In Australia, it’s estimated that 45 percent of people will experience a mental health condition in their lifetime. In any one year, over 2 million people have anxiety. So why is this so common and what can be done about it?

So many people that I have successfully helped beat Anxiety, do not recall knowing how or why it started. Suddenly they began experiencing a feeling in their chest, hands, heart etc and this lead them down a spiraling path to panic and overall doom. Except it didn’t kill them. It can’t and never will. In fact, anxiety and panic are only that and nothing more. It can’t hurt you. It can only frighten you. Anxiety has never hurt anyone physically. It has and will continue to torment you unless you face the fear head on.

People who are anxious have developed a particular set of skills to deal with, what many consider to be a normal physiological response. That is, an anxious person learns how to react or behave in response to an event, trigger or in some cases absolutely nothing obvious. The triggers most often are a new found awareness in the body. It is your mind becoming aware of something that is alway there, a blood vessel dilating, an artery spasm, a pressure change, a valve releasing etc. The only difference is that you noticed it and now ask a very important and dangerous question.

WHAT WAS THAT?

This internal question begins the process of the Fight or Flight response. A perfectly resourceful way to deal with stress and fear.

The flight or flight response is a series of neuro-chemical/hormonal and physiological responses that create the symptoms of anxiety. However, the symptoms are not a disease (heart attack, lung cancer, or multiple sclerosis as patients often fear) they are the direct result of fear. NOTHING MORE. So your fingers tingling, chest tightening, throat choking, stomach spasms are simply a direct result of the fight or flight mechanism.

This cycle once beginning, loops and inevitably stops because no one has anxiety all the time (i.e. 24 hrs a day, every day). Only to occur again at some random time.

I remember when I was a little boy, sometimes I would lie in bed and for some reason, I would think of someone hiding in the closet. This happened randomly and sometimes would occur over consecutive nights, or cluster just like anxiety can. When it did happen I was so frightened that the more I thought about it the worse I felt and the more afraid I became.

Typically when this happened I could become too scared to even move. I would sit so still and hope that it would go away often sulking myself to sleep. Then one night I decided to do something VERY DIFFERENT. It was very difficult and was extremely scary, except it worked.

I used all the courage I had, got out of bed, turned on the light and looked inside the closet. Only to realise there was nothing there. There was NOTHING TO BE AFRAID OF. And the fear began to subside. This is the realisation that will help you beat Anxiety.

Below is a simple diagram of how the fight or flight response can cause physical symptoms.

 

 

Fighting the fear is an effective and simple first step. So what else can you do?  Hypnosis and NLP, when used together, can allow you to remove the associated/attached memories and triggers from your unconscious stopping the anxiety cycle. Allowing you to take control. Stop being afraid of the past and move towards a bright and compelling future.

If you want to beat Anxiety and stop the fear, do something that takes courage, but works. If you’re curious, but scared make the first step. Call me and have a chat. Open that door. NOW.