Anxiety and Stress | Panic Attack

ANXIETY AND STRESS
 Anxiety and Stress - Did you know?
Stress can lead to very serious mental and physical health problems. If stress in your life seems unbearable, you may find it beneficial to see a trained therapist at the The Alternative Centre.

He will help you to identify and handle your current stresses.

Remember-Know your limits: It is so important!
If a problem is currently beyond your control and you cannot change it. Stay with it!
Learn to accept what is-for now-until such times when you can change it.
Focus on changing those situations (or people) that are within your power to change and Accepting those situations (or people) that you cannot change.

Remember though, to take care of your mind and your body:
This includes eating well and having plenty of rest. Should you be up tight and irritable through lack of sleep or if you are not having proper meals, you will be less likely to deal with your stress.
Remember the saying- "A fit mind, fit body!"
Often when we are feeling fit and well we find we can handle stress much more efficiently. In fact what may stress at one time may not at another.
If stress repeatedly keeps you from sleeping, makes you irritable, quick tempered or with that feeling of being unable to cope you should admit to yourself that you need help and that is where we at The Alternative Centre can help.

Stay away from self-medication and alcohol: although some people use medications to relieve stress temporarily, it does not remove the problems or the reasons for the stress. Often medications are habit forming. One really needs to get to the root cause of the problem and deal with that first; otherwise anything done just ends up being a band-aid and will not last. Clinical Hypnosis and NLP coupled with Time Line Therapy™ are absolutely brilliant and all complement each other to assist for a speedy relief from such stress.

PANIC ATTACK

Problems such as panic attacks, phobias and addictions are maintained in part by the subconscious/unconscious mind. People often say: 'I know it's silly but I just can't help it!' (This is their conscious mind).

The part of them that is 'creating the problem' is the unconscious mind. For me to be able to help people overcome their problems I need to create change at the unconscious level with either hypnosis or the use of hypnotic language. In a phobia situation I can create a change at the conscious level by utilising certain NLP techniques, which in turn teaches the unconscious mind other ways to respond in a positive manner.

Clinical Hypnotherapy is often presumed to be somewhat different to psychotherapy and counselling, when in fact, hypnotherapy is simply psychotherapy or counselling applied in and around the medium of hypnosis.

Natural hypnosis occurs frequently, not just in hypnotherapy. It often occurs when we are watching television, or at times chatting with a friend, maybe in the doctor's surgery, and even when playing sport. We have to ensure though we never use natural hypnosis in a negative way and that is why it is so important to be positive in our thoughts!

How to Help Yourself
Often the symptoms we experience in a panic attack are- heartbeat and breathing speeding up, maybe dizziness, some sweating, possibly muscles tightening, etc - all are the result of the body being flooded with natural adrenaline.

This is our natural 'fight or flight' reaction when we feel ourselves under threat, and the adrenaline and its effects are designed to help us fight more or run faster.
Occasionally though our bodies can make a mistake. When it does we get a reaction when there is no bad situation or threat to us. Unfortunately, once this has occurred once, we can make ourselves nervous or anxious about it happening again. This in turn may trigger another attack.
Then if we are not careful soon we can become nervous about any change in the way we are feeling if that feeling is a little different than normal. Even pleasant feelings or feelings of excitement can set off another panic attack. Unfortunately many 'panic attack people find themselves situations like this.

SO HOW MAY WE HELP OURSELVES
I would suggest the following: -

• Maintain 'normal' adrenaline levels in your body, thus keeping it further from the panic state.
  You can do this by-
• Cutting down on caffeine and sugar.
  Caffeine (found in coffee, and also in smaller quantities, in tea, cola, and chocolate) mimics the effects of adrenaline in speeding your body up. Also keep away from sugary things! I believe the less coffee you consume, the calmer you will be! My suggestion is that you gradually reduce your caffeine levels to zero.
• Learn to breathe more calmly.
  You may have noticed that in an attack, your breathing is rapid and high in your chest. So when you are feeling better, practice the opposite way of breathing - breathe slowly and from your abdomen. It may feel a little funny at first, however with some practice you will be able to breathe without your chest moving at all, just your stomach. This will have a natural calming effect and your breathing would have to make a big change to get to the 'panic attack mode'.
  
  Remember, practise breathing as described. It is better and more effective to practice when you are feeling ok. If you do this regularly abdominal breathing will soon become second nature. And you will be naturally calmer, and panic attacks will be less frequent and easier to be free of.
  
  
• Remember, we can help solve your problem entirely!
  Many people feel they will have panic attacks for a long time to come, or that because they have had them for a number of years that means they will always have them for the rest of their life. Not true! They are something that you at the unconscious level have learned to do. And with help you can be free of them, forever!
  
  
• Most importantly- Get help!
  If you are in Queensland there is a Specialist Clinical Master Hypnotherapist at The Alternative Centre, at Southport, on the Gold Coast.
  Phone 07 55711505