Steve Bishop – Anxiey & Depression

Millions of people worldwide suffer from depression.  In 2009, the National Health Service, here in England, gave out over 39 million prescriptions for anti depressants, compared to 20 million in 1999 (a rise of 95%).  

Professor Steve Field, the Chairman of the Royal College of GP’s says, “I’m concerned that too many people are being prescribed antidepressants and not being given counselling and cognitive behaviour therapy, because access to those therapies, while it is improving, is still patchy.”  “Talking therapies are just a good [as medication] for treating mild depression, and CBT can be just as good for more serious depression. But the provision for these therapies hasn’t been good.”  (Ref The Guardian newspaper) 

They are also likely to suffer from health problems like insomnia and sleep disorders, weight loss, fatigue, headaches and other body pains.

In extreme cases, depression can cause life-threatening heart diseases, and may lead to thoughts or actual attempts of suicide!

With several million people suffering from depression disorders, there is an urgent need to easily and quickly treat them; but traditional depression therapy could be very expensive and risky. 

Hypnotherapy (with/without CBT) is a wonderful option at reducing and/or eliminating depressive thoughts and behaviours in a very short time, compared to drug therapies. 

Anxiety is a normal reaction to stress. It should only be considered a problem when it becomes excessive. .  

Anxiety can be broken down into 4 groups of effects, physical, emotional, cognitive and behavioural.  Some examples:

• Physical – heart palpitations, muscle weakness and tension, fatigue, shortness of breath, chest pains, sweating and stomach aches.  The digestive system is suppressed as the fight and flight response kicks into gear, possibly making you want to evacuate your bowels.  Although the fear causing the effects may be irrational, the belief is that it is VERY real.
• Emotional – your mind going blank, dread, irritability, looking for signs of danger, unable to concentrate, obessesive thoughts, feeling trapped and scared etc.
• Cognitive effects can be a fear of dying that you can’t get out of your head; especially if it is because of things like, say, a twinge in your chest that you automatically think is a heart attack, or you are suffering from a stroke if you get a headache.
• Behavioural effects can be things like irratic sleep habits, nervous habits like twitching feet, withdrawing from situations that may have provoked anxiety in the past.

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