Stress
Manage Stress with Hypnotherapy
Many of us would feel stress at some point in our lives. We experience stress when we feel under too much pressure and are unable to cope.
Every so often, it’s a build-up of small, subtle stressors like work-related stress or financial worries that lead to ongoing (or chronic) stress. Feeling stressed for long periods takes its toll on both our mental and physical health.
While we can’t always control the stressful events and situations we experience, we can control our reactions to them. Here we’ll look into common stress symptoms and explore how hypnosis for stress can help change your reaction and manage stress better.
What is stress?
Stress is our body’s response to pressure. Many different situations or life events can cause stress. It is often triggered when we experience something new or unexpected that threatens our sense of self or when we feel we have little control over a situation.
We all deal with stress differently. Our ability to cope can depend on our genetics, early life events, personality, and social and economic circumstances.
When we encounter stress, our body produces stress hormones called Cortisol that trigger a fight or flight response, this helps us respond quickly to dangerous situations. However, if they stay high for too long it can weaken your immune system.
Sometimes, this stress response can be useful: it can help us push through fear or pain so we can run a marathon or deliver a speech, for example. Our stress hormones will usually return to normal quickly once the stressful event is over, and there won’t be any lasting effects.
Too much stress can also cause negative effects. It can leave us in a permanent stage of fight or flight, leaving us overwhelmed or unable to cope. Chronic or long-term stress can suppress or dysregulate immune function, which can affect our physical and mental health.
What makes us stressed?
Many things can lead to stress: bereavement, divorce, separation, losing a job, or unexpected money problems. Work-related stress can also hurt your mental health. People affected by work-related stress lose an average of 24 days of work due to ill health.
Even positive life changes, such as moving to a bigger house, gaining a job promotion, or going on holiday, can be sources of stress. If you feel stressed in these situations, you may struggle to understand why or be unwilling to share your feelings with others.
According to Aon’s APAC Benefits Strategy Study 2017, 72% of Singapore firms are affected by workers’ mental stress. It goes without saying that stress may ruin your mental health, but prolonged stress also secretly devastates your physical health. Long-term exposure to stressors can make you physically ill, and if ignored, the health effects can be fatal.
The Stress Bucket Metaphor
The stress bucket metaphor (developed from the idea of Brabant and Turkington (2002) is a useful way to think about how you can control the stress that accumulates in your life. Imagine carrying around a bucket that gradually fills up as you encounter various forms of stress. Below is a video from Dr Julies Smith that explain how the stress bucket works.
How your workplace can help?
Finding a balance shouldn’t just be down to you. Your manager and workplace also play a role. They should:
- encourage a culture of openness so you can speak up if you’re under too much pressure
- train managers to spot stress and poor work-life balance
- offer flexible and remote working where possible
- encourage breaks, whether that’s during the working day or by using annual leave
- regularly review your workload to make sure it’s achievable
- give you time off to volunteer
- increase support for parents and carers, so they’re not forced to leave
- allow you to attend counseling and support services during working hours as they would for other medical appointments
- encourage stress-relieving activities such as lunchtime exercise or relaxation classes
- ask employees what would improve their work-life balance
How Can Hypnotherapy Help Someone Reduce & Manage Stress?
With its emphasis on physical and mental relaxation, hypnotherapy can be a highly effective way to manage stress symptoms while developing good self-care habits that promote health and well-being. Stress is a normal part of everyday life that everyone experiences.
However, chronic stress can severely affect a person’s quality of life.
Unmanaged, stress has been shown to contribute to various mental and physical health issues, including:
- High blood pressure
- Heart disease
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Sleep issues
- Sexual dysfunctions
Chronic stress can also be the underlying cause of migraine headaches and may exacerbate existing conditions such as fibromyalgia.
Hypnosis For Stress: How It Works, Examples, & Effectiveness
Hypnotherapy, or clinical hypnosis, is a treatment where the therapist guides a person into a deeply relaxed state of highly focused awareness to affect change.
In conjunction with other therapies, hypnosis is an effective treatment for chronic stress and related issues.
Hypnosis for stress tends to involve short treatments, with clients attending 60-minute sessions weekly over the course of several months.