Depression is a mood disorder which is characterised by persistent feeling of sadness or decreased interest or pleasure in daily activities. Other symptoms include:
Depression can be caused by adverse life events mostly associated with loss or lack of things that we need in life, but it can also be associated with hereditary factors. Depression can be very debilitating and depending on its severity can impact on every area of life. Depression is one of the most common psychological problems and is one of the major reasons why people seek psychological therapy.
Depression can be successfully treated using psychological approaches such as Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Clinical Hypnotherapy and Energy Psychology (EP). The best results are obtained by combining these approaches.
POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER AND TRAUMA
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder which develops when people experience severely traumatic events such as combat, severe accidents, floods, abduction, rape or severe physical injuries. It is also possible to develop symptoms of PTSD when witnessing death or severe injuries to somebody else. However, not everyone who experiences severe trauma develops post traumatic stress. Symptoms of post-traumatic stress include distressing and persistent thoughts and dreams associated with the trauma, and intrusive imagery which is associated with physiological reactions such as for example rapid heartbeat or elevated blood pressure.
Such recollections invoke significant mental distress and therefore people who suffer from PTSD tend to avoid anything that could bring back memories associated with the trauma.Other symptoms include:
PTSD can be successfully treated with psychological techniques such as, for example, cognitive-behavioural therapy. The techniques which bring about the best results are those which act not only on the cognitive factors, but also directly on the physiological aspects of the trauma, which include Eye Movement Desensitisation And Reprocessing (EMDR), Energy Psychology (EP) or Clinical Hypnotherapy.
Phobia is an anxiety disorder in which a person fears specific objects or situations, such as animals, storms, blood airplanes, heights, being closed in or any situation that may lead to vomiting, choking or developing an illness.Phobias can develop after experiencing a traumatic or stressful event, but sometimes the causes of phobic responses are unknown.When people are exposed to phobic stimuli this almost immediately provokes severe anxiety which often leads to a panic attack. Those who suffer from phobias are aware that their fear is unreasonable or exaggerated but they cannot control it and therefore they tend to avoid situations that frighten them. Phobias can be successfully treated with Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) ,Clinical Hypnotherapy,Energy Psychology (EP) techniques, with the latter providing the fastest results.
People who suffer from social phobia strongly and repeatedly fear at least one social or performance situation that involves facing strangers or being watched by others. They often imagine themselves embarrassed when they speak, write or eat in public and they specifically fear showing anxiety symptoms.
The phobic trigger almost always causes anxiety and often leads to a panic attack and a person either avoids such situations or endures it with severe distress or anxiety.
Social phobia is not the same as shyness and can severely restrict social functioning and prevent relationships forming. It is often associated with low self-esteem and low confidence, self-criticism and lack of assertiveness.
Social phobia can be successfully treated using Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) with a combination of techniques and approaches which focus directly or reduction of anxiety, including Clinical Hypnotherapy and Energy Psychology (EP) techniques, and improvement of confidence and learning social skills.
PANIC ATTACKS AND PANIC DISORDER
A panic attack is a brief episode in which a person feels very strong fear together with a variety of physical and other symptoms such as:
Such symptoms can often lead to fear of dying, having a heart attack or going mad. Panic attacks begin suddenly and peak rapidly and they do not last longer than half an hour. Panic attacks can occur only a few times in a person’s life or a few times a week.
Panic disorder refers to repeated panic attacks together with worry about having additional attacks and other mental or behavioural changes related to them. About fifty percent of people who suffer from a panic disorder also suffer from Agoraphobia. Panic attacks are very excruciating experiences and people who suffer from them will do almost anything to avoid situations or circumstances that they associate with panic attacks. This can seriously impact on the quality and enjoyment of their life. The good news is that panic attacks can be easily treated using Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Clinical Hypnotherapy or Energy Psychology (EP) .
AGORAPHOBIA
In Greek, agoraphobia means ‘fear of the marketplace’. In contemporary language it refers to the fear some people have of being in a place or a situation where escape seems difficult or embarrassing or where help will be unavailable if they should have anxiety symptoms. Such places include crowded supermarkets, theatres or being on a public transport. People who suffer from agoraphobia either completely avoid situations or places which they fear or, if this is not possible, restrict the time they spend in such situations or places, or require a companion.
Agoraphobia can develop following a serious of panic attacks, where fear of recurrent panic attacks cause a person to avoid leaving home or engaging in other activities, but this is not always the case.
Agoraphobia can severely restrict the normal functions of daily life and those who suffer from it often feel isolated, lonely and low in mood. Treatment of agoraphobia is focused on helping to reduce or eliminate fears so you can function and make decisions about life based on what you want to do and not on what you fear. The treatment of choice is Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) often combined with other therapeutic approaches, such as Clinical Hypnotherapy or Energy Psychology (EP) , which speeds up and facilitates recovery from anxiety symptoms.
GENERALISED ANXIETY DISORDER (GAD)
People who suffer from this disorder feel anxious or worried much of the time and about several events or activities. Such feelings are associated with such symptoms as:
This disorder also leads to problems with sleeping as people often cannot fall asleep because they think and worry about everything.
Although people who suffer from GAD do not experience episodes of acute panic, unless they also suffer from panic attacks, they cannot control their symptoms and do not know how to stop worrying.
Symptoms of GAD are rather common – and nearly everybody worries – but those who suffer from them worry far more about almost everything than objective facts can justify.
As with other anxiety disorders, Energy Psychology (EP) combined with Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) can be very effective in alleviating these problems, leading to substantial improvement in the quality of life.
OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER(OCD)
This is an anxiety disorder in which people are bothered by repeated thoughts and behaviours than appear senseless even to them.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder has a cognitive and behavioural component.
Obsessions are recurrent thoughts, beliefs or ideas that dominate the mind, even if they are unrealistic or if the individual tries to resist them. Compulsions are repeatedly performed acts, which can be either physical or mental, that appear senseless or inappropriate. Compulsions may be simple, such as: thinking or repeating a word or a phrase of protection against an a obsessive thought, but they can be very complex and they create certain rituals associated with dressing, washing or preparing for sleep. The aim of these behaviours is to reduce or eliminate distress or prevent something bad from happening.
Most people have both obsessions and compulsions, which usually lead to anxiety and dread. The most common fear in OCD is fear of contamination, but there are also fears of harming, and ordering, arranging or hording items.
The treatment approaches that can successfully deal with these kinds of problems include Energy Psychology (EP) and Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT), with EP providing more rapid results.
STRESS
Stress is the feeling of being overburdened by mental or emotional pressure.
Pressure in itself is not bad and it occurs in everybody’s life, but of a person feels unable to cope with it, it can turn into stress.
People have different capacities to handle stress and what can be stressful to one person could be easily handled by another. Stress can be experienced in relation to work, relationships, money or health problems. It can affect how you feel, think and behave and it is as much experienced on an emotional as on a physical level.
The common symptoms of stress include:
When people experience stress they engage in activities which lead to reduction of the symptoms they experience. The maladaptive ways of coping with stress include drinking alcohol, smoking or overeating. Although this may lead to temporary reduction in the level of stress, the symptoms will always come back. In addition, such behaviours often lead to additional problems, which in turn contribute to an increase in the stress level.Psychological therapy for stress is focused on helping people to learn adaptive ways of managing situations that cause stress as well as dealing directly with reduction of emotional distress and physiological hyperactivity.
