Stress!

Its a fact ... STRESS makes us SICK!!

Modern day pressures are adding an unusual load upon people within the western world in particular. I suspect that given the new global economy it will become more prevalent in other nations quite quickly. Basically speaking, where we have industry + wealth + education we begin to develop this quite unique blend of stressors which can tip us over the edge both mentally and physically.

Thats not to say that a Masai tribes person doesn't suffer stress events, I'm sure they do, but its a different form and type of stress to that which we impose upon ourselves.

Stress is a well-known trigger for depression and it can also affect your physical health. So it's important to identify the causes of stress in your life and try to minimise them.

Any sort of loss, from bereavement, divorce and separation to a child leaving home, causes stress, as do long-term illness and disability. But things such as marriage, moving house, a new job and holidays have quite high stress ratings too.

In work, worrying about deadlines or about not being up to the challenges of a particular task can cause stress.

Symptoms of stress

Some common signs of too much stress include:

• Increased irritability
• Heightened sensitivity to criticism
• Signs of tension, such as nail-biting
• Difficulty getting to sleep and early morning waking
• Drinking and smoking more
• Indigestion
• Loss of concentration

It's important to act to relieve damaging stress before it affects your physical or mental health.

Dealing with stress

The secret of managing stress is to look after yourself and, where possible, to remove some of the causes of stress. If you start to feel things are getting on top of you, give yourself some breathing space.

Take a day off work, domestic chores, family and everything else that puts pressure on you. Spend the day doing only relaxing things that make you feel good. It can make all the difference, reducing the threat to your wellbeing.

Some ways to cope with stress:

• Accept offers of practical help
• Do one thing at a time - don't keep piling stress on stress
• Know your own limits - don't be too competitive or expect too much of yourself
• Talk to someone
• Let off steam in a way that causes no harm (shout, scream or hit a pillow)
• Walk away from stressful situations
• Try to spend time with people who are rewarding rather than critical and judgmental
• Practise slow breathing using the lower part of the lungs
• Use relaxation techniques

One response to stress can be anger. Find out more about anger management.

Work-related stress

Stress caused by work is the second biggest occupational health problem in the Western World (after back problems). Because there's still a stigma attached to mental health problems, employees are often reluctant to seek help in case they're seen as unable to cope.

Many situations can lead to stress at work. These include:

• Poor relationships with colleagues
• an unsupportive boss
• Lack of consultation and communication
• Too much interference with your private, social or family life
• Too much or too little to do
• Too much pressure, with unrealistic deadlines
• Work that's too difficult or not demanding enough
• Lack of control over the way the work is done
• Poor working conditions
• Being in the wrong job
• Feeling undervalued
• Insecurity and the threat of unemployment

When people feel under impossible pressure at work, they tend to work harder and harder to try to close the gap between what they're achieving and what they think they should be achieving. They stop taking breaks and lose touch with their own needs.

Tackling work stress

There are general things you can do:

• Talk to someone you trust - at work or outside - about the things that are upsetting you
• Use whatever counselling or support is available
• Work regular hours and take all the breaks and holidays you're entitled to.
• If things get too much, book a day off or a long weekend
• Use flexitime, if available, to avoid rush-hour travel or to fit in with childcare needs
• Look after yourself through exercise and healthy eating
• Tackle addictions to alcohol, smoking or other drugs

Specific things to do:

• Make your work environment comfortable and suited to your needs
• Discuss problems with your supervisor or manager, and if difficulties can't be resolved, talk to your personnel department, trade union representative or other relevant members of staff
• Treat colleagues with the respect and consideration you'd like from them
• Be aware of company policies on harassment, bullying or racism, so you know how to challenge unacceptable behaviour and what back-up there is

All excellent suggestions. Hypnotherapy is an excellent modality of therapy for such stress events. It can re-colour the way you behave in stressful situations, and help you to divest yourself of that which has been causing the inability to cope.

We can teach you new skills, new ways to relax, I mean really relax! This is a skill which people lose as stress builds up and swallows them whole.

So, recognise it, act promptly, seek professional help. There is a way out.

As always, you'll find me at www.cqhypnosis.com.

Dan.

The Amazing Mr Braid

James Braid is the man responsible for naming the state of "hypnosis". Although a misnomer ('hypnos' is greek for 'sleep'), Braid thought it an advance on the previous label of "Mesmerism".

In the following link you will find an insight into Braid's techniques, which now may seem very, very odd indeed. He did at least kick the ball off though, and we owe a great deal to his inquiring mind .....

Click on the link and go to page 328 ....

The strange case of the vision improved ....

Am I the librarian?

Late yesterday afternoon I was working with a client. As they sat talking, I was listening intently, but also "thinking sideways" about their particular issues. They suffer with general stress, a most common ailment of our modern society. This stress is not the physical form, but the type which builds up quietly in the background of your mind, and eventually can cause you to cease functioning as you once did. Every aspect of your life may be coloured by this affliction. Your sleep patterns, appetite, energy levels, immune system, sexual performance and appetite along with your general well-being.

I was "thinking sideways" because I've often wondered if our forebears suffered with "stress" in the same way, or to the same degree. Obviously, the world of my great great great grandfather was not the same as our world, but I imagine that life certainly had it's trials and tribulations which were created by their particular circumstance. I cannot help but think though that many of the people back then were made "of different mettle". For instance, one of my past relatives was David Livingstone, the explorer and missionary (I've been told that his religious zeal faded very quickly, and he only ever converted on native to Christianity!). Some of the physical and mental mountains he surmounted were little short of superhuman. Maybe people were just a tougher breed back then, created by the hardships they simply accepted as part of life? To quote my dear grandfather, Alf, "tha dunt know tha't born lad!"

What is stress anyway? What created it, and can it harm us? Chronic stress, that which is lengthy and all pervasive, can have many negative affects upon us. It also appears that the body doesn’t distinguish between physical and psychological threats. When you’re stressed over a busy schedule, an argument with a friend, a traffic jam, or a mountain of bills, your body reacts just as strongly as if you were facing a life-or-death situation. If you have a lot of responsibilities and worries, your emergency stress response may be “on” most of the time. The more your body’s stress system is activated, the easier it is to trip and the harder it is to shut off.

As I pointed out too, long-term exposure to stress can lead to serious health problems. Chronic stress disrupts nearly every system in your body. It can raise blood pressure, increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, contribute to infertility, and speed up the aging process. Long-term stress can even "rewire" the brain, leaving you more vulnerable to anxiety and depression. Certainly not a healthy prospect!

Because of the potential for widespread damage stress can cause, it’s vitally important to know your own limit. But just how much stress is “too much” differs from person to person. Some people "roll with the punches", while others crumble at the slightest obstacle or frustration. Some people even seem to thrive on the excitement and challenge of a high-stress lifestyle. I say "seem" as I'm not certain that this is actually so. I've witnessed too many of these high fliers fizzle out like a snubbed candle to be totally certain of that one.

My belief is that your ability to tolerate stress depends on many factors, including the quality of your relationships, your general outlook on life, your emotional intelligence, and genetics.

When working with some clients, I endeavor to explain the catacombs of the mind in a metaphorical way; I believe it can help to generate a deeper level of understanding of their own issues. I will often describe their minds as an old fashioned library, great oak shelves with leather bound books by the thousand. Due to life's turmoils, it's inevitable that some, or many of the books are in the wrong position, and some of them have even fallen off the shelf. In the case of some people, their shelves have even fallen down! The deeply relaxed state of hypnosis can allow the librarian of the mind time to place the books back correctly, or even organise a refit for those shelves.

There's something calming and soothing about being in a library ...........

OCD and a genetic point of view

Cambridge researchers have discovered that individuals with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and their close family members have distinctive patterns in their brain structure. This is the first time that scientists have associated an anatomical trait with familial risk for the disorder.

These new findings, reported recently in the journal Brain, could help predict whether individuals are at risk of developing OCD and lead to more accurate diagnosis of the disorder.

Obsessive compulsive disorder is a prevalent illness that affects 2–3 % of the population. OCD patients suffer from obsessions (unwanted, recurrent thoughts, concerns with themes of contamination and ‘germs’, the need to check household items in case of fire or burglary, the symmetrical order of objects or fears of harming oneself or others) as well as compulsions (repetitive behaviours related to the obsessions such as washing and carrying out household safety checks). These symptoms can consume the patient’s life, causing severe distress, alienation and anxiety.

OCD is known to run in families. However, the complex set of genes underlying this heritability and exactly how genes contribute to the illness are unknown. Such genes may pose a risk for OCD by influencing brain structure (e.g. the amount and location of grey matter in the brain) which in turn may impact upon an individual’s ability to perform mental tasks.

In order to explore this idea, the researchers used cognitive and brain measures to determine whether there are biological markers of genetic risk for developing OCD. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the Cambridge researchers captured pictures of OCD patients’ brains, as well as those of healthy close relatives (a sibling, parent or child) and a group of unrelated healthy people.

Participants also completed a computerised test that involved pressing a left or right button as quickly as possible when arrows appeared. When a beep noise sounded, volunteers had to attempt to stop their responses. This task objectively measured the ability to stop repetitive behaviours.

Both OCD patients and their close relatives fared worse on the computer task than the control group. This was associated with decreases of grey matter in brain regions important in suppressing responses and habits.

Lara Menzies, in the Brain Mapping Unit at the University of Cambridge, explains, “Impaired brain function in the areas of the brain associated with stopping motor responses may contribute to the compulsive and repetitive behaviours that are characteristic of OCD. These brain changes appear to run in families and may represent a genetic risk factor for developing the condition. The current diagnosis of OCD available to psychiatrists is subjective and therefore knowledge of the underlying causes may lead to better diagnosis and ultimately improved clinical treatments.

“However, we have a long way to go to identify the genes contributing to the distinctive brain structure found in OCD patients and their relatives. We also need to identify other contributing factors for OCD, to understand why close relatives that share similar brain structures don’t always develop the disorder.”

Source: University of Cambridge

Hypnotising hypnotists can be very tricky ...

Many of us regard Milton H Erickson as the true father of modern Hypnotherapy. Some of his techniques were amazing and yet simplistic. Here via the ever growing and informative Wikipedia site is a short precis on Erickson's incredible handshake induction into hypnosis (yes, a handshake!!)

Confusion is the basis of Erickson's famous hypnotic handshake. Many actions are learned and operate as a single "chunk" of behavior: shaking hands and tying shoelaces being two classic examples. If the behavior is diverted or frozen midway, the person literally has no mental space for this - he is stopped in the middle of unconsciously executing a behavior that hasn't got a "middle". The mind responds by suspending itself in trance until either something happens to give a new direction, or it "snaps out". A skilled hypnotist can often use that momentary confusion and suspension of normal processes to induce trance quickly and easily.

By interrupting the pattern of a "normal" handshake in some way, the hypnotist causes the subject to wonder what is going on. If the handshake continues to develop in a way which is out-of-keeping with expectations, a simple, non-verbal trance is created, which may then be reinforced or utilized by the hypnotist. All these responses happen naturally and automatically without telling the subject to consciously focus on an idea.

The various descriptions of Erickson's hypnotic handshake, including his own very detailed accounts, indicate that a certain amount of improvisation is involved, and that watching and acting upon the subject's responses is key to a successful outcome. The most important thing is that the "normal" handshake is subverted in such a way to cause puzzlement, which may then be built upon.

• Initiation: When I begin by shaking hands, I do so normally. The "hypnotic touch" then begins when I let loose. The letting loose becomes transformed from a firm grip into a gentle touch by the thumb, a lingering drawing away of the little finger, a faint brushing of the subject's hand with the middle finger - just enough vague sensation to attract the attention. As the subject gives attention to the touch of your thumb, you shift to a touch with your little finger. As your subject's attention follows that, you shift to a touch with your middle finger and then again to the thumb.
• This arousal of attention is merely an arousal without constituting a stimulus for a response.
• The subject's withdrawal from the handshake is arrested by this attention arousal, which establishes a waiting set, and expectancy.
• Then almost, but not quite simultaneously (to ensure separate neural recognition), you touch the undersurface of the hand (wrist) so gently that it barely suggests an upward push. This is followed by a similar utterly slight downward touch, and then I sever contact so gently that the subject does not know exactly when - and the subject's hand is left going neither up nor down, but cataleptic.
• Termination: If you don't want your subject to know what you are doing, you simply distract their attention, usually by some appropriate remark, and casually terminate. Sometimes they remark, "What did you say? I got absentminded there for a moment and wasn't paying attention to anything." This is slightly distressing to the subjects and indicative of the fact that their attention was so focused and fixated on the peculiar hand stimuli that they were momentarily entranced so they did not hear what was said.
• Utilisation: Any utilisation leads to increasing trance depth. All utilisation should proceed as a continuation of extension of the initial procedure. Much can be done nonverbally; for example, if any subjects are just looking blankly at me, I may slowly shift my gaze downward, causing them to look at their hand, which I touch and say "look at this spot.". This intensifies the trance state. Then, whether the subjects are looking at you or at their hand or just staring blankly, you can use your left hand to touch their elevated right hand from above or the side - so long as you merely give the suggestion of downward movement. Occasionally a downward nudge or push is required. If a strong push or nudge is required, check for anaesthesia.

Richard Bandler was a keen proponent of the handshake induction, and developed his own variant, which is commonly taught in NLP workshops.

Any habitual pattern which is interrupted unexpectedly will cause sudden and light trance. The handshake is a particularly good pattern to interrupt because the formality of a handshake is a widely understood set of social rules. Since everyone knows that it would be impolite to comment on the quality of a handshake, regardless of how strange it may be, the subject is obliged to embark on an inner search (known as a transderivational search, a universal and compelling type of trance) to identify the meaning or purpose of the subverted pattern.

Isn't that simply incredible? It demonstrates how very subtly we may be influenced by the actions of those around us, do you not think?

Nature or Nurture? ........................

A recent extract from the New York times .........

For years, psychiatrists have known that children who are abused or neglected run a high risk of developing mental problems later in life, from anxiety and depression to substance abuse and suicide.

The connection is not surprising, but it raises a crucial scientific question: Does the abuse cause biological changes that may increase the risk for these problems?

Over the past decade or so, researchers at McGill University in Montreal, led by Michael Meaney, have shown that affectionate mothering alters the expression of genes in animals, allowing them to dampen their physiological response to stress. These biological buffers are then passed on to the next generation: rodents and nonhuman primates biologically primed to handle stress tend to be more nurturing to their own offspring, Dr. Meaney and other researchers have found.

Now, for the first time, they have direct evidence that the same system is at work in humans. In a study of people who committed suicide published Sunday in the journal Nature Neuroscience, researchers in Montreal report that people who were abused or neglected as children showed genetic alterations that likely made them more biologically sensitive to stress.

The findings help clarify the biology behind the wounds of a difficult childhood and hint at what constitutes resilience in those able to shake off such wounds.

The study “extends the animal work on the regulation of stress to humans in a dramatic way,” Jaak Panksepp, an adjunct professor at Washington State University who was not involved in the research, wrote in an e-mail message.

He added that the study “suggests pathways that have promoted the psychic pain that makes life intolerable,” and continued, “It’s a wonderful example of how the study of animal models of emotional resilience can lead the way to understanding human vicissitudes.”

In the study, scientists at McGill and the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences compared the brains of 12 people who had committed suicide and who had had difficult childhoods with 12 people who had committed suicide and who had not suffered abuse or neglect as children. The scientists determined the nature of the subjects’ upbringing by doing extensive interviews with next of kin, as well as investigating medical records. The brains are preserved at Douglas Hospital in Montreal as part of the Quebec Suicide Brain Bank, a program founded by McGill researchers to promote suicide studies that receives brain donations from around the province.

When people are under stress, the hormone cortisol circulates widely, putting the body on high alert. One way the brain reduces this physical anxiety is to make receptors on brain cells that help clear the cortisol, inhibiting the distress and protecting neurons from extended exposure to the hormone, which can be damaging.

The researchers found that the genes that code for these receptors were about 40 percent less active in people who had been abused as children than in those who had not. The scientists found the same striking differences between the abused group and the brains of 12 control subjects, who had not been abused and who died from causes other than suicide. “It is good evidence that the same systems are at work in humans that we have seen in other animals,” said Patrick McGowan, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Meaney’s lab at McGill and the lead author of the study.

His co-authors, along with Dr. Meaney, were Aya Sasaki, Ana C. D’Alessio, Sergiy Dymov, Benoît Labonté and Moshe Szyf, all of McGill, and Dr. Gustavo Turecki, a McGill researcher who leads the Brain Bank.

Because of individual differences in the genetic machinery that regulates stress response, experts say, many people manage their distress despite awful childhoods. Others may find solace in other people, which helps them regulate the inevitable pain of living a full life.

“The bottom line is that this is a terrific line of work, but there is a very long way to go either to understand the effects of early experience or the causes of mental disorders,” Dr. Steven Hyman, a professor of neurobiology at Harvard, wrote in an e-mail message.

The jury is out on this one, but it's certainly seems to be of interest, does it not?