Conquering your demons: it may be easier than you think

If you’re fed up with patronising friends telling you to stop beating yourself up, but wonder if they might have a point there’s a therapy that can help.

Olivia came to Hastings from a PR career notorious for high-octane stress, in which she observed  the different ways people around her reacted: “Some people seemed to have great resilience in dealing with what life threw at them while others appeared to be at the mercy of events, other people’s attitudes or their own fears.”

Now she’s re-trained, got an impressive string of professional qualifications and works to help people to develop that resilience. The methods she uses are all clinically proven, and she’s seen the benefits confirmed in her own practice. “Every time a client tells me how much they have benefited from this therapy after just a few sessions, I know I made the right choice.”

Daily self-doubt and lack of confidence cramps our style and stops us from following up opportunities or even feeling free to let go and have a good time. And very often we make it worse by talking ourselves down.

It is possible to learn to stop these negative attitudes in their tracks and replace them with helpful and realistic thinking. This is especially so if you have a specific fear or phobia, or are feeling crushed by a bad experience such as the break-up of a relationship, loss of a job, inconsolable bereavement or disappointed hopes.

These things happen to many people. Most of us will take some time out to recover and then pick ourselves up and carry on. But if we can’t, it can lead into a downward spiral of sadness and apathy, fatigue, guilt and hopelessness. That’s when we need to get a helping hand.

Other circumstances may have brought on serious stress, severe anxiety, panic attacks or phobias, all of which can trigger frightening physical symptoms. As with all learned responses, the more this happens … the more it will happen.

Precisely because these things have been learned, they can be unlearned. We can change the way we think about those situations or things that triggered the anxiety. This can effectively eliminate the symptoms and free us to cope and rebuild our lives.

It all goes back to the way we talk to ourselves. Just as the words we use when speaking to others will influence how they feel and behave towards us, so the way we ‘talk’ to ourselves influences our own feelings and behaviour – and the result can be positive, or it can be negative.

In order to to relax, focus and use your imagination, Olivia uses hypnosis to help you to get to the subconscious layers where the problems are locked in. But you remain aware of everything and in control of yourself.

Unlike the “talking therapies”, the technique she uses deals primarily with the symptoms, and looks to the future rather than focusing on the past. In a few sessions it gives you the skills you need for change, and allows you to measure your progress at every stage of treatment. It’s rapid, powerful, lasting and safe. And you only need to go as far as St Leonards for it.

http://www.hypnotherapyineastsussex.co.uk/

Also in: Health Matters