Whenever I check the stats for what people search for when looking for a therapist, Anxiety is always there at the top of the pile. Even before the extraordinary situation created by Covid-19, it was always Number One, so now it has a clear head and shoulders lead over Stress, Trauma, relationship problems and so on. Why?
Well, for one thing it is a general term that embraces various issues. It’s a word that is thrown around lightly, it’s an “alright” thing to have, it’s accepted and (sort of) understood.
The NHS defines anxiety as “a state of unease, such as worry or fear, that may be mild or severe, ”
It is perfectly normal – and healthy – to feel anxious at certain times. This goes back to the old “fight or flight” syndrome of stone-age man. When coming face-to-face with a hungry lion, the man had to make a choice – stay and fight the beast, or run. The chemical process triggered in the body in the split seconds it took him to make his decision has been clearly identified, and involves the amygdala, at the back of the brain. At the first sign of danger, it releases adrenalin, a chemical that puts certain systems on high alert. It also shuts down systems that are not so important: stone age man would not have been aware of being hungry or wanting to have a pee when faced with a hungry lion. All resources are pumped to the brain, the muscles, the heart and the senses.
Once the crisis is over – when stone-age man has killed the lion or escaped from its clutches, the flow of adrenalin is stopped, and the systems return to normal.
A touch of adrenalin is a good thing – it gives us that “edge” before we make a presentation, or have an interview or take a driving test. But prolonged adrenalin is like driving a car with the choke out all the time (those of you too young to remember cars with chokes, go Google it!). There is too much “juice” getting in to the system, it’s working on overdrive, and that is not healthy.
Too much adrenalin in a system is like too much petrol in an engine – it floods!
There are many factors in our normal everyday life that may cause anxiety – work, financial worries, relationship, kids, moving house, death of a loved one to name but a few. Add into the mix the shadow of Covid-19 and the many implications of that, and there is a perfect storm. People are either rushed off their feet at work on the frontline, in highly-stressed situations, or are stuck at home unable to work, with time and space to think about all the things that might go wrong.
The news is full of horror stories, numbers of death and people suffering: the levels of fear and panic are stirred up constantly.
In all of my work, I seek to trace back the real, underlying root cause of an issue and resolve it at source. A client’s irrational, ongoing anxiety may be the result of an incident or a trauma in their early childhood – or perhaps even much earlier, in a previous life (that is far more common than you may think). It may stem from a set of circumstances that, to the client at least, cannot be changed, leaving him or her powerless.
In exploring the client’s perspective of the situation and the wider world, i can help the client to uncover the cause of the anxiety if it is a “this lifetime” root.
This may be done by creating a safe space for the client to “download” all the “stuff” that has been building up inside – all the “what if …?” scenarios, the fears, the insecurities and so on.
Or, perhaps some hypnotherapy and past life regression may be more effective, to explore the unconscious levels of the mind and see what is being held there.
Long-term anxiety can be debilitating and exhausting, and can have a serious impact on someone’s quality of life and well-being.
Uncovering the real underlying root cause and resolving the issue at source allows that person to get on with his or her life.
If you would like to have an initial chat about this, or any other aspect of my work, please do not hesitate to get in touch. An initial chat is totally free and there is no commitment at all. My home number is 01444 459 433 and my mobile is 07597 020 512.
I work from Vinings Natural Health Centre in Haywards Heath, West Sussex and appropriate measures are now in place to meet all the Covid-19 requirements.