals we can continue to apply ourselves effectively to our job. When mind and body are in an almost constant state of stress our fight/flight/freeze system is activated. The f/f/f system is designed for short term survival and when frequently activated over long periods, has the negative effects described previously.

However, just as the body has its own stress arousal system it has its own soothing systems. These can be activated by various methods and one of the easiest and most effective ways is through breath control. When we are stressed or anxious we tend to have short, shallow breaths in and out of the chest area. If we become mindful of our breathing patterns we can learn to control and settle them with this simple exercise.

Breathing Exercise Balloon Breath (DIAPHRAGMATIC BREATHING)

1.Lie flat on the floor legs apart or feet flat on the floor and hands facing upwards. Alternatively sit upright and comfortable on a chair.
2.Observe your breath for a minute and just let it settle. Take a deep breath in through the nose, filling your stomach and lower lungs. Let the breath go slowly through the mouth making an “aaah” sound or humming with the lips slightly parted.
3.If possible, allow the out breath to be longer than the in breath. You can do this by counting in for two and counting out for four, or 3/6, 4/8 etc.

Place one hand on your lower chest to feel your lungs expanding with little or no movement in your chest and shoulders and the other on your belly to feel it expand.

It may take time to get used to at first but if practised for three and a half minutes a day, it will soon feel like natural  breathing.

Whilst carrying out this exercise try imagining the breath coming in through the chest (heart centre) and leaving the body through the stomach. Yoga and meditation are other practices that can help us control our breathing for optimum physical and mental health. Information and videos are widely available at no cost on the web and YouTube. Remember at this time of Covid it is about taking control of the parts of our lives that we can and our breath is a great place to start.

For a short video on Balloon Breath and a short introduction to meditation click here.

For a short video on Diaphragmatic breathing click here

My capacity for managing stress and anxiety and building resilience was greatly enhanced through Hypnosis. The deep, relaxing nature of hypnotherapy makes it a very effective way of managing stress. It is a powerful, psychological tool that can train mind and body to engender more relaxed responses and increase our resilience to stress and anxiety. This is what hypnosis DOES. It naturally releases the happy brain chemicals which calm us down and elevate our mood.
D opamine
O xytocin
E ndorphins
S erotonin

For further info on how hypnotherapy can assist with stress management, visit my blog.