Stress is living. For each individual stress has a range. At one end of the range stress is overbearing and expressing itself as clinical conditions. At the opposite end there is zero forward movement in other words, stillness.

Psychologist Heinz Kohut talks about optimal frustration. This simply means we need stressors in our lives to learn, experience and as feedback from our world. Zero stress would eventually lead to depression and lack of meaning.

A simple way to think of stress is like a vat. We have individual strategies in place that help 'drain-off' some of the vat's contents. These may include exercise, supportive eating, relaxation, down-time, time with loved ones, appropriate sleep and so on. Our busy western lifestyles 'fills' the vat; high performance professional lives, maintaining a family or relationship, travel, consistent unsupportive diet, smoking or lack of exercise or any combination of these factors and others. If you imagine the vat has a heater underneath that gets turned up when unpredictable things happen; promotion at work, bereavement, family difficulties, moving house and any serious loss..the heat goes on. The vat can begin to boil over. When stress increases you are likely to experience more anxiety. This can manifest as always feeling 'on', tension, snappiness with colleagues and loved ones or withdrawal from usual activities.

When stress becomes embedded it can then manifest clinical conditions (eg: skin disorders, insomnia, panic attacks, unexplained thoughts or phobias, high blood pressure and possible cardiovascular conditions such as heart disease or even depression).

We all have a range within which we function well. A busy lawyer may thrive at periodically high stress levels (as long as they ensure the vat does not boil over). A writer may require a relatively low level of stress to explore ideas and continue to function successfully. The important note here is that we are all individual and have our own range appropriate to our style. There is no right or wrong - only that which works.

How Hypnotherapy helpsI can help you examine the stress triggers of your life. We can look at strategies for change.

Most importantly hypnotherapy - from your very first treatment - is an inherently deeply relaxing tool. I will teach you how to work with yourself to induce relaxation at the most challenging times and how to bring resources to the big stressors. This will allow you to operate effectively and support yourself in an independent and sustainable manner. We can work to produce new outcomes. Using the metaphor above, our aim would be to maintain a vat level appropriate to your circumstances.

The British Medical Association published a study in 1982 highlighting the efficacy of clinical hypnosis as an effective intervention. Research on hypnotherapy has tended to highlight three main areas in which it's efficacy as a treatment has been demonstrated, Anxiety, insomnia and Psycho-somatic disorder, i.e., stress-related illness