Severe Stress – Prevention and Cure With Envision Hypnotherapy
Unfortunately, the term stress has entered everyday language and has taken on a range of very broad and often unhelpful meanings. People say things like “I’m stressed out” when they mean that were annoyed by someone or just had a bad day at work. This is a world away from the person who says “I’m stressed out” and means that he or she feels close to burnout.
There is also the notion that stress is an inherently bad thing when in fact it is a natural reaction to change and is essential for our well-being since it stimulates and supports us to meet the challenges we face. It is being overstressed and distressed that is damaging.
Understanding The Stress Response
Most people will know that stress is important for our ability to survive as it acts as a mechanism to protect the body against danger by triggering the release of hormones, such as adrenalin. Adrenalin causes your heart to beat faster to carry blood where it’s most needed. You breathe faster to provide the extra oxygen required for energy. You sweat to prevent overheating. Your mouth may feel dry and your digestive system slows down to allow more blood to be deflected to your muscles. Your senses become heightened, your brain becomes more alert and your vision becomes tunnel-like.
These changes enable the body to take action and protect itself in a dangerous situation, either by running away or fighting a foe. It is known as the ‘fight or flight’ reflex or physical emergency response. Once the danger has passed, other hormones are released which may cause you to shake as your muscles start to relax.
The stress response is useful for protecting you against physical dangers. If your house was on fire it is a totally necessary and appropriate response, but not if it is a regular reaction things like attending meetings at work, or being stuck in traffic.
When It All Gets Too Much – when stress becomes distress
Whether it is a real or imaginary threat, your body reacts in the very same way to situations that you find threatening, but which you can’t deal with appropriately – by fighting it or by running away. Situations such as public speaking, a driving test or having an injection may trigger it.
And while we may be able to face and deal with one-off situations, it is when the physical, emotional and mental demands take their toll over time, and exceed our ability to cope, that the unhealthy stress condition occurs. More accurately this can be described as “distress.” There comes a point when there is only so much change someone can cope with or when they are too exhausted to keep battling on and they feel overwhelmed.
This is not the same as having a heavy workload or great responsibilities and multiple demands on our time in and out of work. There are plenty of people who handle these over a lifetime who exhibit little or no stress.
Equally, there is also the theory that certain personality types** are more prone to stress than others, such as perfectionists, so-called ‘control freaks’ and unassertive, anxious-by-nature folk. But even the strongest among us can succumb to stress. In my experience, I found it was always dedicated, hard-working, highly capable and seemingly strong colleagues who experienced ‘burnout’.
** see McLeod, S. A. (2014). Type A Personality. Retrieved from www.simplypsychology.org/personality-a.html
Stress Prevention Not Management
Whatever the cause, once caught in the stress trap, I find that people need help in two ways – firstly to get out of the trap, and secondly to prevent falling into it ever again. I hate the term stress management as it implies that it is somehow inevitable and you just need tools and techniques to minimise and deal with it when it arises. I think prevention is a much better strategy and that includes pursuing your goals, looking after yourself well and enjoying life to the full.
My approach to helping people with stress
First, I seek to listen and understand each individual’s needs and how their current ways of thinking and being could change for the better. Then develop and deliver a tailor-made approach for them to learn new, more effective, habitual ways of thinking and being that enable them to deal well with their stressful situations. This involves learning to look at their life and its challenges more appropriately and respond more effectively.
Treatment can involve a blend of:
- Hypnotherapy- hypnosis is a powerful way to help someone let go of self-limiting beliefs and habits, and to better control their thoughts and feelings;
- Life Coaching – to challenge limits, set life goals and develop plans for getting the life they want;
- Skill sharing – tools and techniques for relaxing and dealing with different situations. If desired, I can also teach clients self-hypnosis so that they can continue to help themselves long after our work together is done.
- Recordings for use at home sessions to support their personal change process.
