Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

The Vicious Cycle of Anxiety

by Dan Regan | Aug 5, 2025 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

The Vicious Cycle of Anxiety

Do you feel trapped in the vicious cycle of anxiety?

We all experience unhelpful, worrying and anxious thoughts and feelings from time to time. They may pass through your mind very quickly and be soon forgotten. Or perhaps they linger for a short while but then time passes, or the thing you were anxious about gets sorted, and everything returns to normal. You move on and get back on with your normal routines, activities and thoughts.

However, if you struggle with problematic anxiety then you can get caught in the ever suffocating vicious cycle of anxiety. Your mind races with anxiety provoking potential catastrophes and worst case scenarios. You feel anxious, tense, restless and on edge. You struggle to concentrate and feel negative and low. You start avoiding things because you just don’t feel you’ll be able to cope or you excessively worry about others noticing your anxiety.

With anxiety, your negative thoughts can feel so prevalent, strong and dominant that you struggle to focus and take control over your thinking. You can’t focus as your mind races through all the negative possibilities. Even as you try to grasp what is going on inside your head, the anxiety moves on to something else. It can feel like you are fearfully chasing after your own mind and never catching up with your thinking. Even if you are able to interrupt, block or rationalise one of the worst case scenarios in your head, your anxiety changes direction and flows like a river onto some other perceived threat and awful catastrophe. It’s exhausting.

One thought just flows into another, and because those thoughts are so distressing and overwhelming, you also experience all the physical symptoms of anxiety. Your breathing increases, your heart races, you feel hot, you feel nauseous and you struggle to function. How you feel influences where your thinking goes. Because you feel so anxious, those anxious feelings drive your imagination into more and more negative and anxious thinking. This then keeps you feeling anxious, that then drives anxious thinking and which then adds to your uncomfortable feelings. You get caught in the vicious cycle of anxiety. Your anxious thoughts and feelings feed into each other. You feel worse and worse and your anxiety feels stronger and stronger.

You then start to dread things. What if those imagined worst case scenarios actually happen? What if you go out and feel anxious in front of others? You feel terrible, you are filled with anxiety and so you start to avoid things. This can bring some short term relief. However, the vicious cycle of anxiety gets strengthened by avoidance and the cycle just continues to repeat. You feel anxious even when you are not around the people, places, situations and circumstances you have been dreading. You start to anticipate feeling anxious and you expect it to happen. And then of course, you experience anxiety and this confirms your belief that you can’t handle, deal and cope with things.

Social Phobia – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Jul 25, 2025 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Social Phobia – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

Social phobia, which is sometimes also called social anxiety disorder, is characterised by the dread, fear and anxiety that comes before and during social situations.

At first, you may be keen and excited about an upcoming social situation, especially if it is some way off. But then as it gets closer you start to worry about it. It could be about being judged for your appearance or what you may may or do when you go out. You start to worry about making an idiot of yourself, having nothing to say, struggling to meet people or being there and feeling uncomfortable.

Your anxiety drives your imagination to start thinking of all the things that could go wrong. There are just so many potential pitfalls and opportunities to mess up. It doesn’t matter if it is a social thing, work thing or something else. You worry about being judged and what others think. You don’t feel good enough. And your social phobia can make it seem easier to make an excuse and avoid it. You get the immediate relief from escape but the social anxiety persists.

For a long time I used to struggle with social phobia. I got good at masking it from others but would worry about them noticing or pointing out my anxiety, discomfort or quietness (which would be the worst possible thing to happen for someone with social phobia). I would worry before an event about what to wear, how I’d look, what I’d say and whether I would have anything to say or just be seen as quiet and boring. Sometimes I would just cancel. Other times I would go and feel on edge, and anxious. I would scan to check no one was watching what I was doing. I would feel uncomfortable and sweaty. The overthinking about what I was saying and doing, and what others were thinking about it, was intense.

Afterwards came the negative analysis and self criticism. I would find myself worrying about what I may have said and how others perceived it. I could feel anxious about seeing that person again. I would overthink, dwell and find myself going over and over perceived mess ups and things that just confirmed I wasn’t good enough. There was a constant stream of inner critical and negative self talk. It ran on and on in my head.

You probably have those certain people you are comfortable around. With these people you can just relax and be yourself. Yet, with social phobia, that persistent dread, fear and anxiety about social situations limits you and makes you uncomfortable. You excessively worry about being messing up or being judged. You just can’t relax and enjoy social situations.

Like all anxiety, there is the habitual pattern of thoughts, feelings and behaviours that create the self re-enforcing, ongoing cycle of social anxiety. However, it is very possible and achievable to take back control over your own mind so that you feel more calm, confident and in control.

Manage Anxious Thoughts and Feelings

by Dan Regan | Jul 22, 2025 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Manage Anxious Thoughts and Feelings

Do you need help to learn how to manage anxious thoughts and feelings?

Hypnotherapy can be effective in helping you to deal, cope and handle anxiety, panic and stress. You can move from unwanted thoughts and uncomfortable feelings to a place where you feel calm, confident and in control. When people work with me, they learn how to change unhelpful thoughts patterns and behaviours that are associated with anxiety. Rather than being controlled by it, you learn how to manage anxious thoughts and feelings effectively.

If you struggle with anxiety then you will be all too familiar with the negative thoughts and overthinking that come with it. Your mind fills with worst case scenarios as you wonder what if this catastrophe or that other disaster happens. Your imagination moves further and further steps away from the present as your dread and foreboding about the future increase. You may struggle to switch off those run away anxious thoughts. And because your mind is searching for potential threats, it can quickly move on from one anxious thing to the next as you struggle to keep up with your own thinking. It can leave you stressed, worried and afraid in case those feared things, with all their negative consequences, become a reality.

Alongside the anxious thoughts, you experience all of the uncomfortable anxious feelings. You feel tense, restless and on edge. It affects your sleep, concentration and appetite. You may struggle to enjoy things you normally do. You can have a racing heart, shortness of breath and sweating. you feel awful and want to do less and less.

The anxious feelings drive the anxious thoughts and that increases the feelings. It becomes like a spiral of ever increasing anxiety that affects how you feel and it can permeate into all the corners of your life. You avoid things and worry. And the anxiety flows on and on.

If you are currently struggling then hypnotherapy can help you to manage anxious thoughts and feelings so that you break the cycle and start feeling better and better in yourself

Car Anxiety – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Jul 21, 2025 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Car Anxiety – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

Do you struggle with car anxiety? Anxiety, fear and panic around being in a car, whether driving or as a passenger, can become limiting and exhausting.

You may try to avoid getting in a car as often as possible. When a passenger, certain drivers, those you consider to be unsafe, can lead to panic. You can be on high alert for dangers, constantly raising the possible hazards to the driver throughout the journey. Or perhaps you cover you eyes or try to use your phone to distract you until you can get out of the car and relax.

If you have to drive (or even if you are still learning and having lessons), sometimes the very thought of it can dominate your mind in the lead up. You feel tense, anxious and on edge. Your car anxiety limits where you will go and there may be certain roads that are just too much for you.

I’ve helped people with car anxiety who struggle on the smaller roads. On these roads there are more parked cars, obstacles and hazards to be aware of and be ready to react to. For others, it is the dual carriageways and motorways that cause their anxiety to spike. On these roads you are moving faster and there is the risk of being hit by another car or a lorry. The possible resulting damage when travelling at that speed causes you to catastrophise and think the worst.

Then there are other road users, road works, possible diversions and unfamiliar roads, new places, finding parking and the many other anxieties about what might happen that race through your mind. You minimise your time in the car and avoid it as much as you can.

Despite the thousands and thousands of cars that take to the road each day, car anxiety is one of the most common fears that I help people to deal with. Hypnotherapy can help you to calm your anxiety and take back control over your thoughts and feelings. You can start driving calmly and confidently on different roads and in different conditions.

Anxious Thoughts and Feelings – My Latest Ely Standard Column

by Dan Regan | Jul 8, 2025 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Anxious Thoughts and Feelings – My Latest Ely Standard Column

I’m delighted to let you know that my latest Ely Standard column, about anxious thoughts and feelings, has now been published.

It’s estimated that, each year, one in four people in the UK will experience a mental health problem. Back when I used to struggle with anxiety, it was the anxious feelings that used to really trouble me and that used to escalate until they felt overwhelming and uncontrollable. These then fed into the anxious thoughts of dread and worry. Then came the classic anxiety response of avoidance to try and quell all those uncomfortable anxious feelings. This brings short term relief but only maintains the anxiety.

The anxiety cycle of thoughts, feelings and behaviours can just run and run. It’s like a ceaseless torrent of anxious discomfort. However, n matter how bad you feel right now, it is possible to overcome your anxiety. You can start to feel better and better in yourself.

You can read my article about anxious thoughts and feelings over on the Ely Standard website here:

Does Distraction Work For Anxiety?

by Dan Regan | Jun 20, 2025 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Does Distraction Work For Anxiety?

Recently I was talking with a client about this subject; does distraction work for anxiety?

Anxiety thrives when there is time and space for thinking. And because you feel anxious you have probably started avoiding things or feeling too low and exhausted to keep busy. You are less occupied and have more time to think. The more time you have to think, the worse you feel and the less you feel able to do. It becomes a negative cycle that chokes the enjoyment and motivation from your life. You spend more and more time thinking and the anxiety just moves from one thing to the next. All the while your feel worse and worse with tension, agitation, poor appetite and disturbed sleeping.

It’s like a river of thinking with a strong current that pulls you from one catastrophic thought to the next. Very soon your anxiety can quash anything positive and you feel helpless to deal with your own thoughts and feelings.

The human mind has a negativity bias anyway so when you feel anxious this just accelerates. Everything is tinged with worry, doubt, overthinking and dread. Even things you’ve done many, many times before now seem like a massive challenge that you struggle to face.

Now, of course, there are several facets to a successful plan for tackling anxiety. You need to learn how to interrupt, direct, disrupt and move on your own thoughts rather than being at the mercy of whatever happens to come into your thinking and awareness. You need to be able to bring anxiety down when it starts high and be able to cut if off early and quickly if it starts to grow and rise.

I’ve written many times before about the scientific support and research that shows that hypnotherapy is effective for treating anxiety so I’m not going to repeat that here. I’ve also covered the use of exercise, relaxation, gratitude, nature, music and a whole range of other things that have been demonstrated to contribute to reducing anxiety.

Music For Anxiety and Stress: My Latest Ely Standard Article

by Dan Regan | May 16, 2025 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Music For Anxiety and Stress: My Latest Ely Standard Article

I’m delighted that my latest Ely Standard article, about music for anxiety and stress, is now live on their website.

As I mention in my article, recently I attended a music concert at Ely College. It was a fantastic event and I was blown away with talent on display. I was hugely impressed with the students for getting up on stage and doing what they love (and well done to the staff who organised it all too!).

Research has shown that music can help you with anxiety relief and as an emotional coping tool, even during stressful and challenging times.

Music has been associated with reduced anxiety, enhanced mood, mental well-being and as a coping strategy. It has been shown that it may help to improve depression symptoms and has been shown to be associated with a decrease in overall self-reported anxiety. It is all strong support for the notion of making deliberate use of music if you want to experience some relief from your anxiety and stress.

You can read also my first Ely Standard article, about how nature can boost your mental health here:

Hypnosis for Anxiety in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Apr 3, 2025 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Hypnosis for Anxiety in Ely and Newmarket

Would you like to learn more about hypnosis for anxiety in Ely and Newmarket? If you could use some help to overcome your anxiety then do jump to the bottom of this page and follow the link to book your free consultation.

Anxiety can take over your life. Those uncomfortable feelings and worst case, catastrophic, thoughts can fill you with dread. Your mind races, your heart pounds and you struggle to think clearly or switch off. The more anxious you feel, you more you worry about it and the cycle keeps going. You’ve probably also started avoiding things that you used to enjoy or you find you are struggling to face people, even when you know them well.

There are the sleepless nights with the hours and hours enduring the endless battle with your overthinking. You are tired and so the next day feels even harder to endure. Your appetite is affected and you feel even more depleted. You may even be worrying about whether you will ever feel normal again. What if your anxiety is here to stay?

If this sounds like you, then please know that there is hope. You can take back control over your thoughts and feelings and start feeling better. My hypnotherapy can help you find your freedom from anxiety. You can and will feel better again.

Workplace Anxiety – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Mar 5, 2025 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Workplace Anxiety – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

If you struggle with workplace anxiety, it can start to dominate all of your waking hours. We all spend so much time at work, often with the same old pattern of tasks, situations, people and environments.

If there is something, or someone, at work that causes your anxiety levels to rise then it can become a real problem. You find yourself thinking ahead and feeling stressed in the morning as you get ready. On your commute you notice that the worst case scenarios and uncomfortable feelings grow and grow. And at work you can feel totally stressed, worried and anxious in a way that makes you feel bad and stops you getting on with the things you need to do. You may then worry about not doing your job very well and getting in trouble over it.

With workplace anxiety, your evening can be filled with a sense of relief that you’ve made it through another day yet tinged with the dread that the next day will be another exhausting internal battle. You may find yourself thinking and talking about work issues all of the time and struggling to sleep each night as you worry about the next day and play out things in your mind. And, of course, many people need help to overcome their fear of public speaking such as workplace presentations and meetings.

Recently I was was working with someone who would wake in the night thinking about work, would be unable to eat from stress in the morning and then struggled to get out of the car and go into the office. Now, she’s happily getting on with things, rather than putting them off, and feeling happier and more herself again.

There was also a client who had anxiety when seeing, or even thinking about, a particular colleague. The mention of their name, the sound of their voice or an email from them popping up would all cause workplace anxiety. Thankfully, it is very possible to change your response and interactions with someone at work to something more calm, composed and confident.

Healthcare Anxiety

by Dan Regan | Mar 2, 2025 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks, Phobias and Fears

Healthcare Anxiety – Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket

Do you struggle with healthcare anxiety?

Healthcare anxiety can be a constant lingering worry that lurks at the back of your mind. You see things on TV and in the press about health issues. People tell you about their ailments and treatments. Maybe you even have something that you know you should probably get checked out but your anxiety holds you back and leaves you overthinking and worrying about it.

You’ve probably got used to avoiding going to the doctor or having any investigations or tests. Yet you know that in all likelihood, at some point in your life you are going to have to face it head on. Sooner or later, you know that you will need to get something looked at or have something done. Even the thought of it can be enough to raise your blood pressure and give you restless moments.

Medical procedures and appointments are a normal part of life. You may need to visit your GP for a check up, undergo a procedure at hospital or need an injection or blood test. You may be ok with some of these things yet there is some part of healthcare that fills you with immense dread, fear and worry.

With health anxiety, medically related things (sometimes even if for someone else rather than yourself) can fill you with anxiety, dread and fear. You try to avoid medical things. But at some point avoidance no longer becomes an option and you have to face it. That’s when you need to learn how to change your mindset, calm your anxiety, think clearly and change that old healthcare anxiety habit.

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