Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Running and Mental Health – Run My World Blog

by Dan Regan | Sep 22, 2020 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Running and Mental Health:

I’m delighted to have had the opportunity to write a guest post about my running and mental health. I mean, how could I pass up the chance to write about two of my favourite things!

Running and exercise have been an integral part of my life for many, many years. At the outset, running was a way for me to try and deal with my anxiety, overthinking and low self-esteem problems. After a day at work it gave me an escape from those unwanted thoughts and feelings. It was a chance to think things through or to think about nothing at all. And I always felt physically and mentally better afterwards.

These days, exercise and running are key aspects of my life because I enjoy them, they give me a sense of achievement and they help iron out any of the challenges in life that head my way. Exercise and running now help to keep me mentally healthy.

The awesome team over at Run My World (https://www.runmyworld.co.uk/) have recognised that lots of us get into running, or keep running, for our mental health. They organise virtual running challenges from 5km up to ultramarathons and, what is awesome, is that a percentage of profits from each challenge goes to various mental health challenges. It’s awesome to see someone raising mental health awareness, contributing to the mental health conversation, and giving something back from running that will benefit others who may be struggling. I’m super excited to take part in some of their challenges (and the bling is pretty tidy too!)

Generalised Anxiety Disorder Levels Continue To Escalate

by Dan Regan | Sep 16, 2020 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Generalised Anxiety Disorder Levels Continue To Escalate

Generalised anxiety is the biggest thing I help people with by far in my hypnotherapy sessions. Having experienced anxiety myself, I know all too well how unpleasant and uncomfortable it can be, as well as how it impacts on you physically, emotionally and socially. Anxiety can be well and truly debilitating.

Fortunately we know from the research that hypnotherapy is a very effective treatment for anxiety that can help you (for more on the effectiveness of hypnotherapy for anxiety have a read of this article: The Effectiveness of Hypnotherapy as a Treatment For Anxiety).

What we also know is that, despite effective treatments for anxiety such as hypnotherapy, the levels of generalised anxiety disorders continue to escalate over the years. More and more people are finding themselves struggling to cope with anxiety-related thoughts, feelings and symptoms.

Some time ago, I wrote about results from the Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (published in 2016) which suggested that one in six adults in England has a common mental health disorder (such as anxiety and depression). This translated to about one woman in five and one man in eight having a mental health disorder, and they also reported that rates of self-harming had increased. Studies have also previously suggested that increases in mental health disorders is being primarily driven by adolescents and young adults (for more on these see: The Rise and Rise of Anxiety and Depression).

Building upon the research that shows that generalised anxiety disorder levels continue to rise, comes a new study that looked at trends in anxiety and related mental illness in UK general practice over a twenty year period.

Time In Nature For Your Mental Health

by Dan Regan | Sep 9, 2020 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Time In Nature For Your Mental Health:

There’s no doubt that getting away from things and spending some time in nature has a positive impact on your mental health, and can help you to reduce your stress and anxiety levels. Like me, you may know this already from personal experience, yet the science and evidence also exists to back it up.

The research shows that just ten to twenty minutes in nature has significant and positive impacts on your mental health and well-being and that just doing these a few times a week is enough for you to benefit.

As you’ll know if you read my blogs, I like to combine the benefits of being outdoors in a nature environment with the (also well evidenced and researched) benefits of running (or walking/jogging). I love training runs that go through woodland or that involve getting away from the built up areas and just being around the sights and sounds of nature. It’s also why I enjoy my walk to my new office and looking out of the windows across the fields watching the birds and the deer doing their thing.

While on my recent rip to the New Forest I spent every early morning walking and jogging around the forest and enjoying being around the horses and other wildlife in the solitude and silence. I was fortunte enough to watch a fascinating ‘stand off’ between two groups of horses at a stream, where in complete silence they just seemed to stare at each other for minute after minute until the deadlock ended (there’s a little bit from that at the end of the video below so keep watching to see the horses).

In this video, I talk about some of the benefits of time in nature for improving your mental health and well-being, and for reducing stress and anxiety:

My Go To Two For My Anxiety and Stress

by Dan Regan | Jul 29, 2020 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

My Go To Two For My Anxiety and Stress

I’ve lost count over my last decade as a hypnotherapist of how many times people have asked me, because I seem to so calm and upbeat when they meet me, whether I’m always calm or whether anything phases me. Of course some things do push my buttons and there have been times of stress and worry in my life (I’m only human after all!).

Being a bit of a thinker, I need to keep an eye on where my mental focus and thinking is going sometimes. Thankfully, as with my clients, by learning to not worry about things outside of my control, and to take action (rather than being passive) about things I can control, problems become challenges to find solutions to. On top of that (again, as my clients get to learn), there will always be ways to tackle the kind of stuff that goes on inside your head that help you to cope better with the things you are facing and experiencing.

Recent weeks have been a particularly challenging period with my hypnotherapy practice, not just because of covid-19, but because of the consistent and persistent anti-social behaviour of another tenant in the building. I won’t go into all the details but sadly discussion failed to improve things. As I mentioned above, I believe in taking action to deal with life’s problems and challenges, so as the other business owner and my landlord have been unable or unwilling to help, I’m going to soon be sharing some super exciting news with you about an awesome new location I’ll be operating from (it’s a fantastic venue and I can’t wait!).

But in the meantime, I wanted to share my go to two techniques that I always call upon first for anxiety and stress, because they are easy to implement and because they work so well.

Hypnotherapy For Anxiety

by Dan Regan | Jul 8, 2020 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Hypnotherapy For Anxiety

Anxiety is one of the more prevalent mental health issues out there. It certainly forms the largest part of the issues that I help people with.

Whether it’s in relation to a specific event or situation, social anxiety, OCD, or more general, hypnotherapy for anxiety can certainly be beneficial (and you only have to take a look through my What People Say pages to find out how many people have overcome their anxiety with my hypnotherapy).

You don’t just have to take my word and that of my clients to know that hypnotherapy can be very effective for anxiety. Last year (2019) I wrote about research showing that hypnosis is a highly effective treatment for anxiety (have a read here: The Effectiveness of Hypnotherapy as a Treatment For Anxiety).

And there are certainly reasons why hypnotherapy can work so well for anxiety.

Anxious Worst Case Scenarios

by Dan Regan | Jul 6, 2020 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Anxious Worst Case Scenarios

If you struggle with anxiety then you’ll be very familiar with those worst case scenarios that can take over your mind. Your mind fills with all sorts of imagined future situations and circumstances where things go wrong or badly in some way, or where people judge you negatively or you can’t handle and cope with things. And you may have noticed how you can go down the ‘anxiety rabbit hole’ of thinking of that worst case scenario and then what the negative consequences of that would be. In no time at all you can move from something you imagined might or could happen, to overthinking and being mentally absorbed in even more disastrous and anxiety-producing outcomes.

With all that anxious thinking, it’s no wonder that you are filled with dread, fear and anxiety. What’s more, the more you overthink those possible worst case scenarios, the more anxious and on edge you tend to feel, and the more anxious overthinking you struggle with. It becomes a pattern that exacerbates and increases your anxiety.

I’ve talked before about how, with anxiety, avoidance and escape become common behaviours. You avoid or get of that situation or thing that is filling you with dread, or if you are in a situation where you feel anxious, you try and escape and get away. Having escaped or dodged it, you feel relief and a bit better, yet that only negatively re-enforces your anxiety and avoidance in the future.

Overcoming anxiety and dealing with those anxious thoughts is something that I help people with day in and day out. Rather than being controlled by your anxious thoughts, you can learn to challenge them, to take away the anxiety and to take back control over your thinking.

Positive Feedback – Hypnotherapy in Ely

by Dan Regan | Jul 6, 2020 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Positive Feedback – Hypnotherapy in Ely

I’m very fortunate to have received a whole mass of positive feedback over the years from people I have helped with issues such as anxiety, panic attacks, self-esteem and confidence. Whilst helping people move from a place where they are initially unhappy and troubled, to a place where they are calm, confident, happy and in control is rewarding in its own right and it’s wonderful to receive hypnotherapy reviews from these people.

As I write this, I’m approaching somewhere in the region of 250 written and video hypnotherapy testimonials and I just wanted to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to everyone who takes the time to submit a review or record a video. Naturally these reviews help me but they also give hope and belief to others who may be struggling and uncertain what they can do to improve their mental health.

Many, many others prefer not to leave a review, which is absolutely fine, and to rather just tell me how well they are doing. A huge thank you to you too!

Recently, since reopening after lockdown, I’ve received an influx of positive updates from clients. This has included someone I helped to stop smoking and who has now been a non-smoker for a year (happy anniversary!), and someone I helped through a difficult and anxious time a year ago and has told me how his hypnotherapy sessions helped him to cope and helped him get back to his normal self. And another client who struggled with debilitating anxiety for three years also told me how she is now feeling good and getting on with life.

Anxious Thoughts – Possible versus Probable

by Dan Regan | Jun 16, 2020 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Anxious Thoughts – Possible versus Probable

If you struggle with anxiety then you’ll know how those catastrophising thoughts and worst case scenarios can dominate your mind, leaving you feeling tense, anxious and full of dread. The more vivid and strong those thoughts become, the worse you start to feel.

You may even be very aware that the things you are imagining are illogical or at least unlikely to happen in the way you are thinking, yet those emotions start to take over and that thinking dominates.

So part of any overcoming anxiety treatment involves calming the anxious feeings and emotions so that they aren’t fueling and taking over your thinking. And part of the process of overcoming anxiety is the switch from possibility to probability. Something you think may be possible, but that doesn’t make it probable.

Anxiety and Avoidance

by Dan Regan | Jun 15, 2020 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Anxiety and Avoidance

The classic behaviour that goes with anxiety is avoidance. Those anxious thoughts and feelings are so strong and uncomfortable that you make excuses, cancel plans or say and do whatever it takes to avoid going into that feared situation or environment. And if you can’t avoid it altogether, your anxiety will certainly lead to you escaping from there as soon as you practically can.

When I struggled with social anxiety, making excuses and avoiding things were common occurences. I might have been looking forward to that night out when it was days away, yet the closer it came, the more I would worry about things going badly, about how I might look or saying the wrong thing (or having nothing interesting to say at all). The more anxious and filled with dread I would become, and the more it would play on my mind as I tried to think of a believable excuse I could use to bail out of the plans. There were times when even if I was at a social event, I would feel so uncomfortable from anxiety that I would make my escape and head home.

Of course, sometimes a few drinks might relax me enough to enjoy myself but that’s not a reliable, healthy or always acceptable strategy for tackling anxiety. And it can easily lead to overdoing it, feeling sick and losing the next day with a hangover (as well as those thoughts of what other people might have thought about what you were saying and doing). When it came to something like public speaking, I would try and get out of it any way I could, even to the point of faking sickness.

The problem with avoidance or escape because of anxiety is that it brings you relief when you do it. You dodge or get away from your anxious thoughts and feelings and then feel better as a result. But that short term relief only re-enforces your anxiety and makes feeling anxious and avoidance all the more likely the next time.

The Anxiety Equation – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Jun 10, 2020 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

The Anxiety Equation – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket:

Many people come to hypnotherapy thinking that the thing they are anxious about causes their anxiety. And in many ways this is quite natural because for you that thing is associated with anxiety, worry and dread.

Whether it’s public speaking that makes you anxious, or flying, or driving on motorways, social situations, swimming in open water or something else, in those places, situations or circumstances, the anxiety can be overwhelming. There are the thoughts and feelings beforehand and when you think of that anxiety filled thing, the increased anxious thoughts, feelings and sensations when in the situation, as well as any analysis or self-criticism as you think back upon it afterwards.

Yet there is an additional element in your anxiety. We know this because not everyone struggles with catastrophising thoughts and anxious feelings about those things. Some people love flying, socialising or public speaking and those other things you try and avoid.

The fact there is more to it is good news, because it means that rather than being stuck wtih those thoughts and feelings, you can do something about them that can help you feel better.

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