Panic Attacks.

Understanding panic attacks and panic disorder.

Posted February 2010

There are various contributors that certainly appear to exacerbate the onset of panic attacks, but these reasons will be dependent on the person and by their circumstances.

Causes for a panic disorder differ from one person to another and cannot be known with a 100% accuracy or certainty. The effects of panic attacks can be connected to the actions of chemicals within the brain which are called neurotransmitters. If the neurotransmitter is mis-firing in anyway, they can cause a reaction which is known as "fight or flight" syndrome. This reaction is normally the precursor to panic attacks. Some specific medical problems, and the taking of medications, may elevate the factors in panic attacks. Should you start to suffer from panic attacks all of a sudden, especially if you have never had them before, these potential medical causes need to be investigated prior to any ongoing psychological treatment. If your panic attacks do not have any medical origins. It is very possible to control and potentially eliminate panic attacks completely via the usage of a psychological treatment and this can vary from psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, hypnotherapy, counselling. When undertaking a psychological treatment or therapy, the originating trigger for your panics attacks will be highlighted and removed. Even if you are not certain of what your triggers are, most therapies will be able to help you to come to terms with your fears and give you control over any unwanted behaviours, hence reducing the symptom.

Understanding panic attacks.

Panic attacks come in several forms, and many sufferers are not often aware that they are experiencing one. Panic attacks can last from only a few seconds at a time to more extreme cases that last several days or even weeks.

A panic attack can occur suddenly, or may develop in intensity over many hours. The most significant signs of an impending panic attack are an unexplainable feeling of anxiety or tightness in the body and head. Panic attacks can sometimes just occur without any apparent trigger. A build up of Work-related stress, interpersonal relationship problems, and problems at home are some of the more common causes that attribute to this externalized anxiety.

While the underline causes are obviously psychological, the results that they bring are very real. You will find that some of the most common physical symptoms that may be experienced as a result of a panic attack can be: headaches, hot flushes, nausea, and dizziness. More extreme cases of panic attacks can even cause strokes, heart attacks, and unconsciousness.

There can also be behavioural symptoms such as panic attack sufferers can often resort to hiding the condition from other people and becoming socially inhibited.

 

Eating disorder Hell!

Understanding the vital signs of an eating disorder.

Posted January 2010

An eating disorder is much more than just being on a diet. An eating Disorder is an illness that afflicts all aspects of each sufferer's life, is caused by many emotional factors and influences, and has a profound effect on the sufferer emotionally and the people who live around them.

Dieting (Restriction of calorific intake)

The person that diets is someone that is not entirely happy with the way they look, they will restrict the certain foods (low calorie diet) they eat, thus ultimately lose weight. The person that is constantly dieting is very compulsive and is quite dissatisfied with their physical appearance. The term dieting is generally mis-conceived, the word diet, in short means, healthy eating, but this in current terms means low restrictive calorific intake and can lead dietary problems. Dietary problems can include depression and can lead to the following problems.

Bulimia (Binging, followed by the compulsion of purging)

People that live their lives with bulimia will binge excessively and purge their foods after eating hence, they will eat a large amount of food in a very short period of time and can us laxatives or self-induced purging (such as vomiting).Their coping mechanisms are normally overwhelmed by their internal emotions, or in order to punish (masochistic in tendency) ones self for something they feel they should blame themselves for. This can be in direct relation to how they feel about themselves, or how they feel over a particular event in their lives. People that suffer with from bulimia find reasons of binging and purging to ultimately avoid and project feelings of depression or anxiety.

Anorexia (an obsessive fear of gaining weight).

People that suffer with this illness have very low self-esteems and often have a need to control their surroundings and emotions that create an over obsessiveness. Anorexia, is a very unique reaction to many external and internal conflicts that create much stress, anxiety, unhappiness,whereby the person may feel not in control of their lives. Anorexia is an externalised conscious controlled way to cope with these emotions.

The person with anorexia may be overly sensitive about being observed as being fat and can have a fear of becoming over weight. Anorexics can be afraid of losing control over the amount of food they consume and this can be accompanied by the desire to control their emotions. Anorexics characteristics normally have low self-esteem and have a need for acceptance. They will have an obsessive diet that consists of very low calorific intake which can be described as starvation. Some anorexics also feel that they do not deserve pleasure out of life.

Some  signs of anorexia can be: obsessive exercise, overly obsessive calorie and fat gram counting, extreme starvation and deprivation of food, the use of diet pills, and a persistent un-satisfaction with body image.

If you know someone with the above signs, why not help them and put them in touch with someone that can help.

 

How Inventions are making you Fat!

Progression Is Natural Suppression! Slimmer Mind could help you.

Posted September 2009

My program in a nutshell, is about getting my clients to re-identify a natural response that has either never been learnt or simply has been lost over time due to society and conformity to it. I do this by getting them to understand or to realize that it's not the food that is the main problem but its the way you eat it.

I believe that the reason for rising obesity and heart disease is due to fast paced lifestyles, not knowing when to slow down. There is a great need for society to start to acknowledge their physical bodies and its natural responses, this way we can start regain some of what we have lost, knowing when to stop eating before we are over full.

I attribute most of these problems to over progression in society such as inventions, like the remote control for the TV, Cars (no one walks anymore), simply put, inventions are making us lazy and suppressing us physically and mentally. People are not being able to identify natural responses like when we are thirsty or hungry and reaching for the dough nut instead of re hydrating and confusing the two.

A great example of how society is suppressing us is, in the big scheme of things, I was listening to the radio not so long ago and they were talking about how infant school teachers are now having to change children nappies for them during the school day (ridiculous) because the parents are not potty training their children. First of all, the parent is not having the time because they are always on the run, secondly the invention of the nappies has advanced so much (their so porous) the child can probably go most of the day with one on!

I believe that all adults will probably be incontinent by 2050!! This is one of a hundred things, and I now know the film WALL-E, is the future to come! So why not start to look at some of the conveniences in your life and see whether or not you can start regain your natural responses.

You would only need to make small changes to get big results. Ditch the car! and walk to the shops.

 

Beat the credit crunch - Interview Tips - Winning the fight.

Beat the Credit Crunch with the use of 'do it yourself' Hypnosis and visualisation techniques By Steve Mckeown - The Therapist and Author of 'Slimmer Mind'.

Posted April 2009

Over last 6 months or so we have all been under a huge amount pressure. This can effect many parts of our lives, especially on an emotional level, in-turn can make us very anxious. I have decided to do my bit in beating the credit crunch and give some well needed tips to keep that failing esteem on the up. I have decided over the next several weeks to post some very useful techniques and tips that I use within my therapy clinic to combat this on going crisis.

My first tips and techniques will be based on interviews and getting people back to work. It is now getting harder to get a job as there are less positions available and there are more people fighting for that available vacancy. So nows the time to perfect you and the way you present yourself. This starts with positive thinking and positive doing.

Why not take the the time to work on yourself emotionally, now that 'time' is in your hands with some proven to-work techniques that I am going to offer you here over the coming weeks. Be on top of your game! (and don't leave anything to chance.) Why not invest some time into yourself, while you have it and spend a little effort on your way of thinking. I know from personal and professional experience that if I was to allow this crisis (credit crunch) to control me and my thoughts I would see a dramatic change in my personality, this could create so many problems personally and professionally. So my way of thinking is to use the power of my subconscious to control my conscious outlook on life. So keep this in mind 'Beliefs or aspirations are fundamental to happiness', so in effect what you believe is what you are, or what you are becoming, so if you think negatively you will be negative, (you probably already know this, as this is basic psychology), but are you doing anything about it? Probably not, because you limit your beliefs and aspirations, saying things like 'I cant get a job because there's a credit crunch', 'there are too many people going for each job', I have had 3 interviews already and I have not been successful in any', and so on this trend builds and is accumulative and after while your belief is tumbling.

Ask yourself this question.

Am I really positive when my beliefs are already formed before I go for an interview? In other words 'your doomed from the start'. Your new mind frame is working against you and you are beginning to accept this even though you are probably not aware of this consciously and even physically. Again ask yourself this question..'How do you perceive a confident person'? How do they present themselves verbally? How do they present themselves physically? and then ask yourself this 'Is this me'? Again ask yourself this question.. 'How do you perceive a negative person'? How do they present themselves verbally? How do they present themselves physically? Is this you? Now if you fall into the negative category, then you need help to overcome this, if you fall into both, you still need some help to improve the way you think. If you are not negative at all, then your probably not human! Only Joking, there are still things to be learnt as nobody can be perfect and you are probably limited by the fact that you maybe feel that there's nothing more you can do to improve and hence become inhibited by your beliefs. 'Anyone can improve no matter what you feel or think'. 'The fact that you can learn more means that you can strive to become a better person'.

I had a client just recently that was struggling, had became very anxious, because every position that they applied for was a 'knock back'. Over time, after 5 interviews decided to get help because their belief was now negative and inhibiting and holding them back. My client had formed negative suggestions saying things like I'm never going to get a job etc. Not only was the money becoming tight, the depression was setting in. I had to think of the best way to help my client without keeping them in therapy for longer than they needed because their finances were becoming low and this would only create more worry and anxiety, almost a double edged sword. So I had to come up with something that was effective and kind on my clients pocket. Normally I would use a form of analytical therapy due to other symptoms, as I follow the doctrine of 'cause and effect'. This type of therapy can last between 6-12 sessions and would have been far more life changing but time was the essence. Money and the financial commitments were an issue to. So I agreed to deal with confidence and interview worries, as this was what was more important at this point in their lives. So therefore I came up with some simple techniques that could be used on an ongoing basis at home whilst having also agreed to have a couple of practical therapy sessions with me.

These techniques were very successful, my client now has a job, feels far more positive about the direction he is taking in life and has even set aside monies for analytical therapy to deal with his other issues. Everyone's happy! So over the next few weeks I will be revealing these simple techniques and tips to help you get back to work or even help you with anything you desire as these techniques are versatile and can be used for anything you decide to improve on. Heres what in store for the weeks ahead:

Using your personality - applying for a job that fits your personality and getting the most out of it.

Interview techniques - Mirroring. Self projection techniques.

How to use your imagination effectively, visualisation techniques to reduce nerves/anxiety, Formulation of self suggestion and auto-therapy (self hypnosis), making them accumulative.

Tips for stopping smoking (saving a ton of money). Tips for losing weight easily without dieting (reducing your food bill every week).

All you need to clinch that Job or even that deal if your self employed. Bye for now!

Hypnotherapy Hertfordshire UK