Stress & Anxiety

Therapy For Stress & Anxiety

Around twelve million adults see their GPs with mental health problems each year – most of these suffer from anxiety and depression, much of which is stress related.

Of course, stress is something which we all experience; it is part of modern life. Indeed, some degree of stress is essential to help us all function effectively and to enjoy life to the full. Take for example top performers in sports, the arts and entertainment. Some degree of stress is essential for them to perform at their best. But when stress and anxiety become too much for us to cope with it can affect the quality of our lives. It can lead to under-achievement, lack of motivation, cause deep unhappiness and depression, affect personal relationships and cause distressing physical symptoms such as Panic attacks, IBS (Irritable bowel syndrome), PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).

Stress and Anxiety can be as a result of specific physical, social or emotional circumstances or can be a 'build up' of difficulties, for some it becomes almost a 'learned behaviour' and we can get stuck in a negative cycle of thoughts, symptoms and behaviours.

Acute or chronic stress and anxiety inappropriately set off our primitive the ‘fight or flight’ response. This is nature’s way of helping us survive in the face of danger – the body prepares us to either fight or run away. This ‘fight or flight’ is a primitive response there to ensure our survival, this response has not evolved as we have but it has adapted and manifest in modern day symptoms of anger, anxiety and depression. Often it is not the events in our lives that cause us stress and anxiety but our perceptions of those events.

Identify The Stressors

However, what we need to be aware of is that the word ‘stress’ is rather abstract and vague; we need to ask ourselves ‘what specifically is making me feel anxious?’ It is by identifying these ‘stressors’ that we can begin to deal with them in more healthy and effective ways.

I use a range of therapies tailored to your individual needs that can help you gain tools to understand triggers, manage your anxiety and “re-frame” your reactions focusing on your strengths and resources and provide you with valuable tools to cope and respond how you would prefer to respond helping you to feel more in control, of your mind, your life, feeling more relaxed and engage fully in life again.