Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

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.

Ely Standard Think Local Campaign Features Dan Regan Hypnotherapy

by Dan Regan | Feb 27, 2025 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks, Hypnotherapy Hypnosis and NLP

Ely Standard Think Local Campaign Features Dan Regan Hypnotherapy

The Ely Standard is currently running a Think Local campaign to promote some of the awesome local businesses that we have here in Ely.

And this week I’m delighted that Dan Regan Hypnotherapy is the featured business!

I’m hugely grateful to the Ely Standard for profiling my business and it is lovely to be covered alongside some of the other brilliant local businesses who have already features as part of the campaign (such as Odyssey Games and FRESH). I’m looking forward to learning about more of the businesses in Ely as the Ely Standard campaign continues.

You can read the full Ely Standard article here:

Fear of Being Sick – Anxiety Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Feb 26, 2025 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks, Phobias and Fears

Fear of Being Sick – Anxiety Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

Do you struggle with a fear of being sick?

When someone comes to see me about their fear of sick, they are often surprised when I tell them how common a thing it is that I help people with. As with many fears, you can get good at avoiding situations associated with sickness and vomiting. And you can become an expert in keeping it under wraps no matter how anxious you are feeling.

If you struggle with a fear of being sick (emetophobia), then you can worry that you, yourself, will be sick and you can feel anxious that someone around you will vomit. You may hate any reference to feeling sick or being unwell and avoid anyone who has been unwell until you can be sure that the danger period is over. When you hear about sickness bugs going around you may feel tense and on edge and avoid even more people and situations.

The likelihood is that you don’t like to drink much alcohol because of the risk of being sick, and you may worry about social events with alcohol in case someone else vomits. Certain forms of travel associated with potential sickness, such as flying and boats, may be no-go areas. I’ve known clients who tell me that even their pet cat or dog being sick is enough to trigger the panic.

You may avoid certain ‘higher-risk’ foods or those linked in your mind to sickness in some way. A feeling in your stomach may be enough to convince you that you are definitely going to be sick this time (just as you were certain last time, when it didn’t happen). And even watching an actor on screen being unwell may be too much for you to cope with. The more people there are somewhere, especially if someone burps, coughs or splutters while eating, the higher the risk. And fairground rides that cause that wavey feeling in your belly are probably a no-go for you right now too.

Being sick is a normal human function (at the right time) and usually someone with emetophobia hasn’t actually vomited on many occasions. However, the fear is so great that it can stop you doing things you’d like to do and it can rule your life at times.

Two Types of Anxiety – Anxiety Help in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Feb 24, 2025 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Two Types of Anxiety – Anxiety Help in Ely and Newmarket

When you break it down, you could say that there are two types of anxiety. And that’s not only about what you think and feel, or how you currently do those things in a way that makes you feel anxious.

I was chatting about this, the two types of anxiety, with a client earlier this week. Either your anxiety comes in high and you need to know how to quickly and effectively bring it down again. Or your anxiety starts small and starts to grow. In this case, you need to know how to cut it off at that point. Of course, overall you want less and less unnecessary moment of anxiety, yet all emotions are normal human reactions so you want to know how to manage your own thoughts and feelings effectively. What you do in either of these situations dictates how bad you feel and how long you feel bad for.

We can all have some moments where our feelings kick in seemingly instantly and sometimes at an intense level. It’s very similar to the startle response. You are going about your day and suddenly and unexpectedly a loud noise goes off right near you. You flinch, automatically take a big breath in and all your focus goes onto the source of the sound. Sometimes you may even feel your heart rate increase and a bit of adrenaline going through you. You the realise it was just a sound and that all is well and your feelings and responses settle down and return to normal.

With anxiety, sometimes an old association, trigger or habit can mean it suddenly feels like your anxiety has instantly rocketed. It feels like it is so fast, and perhaps unexpected, that you have no time to react. You are filled with uncomfortable anxious feelings. Of course, you can lessen this happening through hypnotherapy. Yet, when it happens you may find that the things you think, feel and do next just add to how anxious you feel and how long you suffer with it until it subsides. You need to know what you can do in that moment so that you aren’t just inadvertently adding to your own anxiety. This is when that sense of anxiety being unpredictable and capable of striking at any time can lead to worrying about becoming anxious. You find yourself fearing the fear.

In other moments, you feel a little anxious and then this starts to grow. You notice those first physical sensations, start focusing upon them and start thinking about how bad you feel. You worry about other people noticing. You worry about the anxiety getting worse. You worry about worst case scenarios. Those inner thoughts make you feel more fearful and your anxiety rises. This leads to a spiral of feeling even worse, thinking more and more catastrophically and an escalation of anxiety. In these cases, you need to be able to cut off the anxiety before it spirals out of control. You need to have the sense of capability and the confidence to know you can do this quickly and effectively.

Anxiety and Worst Case Scenarios

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

Anxiety and Worst Case Scenarios

Anxiety and worst case scenarios go hand in hand. Or, if you prefer, imagined catastrophic scenario by imagined catastrophic scenario.

You start to think about some upcoming situation, person, time or place. Your feelings of anxiety, dread and fear begin to kick in and rise. And that anxiety and fear drives your imagination into all sorts of potential disastrous places. You find yourself thinking of all the things that could go wrong and then your imagination moves onto the ongoing fall out as a result of it. Whatever the particular scenario, it always ends in immense disaster for you.

The more you feel that anxiety and overthink and dwell upon the worst case scenarios, the worse you feel and the more other negative things you can find yourself contemplating. You wonder how you will handle, deal and cope with things when they go wrong, as it seems in your head that they inevitably must. You start to associate anxiety with the things you are thinking about until just a fleeting thought or passing mention of that thing can set you on edge.

It doesn’t matter what the upcoming thing actually is. It could be something coming up at work, a social situation, getting on a plane, making a speech, seeing that person again, or any number of things. And because anxiety can generalise, any other similar things get coloured by the same feelings of anxiety, fear and dread. Anxiety moves on from one thing to the next until soon you find yourself carried along on a wave of feeling worse and worse.

These movies in your mind can take over your thinking and fill you with dread. Even though you know things may not turn out the way you are imagining, you still feel anxious and think of all the worst case scenarios.

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