Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Think Like Sherlock To Tackle Anxiety

by Dan Regan | Jan 8, 2024 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Think Like Sherlock To Tackle Anxiety – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

We are into the start of the new year as I write this, and the Christmas festive period is now well and truly over for another year. I’ve written before about my love for A Christmas Carol and all things Dickens over the festive period and there was certainly some of that. However, things were certainly much more dominated this year by another character and his creator.

I’ve loved everything Sherlock Holmes since I was a teenager and I first picked up the books. I’ve re-read them dozens of times over the years, along with many other Sherlock stories from different authors. Over Christmas, I watched a couple of Sherlock films that were on, a fascinating documentary series about Sherlock and his creator, Conan Doyle, as well as a less fascinating programme on the same subject. And things certainly went Sherlock crazy at home when my daughter received a present of a Sherlock board game.

In the game you are given a case to solve and with the game afoot, you then move around the board picking up clues along the way. It’s one of the most enjoyable games we’ve had and we all got involved with a new case each day. It requires a bit of strategy and some thinking and then nothing beats that ‘a-ha’ moment when you can put the clues together and work out the culprit, the weapon and the motive. Elementary, my dead Watson! (Although that phrase doesn’t appear in any of the Sherlock books!).

One of the things I admire about Sherlock Holmes and his methods is the way he approaches issues and solves things using evidence, science and logical thinking. It’s exactly the sort of mindset that can help you if you need to tackle anxiety, fear, worry and overthinking. Rather than the feelings and emotions of anxiety driving your thinking towards worst case scenarios, you want to be able to think clearly, evaluate what goes on inside your head calmly and so then be in control of your own thinking and subsequent responses. Whereas most hypnotherapists sadly do not draw upon any of the science and evidence in their methods, thinking like Sherlock can help you to successfully tackle anxiety, feel better and stay feeling better.

The Ageing Impact of Stress – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Dec 15, 2023 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

The Ageing Impact of Stress – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

In my last article, I wrote all about the stress response and the negative impact of stress on your mood, mindset, thoughts and feelings.

Stress can easily start to negatively effect your thoughts, feelings, emotions and behaviours in ways that make you feel worse and worse. You may feel anxious, depressed, overwhelmed and on edge. You can struggle to think clearly, make decisions and plan things. You may feel like you have no control over your life, or conversely, you may start to try and control every small detail. You struggle to relax and switch off. And there can be impacts upon your motivation, enthusiasm and general energy levels. Your sleep is disrupted, your eating and drinking habits can change and, all in all, you feel burnt out, lost and exhausted. If your stress has been going on along time then it may seem like there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

Stress clouds your mood and mindset, you feel like you are carrying a weight on your shoulders and you struggle to take a grip of your own thoughts and feelings. As I mentioned in that article, hypnotherapy can help you to start feeling calmer and to take back control over your thoughts and feelings. You can feel more enthusiastic, stronger and more self assured to tackle the challenges and problems that come your way. You develop the personal resources that will help you to deal with the demands placed upon you.

However, the impact of stress goes beyond the negative thoughts and feelings you experience. Recent research has also investigated the impact upon your biological age in response to stress.

The Stress Response – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Dec 14, 2023 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

The Stress Response – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

The stress response can have a massive negative impact upon your thoughts and feelings. When it feels as though the demands upon you are too great to cope with, you can easily start to spiral into a cycle of negativity and stress. And when your stress just seems to run and run, it can impact upon you detrimentally and start to weave into all the other aspects of your life too.

The stress response evolved to help us to navigate immediate and external threats and dangers. Stress hormones mobilise your resources for action. Blood and oxygen is directed to your muscles, adrenaline is released, your heart beats faster and you are ready to deal with the threat through fleeing or fighting. And although this is helpful when there is an immediate danger to deal with and where you need to act quickly, it can be less helpful when seeking to manage your life and to deal with more modern challenges.

And many of these modern challenges can come from things like relationships, other people, employment and other things that can be ongoing over a much longer period than out stress response system was designed to deal with. In many cases, it can be our own thoughts, perceptions, expectations and thinking patterns that stress us out and lead to endless worrying. And dealing with things over the longer term and that continually fire off your stress response can be pretty exhausting (mentally and physically).

The negative effects of stress can lead to a range of physical issues such as exhaustion, burnout, digestive problems and high blood pressure. You might feel overwhelmed, anxious, tense and struggle to think clearly or to make decisions. And, as a result of the physical depletion and mental fog, you will start to struggle with sleeping and healthy eating, and you might feel angry, apathetic and start to avoid things you usually enjoy. And, of course, all of these things just add to your stress load, making you feel even worse.

Yet no matter how much your stress response is negatively impacting right now, it is very possible to take back control over your thoughts and feelings. You can feel calm and more confident as you orchestrate your own internal thinking and feeling patterns and as you deal with whatever external challenges and problems may come your way.

Running Therapy for Depression and Anxiety Disorders

by Dan Regan | Dec 4, 2023 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Running Therapy for Depression and Anxiety Disorders – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

Recently I wrote all about completing my first marathon for seven or so years when I finished the Ely Marathon. And now I’m very pleased to report that I’ve finished an ultra marathon too!

The St Edmunds Trail Race is a well organised event that takes place around Ickworth Park and surrounding villages, near Bury St Edmunds. It was a cold, wet, icy and muddy affair and I was pretty happy when I finally crossed the finish line. Ickworth Park is a National Trust site and it was lovely to jog around some paths that I’d never been down before. After that it was a case of heading out across some increasingly muddy paths before heading back into the park again. I had some nice chats with other runners on the way around and I’m massively grateful to all of the marshals who stood out for hours in the wet and cold cheering us on (and making sure we didn’t get lost!).

My main goal was to finish the 50km in six hours which, allowing for a few minutes, I successfully did. And, as always with these sort of things, there are plenty of learning points for next time (once my legs recover and I can manage stairs again!).

Many people I work with are runners or do some other form of exercise. This may be to support their weight management, to help with their mental health, or simply because they enjoy it. Sometimes as part of their sessions they want to improve their running, others want to get back started and sometimes they want to get their motivation for running back and to start enjoying it again.

Whether your thing is running or some other form of exercise, there are massive benefits for your physical and mental health from moving. Running and exercise have a wealth of research to support how beneficial they can be if you struggle with anxiety or depression symptoms.

And a recent study, that I’m covering in this article, has examined the effects of anti-depressants versus running therapy on both your mental and physical health.

Evening Calmness – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Nov 26, 2023 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Evening Calmness – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

How joyous it is to experience an evening of calmness. The main business of the day is done and it’s time to relax and unwind in some way. And whether you are watching a film, reading a book, pursuing a hobby or chilling out with friends, you can decide what to do, choose whether you engage with others or answer messages and just take some time for yourself.

Or maybe not. Perhaps the busyness and distractions of the day are still running and racing through your mind during the evening. You struggle to let go of the stresses and strains from dealing with people and tasks during the day. Your mind fills with everything you need to do and the kind of obstacles that you wade through each day. Something someone else said or did, an injustice you think you were at the end of, or perhaps a sense of overwhelm and burden from aspects of your life can all keep your mind too noisy. Instead of an evening of mental and physical calmness that allows you to recharge, things niggle at you and lurk in your mind. You overthink through the evening and perhaps even lie there in bed at night churning over stuff as your mind refuses to switch off from the day.

And, of course, holding onto the busyness, stress and events of the day inside your head can make you feel stressed and irritable. It can lead to unhealthy eating or using alcohol to try and hush your thinking and relax your body. It interrupts the very time when you should be happily calm and comfortable, recharging and refreshing yourself for the next day. And it can interfere with getting a good night’s sleep, meaning you get up the next morning feeling tired, defeated and harassed.

So rather than struggling to relax, unwind and enjoy your evening, wouldn’t it be nicer to let go of the emotions, thinking and weight of the day you’ve had? You want to be able to calmly reflect on the day you’ve had and to let go of any negative emotions. You want to feel good about the positives and accomplishments of the day rather than overthinking the problems and challenges. And you definitely want to feel calm and relaxed during the evening so that you can enjoy your time and reset effectively for the next day.

Can Being Kind To Others Reduce Social Anxiety? Hypnotherapy Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Nov 15, 2023 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Can Being Kind To Others Reduce Social Anxiety? Hypnotherapy Ely and Newmarket

I’ve written before about my own earlier struggles with social anxiety and how it plagued my life for many years before hypnotherapy helped me. It’s something that I often discuss with clients who are seeking help with social anxiety itself or related issues such as low self confidence and low self esteem. It certainly is very possible to end all that anxiety and worry and to feel more relaxed and comfortable in your own skin.

I can still clearly remember how I would initially get excited about an upcoming event when it was first mentioned. Yet then over time, that initial excitement and enthusiasm would get slowly eroded by feelings of worry and nervousness. I would start to think of all the things I could mess up, from what I might say and do, through even to what to wear and what others would think. Every little decision was a potential minefield that could lead to embarrassment, being judged or failing in some way in front of others (and usually others who I would then have to face again afterwards knowing they would know about whatever I’d messed up).

My social anxiety would drive my imagination into all sorts of worst cases and catastrophes. Sometimes I would feel sick beforehand. Many times I would contemplate cancelling plans or not going through with things. Many times I did actively avoid situations. And I would often be hot, sweaty, panicky and tense from the outset.

At work I would avoid presentations, endlessly overthink before meetings, minimise my interactions with senior staff, try and avoid speaking on the phone in front of others and seek to manage my work style to minimise all of these risks and threats. Sometimes out of frustration I would push myself to go outside my comfort zone in the hope that at some point all of the anxiety would vanish, yet it would be there throughout, leave me exhausted afterwards and I’d just end up starting my worry habit about the next hurdle I would be facing.

I proposed on stage in front of five hundred people, made myself join a running club, became a parish councillor and a district councillor so I’d have to speak and do stuff in front of others. Sometimes these steps went ok and I felt good for a while. Other times they were just an ordeal that I would negatively dwell upon afterwards. My own negative beliefs and social anxiety patterns of thoughts and feelings would just rumble onwards relentlessly no matter what I tried to do to overcome it (before hypnotherapy).

Dealing with Flight Anxiety – Hypnotherapy Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Nov 9, 2023 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Dealing with Flight Anxiety – Hypnotherapy Ely and Newmarket

Flight anxiety can be made up of a whole load of anxious thoughts, feelings and behaviours. For some, their generalised flight anxiety can mean that even seeing a plane or hearing about someone else’s flight can stir up all that anxiety and fear. There will also likely be anticipatory flight anxiety where you can worry from the moment you buy a ticket right through the airport and getting into the cabin.

And there will certainly be the anxiety once the plane doors close and the crew start going through the safety regulations. It may be the take off that bothers you most or being way up in the air. You may feel anxious during landing, or maybe even more relaxed at the end of the flight because you know you are only minutes away from being back on the ground. And a combination of sounds, movements and turbulence can all contribute to your fearful anxiety and worry.

And as if the flight and flying itself wasn’t enough to already ramp up your anxiety about being on a plane, there can also be other things that contribute. You may worry about passing out or having a panic attack on the plane. You may feel anxious about whether you will even be able to get onto the plane or whether you will have to abandon your plans, let people down and head back home. And, naturally, your anxious imagination can conjure up all sorts of disaster scenarios and catastrophes that add to your uncomfortable feelings.

Logically you know that flying is the safest mode of transport and you may even be fed up with being told this repeatedly. Yet flight anxiety will always win over logic and reason and so the dread, avoidance and discomfort continue to run and run.

Searching For The Root Cause – Anxiety Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Oct 24, 2023 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Searching For The Root Cause – Anxiety Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

Perhaps one of the most enduring ideas and misconceptions about hypnotherapy is that it relies on seeking and finding some sort of originating root cause for your anxiety. There is often a sense that hypnotherapy always involves spending a long time trying to uncover things from way back in the past and into childhood.

Certainly it is an approach and model employed by some hypnotherapists who do wish to try and find the historic root cause for what led to your anxiety. They will often want to spend a great deal of time talking about your childhood experiences or encouraging you to revisit the past in some depth. They will describe how their approach helps you to discover the root cause for your issue as a way of overcoming your current anxiety. They are of the view that by discovering and uncovering this long forgotten root cause, your current emotions and unhelpful thinking patterns will be transformed.

Yet while it can be helpful to look back on significant events that have contributed to your current challenges, I’m not sure it logically follows that knowing why something started changes how it currently happens. All too often a client knows, or believes they know, what contributed to the development of their unhelpful anxious thoughts and feelings, yet the anxiety persists. If someone was fine in a plane or car and then has a traumatic experience travelling that causes anxiety and panic whenever in a car or plane, then it’s reasonable clear how the problem started and the root cause of it but the anxiety and panic in those situations remains all too real. And if someone doesn’t know what caused their anxiety, do we really want to spend session after session trawling through the past hoping and trying to find and discover ‘the thing’.

So do we actually need to spend some time searching for the root cause of a problem, or can we just get on with ending the anxiety pattern and having you feel better now and into the future?

Two Stage Thinking Process – Anxiety Hypnotherapy

by Dan Regan | Oct 13, 2023 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Two Stage Thinking Process – Anxiety Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket

Anxious thoughts can easily start to take over your mind until it feels like there is just a constant, uncomfortable, noise throughout your head. Those thoughts of what could go wrong and worst case scenarios fill you with fear and dread and they just keep coming back again and again. Anxiety will always find something to attach to and for you to worry and worry about.

I’ve written many times before about the cycle of anxiety. Your anxious thinking process leads to anxious feelings which then leads to avoidance and increased discomfort. And those feelings and behaviours of worry and anxiety just add to even more anxious thinking. It’s a self perpetuating internal cycle. And on top of that you may start to have other negative thoughts towards yourself and about your own capability to handle, deal, cope with things or to successfully take the steps to achieve your goals. You may start to think of yourself as less adequate than everyone else as they seem to cope so well with the sort of things that ramp up your anxiety. Your confidence and self esteem suffer, you feel even lower and then the cycle of habitual, automatic worrysome thinking takes an even firmer hold.

Anxiety affects how you feel in yourself and what you feel capable of doing. You can feel out of control over your own thoughts and feelings. You may avoid things, neglect relationships, struggle to be productive at work and find yourself wide awake and worrying at night.

One thing I deliberately seek to highlight through the many anxiety articles on my website is that, no matter where you are right now with your own thoughts and feelings, it certainly is possible to take back control and to start feeling better in yourself. You can learn to be able to orchestrate and direct what goes on inside your own mind, your imagination and self-talk and the sort of things you give belief, time and space to inside your own thinking.

Break Down Anxiety and Worry

by Dan Regan | Oct 6, 2023 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Break Down Anxiety and Worry – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

Anxiety and worry are unpleasant and uncomfortable and can become all-consuming and debilitating.

You may struggle with all of the anxious thoughts that race through your mind. You find yourself imagining all sorts of worst case scenarios and catastrophes that could occur and that would be disastrous for you in some way. One worrying thought can just spiral into another and another, taking up all of your brain space and focus and wearing you out. And you may have found that the more you imagine these anxiety provoking thoughts, the more and more you think them. It can get harder to stem the tide of anxious thoughts and if you think them enough, after a while it starts to seem habitual and automatic. Your mind is filled with the anticipation and expectation of disaster, failure, distress and suffering.

And those anxious thoughts lead to the uncomfortable physical feelings and sensations that you struggle with. And because you feel anxious, you find even more thoughts race through your mind and fixate your thinking. And the feelings just linger and persist. It can easily become and exhausting and unpleasant internal roller coaster where you may feel your are thrown from negative thought to negative thought and from anxious feeling to anxious feeling.

In amongst all of those anxious feelings will be a mix of heart racing, tension, restlessness, rapid breathing, sweating, shaking and an inability to focus and concentrate. Your anxious thoughts lead to your body doing what it’s meant to do when faced with a threat (albeit here it is a perceived threat in your own thinking). Those uncomfortable feelings then add to a sense of dread, disaster and doom and your mind starts to seek out the source of the threat leading to even more unwanted thoughts. In this way, the anxious cycle can keep itself running and running and the whole while you feel more tired, frustrated, despairing and out of control.

Talking about things like ‘anxiety’ and ‘worry’ and using those words/terms to describe things can also come with its own difficulties.

« Older Entries

Next Entries »

Claim your FREE Consultation TODAY

Just call 01353 886158 to book your free 30 minute consultation. Discover how you can start feeling better quickly and effectively and ask any questions you may have before deciding to go ahead.

Call Dan today!

Get Your Copy Right Now…

Subscribe to Dan’s Digest filled with tips, strategies and techniques and get instant access to your free rapid relaxation hypnosis audio track.

Enjoy feeling and being more mentally calm and physically relaxed right now:

Rapid Relaxation hypnosis mp3 dan regan hypnotherapy

Dan in the spotlight!

Click below to see Dan in the media

Hypnosis Downloads

Powerful hypnosis for download that will help you to overcome issues and achieve your goals.

Hypnotherapy Video Testimonials

Click below to see dozens of videos from happy clients who have worked with Dan: