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Managing Stress and Performance Anxiety in London
Stress management is a challenging but essential tool. Based in central London, Robert is a qualified hypnotherapist whose services will help you to learn useful techniques and cope with issues such as performance anxiety and phobias.
Stress and Anxiety
The ‘fight or flight’ or stress response is the human body’s instinctive defence against attack or danger. This mechanism was a vital necessity for the survival of our cavemen ancestors, but in our modern age – with its fast pace, social and work pressures – the effects (especially over the long-term) of the stress hormones and chemicals released into your body may become harmful to your system.
As a result, it is estimated that between 60% and 90% of all health-care professional visits are stress-related. Long-term conditions caused or exacerbated by stress include:
Stress and Anxiety
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High Blood Pressure
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Arthritis
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Insomnia
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Depression
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Infertility
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Cancer
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Ageing
Symptoms of Stress
Everyone is affected by stress in different ways. Common symptoms include:
Symptoms of Stress
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Inability to Relax
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Increased Heart Rate
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Irritability
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Change in Eating Habits
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Digestive Problems
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Feeling 'Down'
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Forgetfulness
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Aches and Pains
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Headaches
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Sleep Problems
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Poor Concentration
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Destructive Behaviour (e.g. Excessive Drinking)
Treating Stress and Anxiety
It’s a physiological fact that your body cannot be both relaxed and stressed at the same time. Hypnosis is very effective in helping to counteract the effects of stress since many hypnotic techniques utilise relaxation. When in a trance state, your ‘stress response’ is turned off and your ‘relaxation response’ is turned on; the heart rate and metabolic rate slows, and blood pressure decreases. You will also learn how to do this by yourself.
Phobias
Are you afraid of spiders? Heights? Crowds? A phobia is an irrational fear of a specific thing or situation. The impact of phobias ranges from mildly distressing to completely debilitating. If you have a phobia, you may change your behaviour to avoid situations or the things you fear. You may also feel a lack of control and feel foolish about your problem.
We usually develop a phobia either from our direct experience, from observing someone else (often from our parents during childhood) or when we make a subconscious association that may seem to have no obvious connection). Through hypnosis, you will be able to access these hidden subconscious thought processes.
Treating Your Phobia
Using a range of techniques which may include regressing to a time a particular fear was learned or being gradually exposed whilst in a trance state to the thing that you fear (known as Systematic Desensitisation). In the safety of the therapy room, you are helped to face the fear in a more rational and reasonable way, giving you a greater sense of control.
Performance Anxiety and Stage Fright
Robert has many years of experience as a singer and actor, meaning he’s familiar with the feeling of stage fright.
It’s an uncomfortable form of anxiety related to the fear of negative evaluation by others and/or an unmanageable fear of failure, either during performance or auditions. Performance anxiety is defined as the fear of negative evaluation or humiliation. It often afflicts those who are naturally prone to feeling anxious.
Symptoms of Performance Anxiety
We all need a certain degree of arousal and adrenaline to perform at our optimum level. However, if you suffer from performance anxiety, you will almost certainly experience the ‘fight or flight’ stress response, which may be traumatic in performance situations. Symptoms include:
Symptoms of Performance Anxiety
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Increased Heart Rate
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Breathlessness
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Changes in Vision
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Sweaty Palms
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Dry Mouth
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'Butterflies in the Stomach'
Treating Performance Anxiety
Using hypnotic relaxation techniques, you will be able to modify any habitual thoughts and negative ‘self-talk’ that generate performance anxiety. Using self-hypnosis, mindfulness, and breathing techniques, you should be able to resolve this condition rapidly and effectively.