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Therapists Blog (17)
Addiction is something that affects a sizeable proportion of the American population - although it is also eminently treatable. Like other chronic conditions such as diabetes, addiction is not something that can be “cured” and its symptoms need to be managed, usually for the lifetime of the patient. Addiction doesn’t develop overnight although the initial time a person abuses substances will almost certainly be voluntary. Over time, the body becomes tolerant to the influence of drugs and alcohol, which limits the euphoric feelings users seek leading them to take higher doses or consume more in order to achieve the desired effect. It is during this stage where a person begins to lose control of their cravings that dependence can often become full-blown addiction. In many cases, those close to a sufferer are not aware of their struggles as they withdraw and isolate themselves from people around them. This leads to people in the grips of addiction being vulnerable to their illness, which can take priority over everything else in their lives. How Holistic Massage Therapy Can Help Massage therapy is an alternative or complementary practice that is used in addiction treatment to restore calm in the mind of patients. It works by relieving body tension through massage, which often leads to a meditative state of mind. Depending on the level of addiction of each patient and their own personal preferences, there are different types of holistic massage therapy available to them including: Swedish Deep tissue Myofascial Aromatherapy Hot stone Shiatsu…
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Before we get going any further let’s look at what the definition is of a panic attack: A quick type in Google and we can find the following definition “A sudden overwhelming feeling of acute and disabling anxiety” (Google Search, 2016) For many of you, that suffer from panic attacks I’m sure you can relate to the above definition. I know the above definition was true for me many years ago when I seemed to suffer from constant panic attacks. Panic attacks make you feel exhausted, tired, Apathetic in nature and one almost feels like surrendering to the inevitable daily trudge off the day. We surrender our control to the world and let the world do what it wants with us. We feel abandoned by society because society doesn’t understand our issue and in many cases can’t help us with our issues. Sadly you can waste thousands on so-called alternative treatments and read hundreds of books without seeming to make any noticeable movement forward. I know this because this is how my own journey started. I grew ever frustrated by the lack of knowledge and results from so-called CBT, Counselling, Psychotherapy and trying this technique and that technique. However, I’m determined that no one else should have to go through the same experience and feel like they’re stuck in a thick sticky quagmire. Today I’d like to share with you 3 ways in which you can make a start in tackling your own panic attacks and gradually…
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Getting over an addition can come with associated side effects such as feelings of anxiety. You may need to address the anxiety first before you think about full recovery from addition since the emotions can be overwhelmingly powerful. Overcoming them depends on their severity. Some likely anxiety disorders include panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive and post-traumatic stress disorders. Learning anxiety management techniques and treating the disorder can help you to overcome addictions brought by anxiety.
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Celeb Plastic Surgery - An Interesting Manifestation of Anxiety: Body Dysmorphic Disorder Recentry my grilfriend pointed me to this celebrity surgery website. After doing some searches I saw that this obsesiveness with plastic surgery is triving on the net, there are sites for: bra sizes and Height and Weigh. I have to admit I spend some time checking out who did what type of surgery. After thinking about this for a while I decided to writte a post about it, mainly because we like to think about celebrities as people with now flaws and anxieties like the rest of us and this is far for the truth. Celebrities are Human Too Celebrities have more on their plate than most people. It is never only about money and fame, but they realize this a bit too late, when their lives are no longer theirs. While they may portray strong characters on the screen, at the end of the day, they are left searching for their identities like any other person. They cannot afford to have a single lapse in their behavior, get angry with anybody, or even go for shopping without being denied time for self. Somehow they seem to do everything wrong. If they don’t wait up to sign those autograph books, then they are uppity, if they wait to politely sign on those autograph books, they are trying to woo the people or possibly unemployed because of some recent failure. Failures affect them more than they affect others. Everybody fails in some way…
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For those that aren't to familar with my background I thought I would take the chance to share with you a little story about myself. I do this in the hope that it will empower you and show you that no matter how bad your anxiety or fear is, there is a way out. In my early years both at school and through to university I was badly bullied. At the time it was a very unpleasant experience, and no doubt played a very big role in my social anxiety. I used to dread that people were always making fun of me, or was anxious about what their opinions were of me. Over time this anxiety grew stronger, and lead to me being depressed and frustrated with life. I did the good old counsellor thing and saw people who were supposed to offer help and suport. I often found that I left those sessions more distraught than when I entered. I desperately sought answers as to why I was always feeling depressed and anxious. For many years I couldn't find any answers. I remember that everytime I walked outside and particularly if I saw other teenager groups walking along, I felt scared that I somehow would be attacked or worse. Of course I now know that these thoughts were just my mind going out of control, and these beliefs were totally unfounded. At 20 years old I decided that none of the counsellors really understood me or could help me.…
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Monday, 14 January 2013 21:18
Emetophobia Part 3: Using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy To Overcome The Fear Of Being Sick
Written by Shaan White
Welcome back to this very special 4 part series on Emetophobia. I really hope you are finding this valuable and useful. If you have any questions or would like me to go over something, then just contact me on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. I’ll take it from there. During my research on this post and countless hours looking through forum posts, something really stood out for me about what people thought worked really well for Emetophobia, and that was Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. The only downside was CBT is very expensive and people were crying out for information on how they could use this technique to better help them. The good news is you don’t have to pay anything because I’m going to give you a snapshot of CBT as it relates to hypnosis, yippee!!! So let’s get the background out the way. CBT works on both parts of the belief, a bit like we did last session, but with a big difference. We basically encourage ourselves to bring up those negative beliefs and play them in our head, and just erase them from there, using a secret technique that CBT doesn’t use. Then I’m going to take you though the positive belief, and really get you fired up and ready to being free from your Emetophobia. Sound good?? Step 1: The first thing we need to do, is get a sheet of paper. On the sheet of paper what I want you to do is write down your negative beliefs about Emetophobia.…
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Monday, 14 January 2013 21:02
Emetophobia Part 2: Using Parts Therapy To Overcome The Fear Of Being Sick
Written by Shaan White
Welcome to part 2 of this unique blog series about tackling Emetophobia. One of the things that seems to be quite common with people suffering anxieties is they seem to have alot of mental turmoil about what is going on. It can seem you just don’t know what to do, do I do this, do I do that. So I guess it’s not surprising you can find yourself getting overwhelmed by it all. Being overwhelmed seems to stem from the fact that parts of you are pulling you in different directions. It’s like being on a crossroads, and part of you says turn left, and the other part says turn right. So let’s look at something we can do to reduce this mental agitation we experience. Before we do this process let’s just explain a little bit about how this works. The process is called Parts Therapy, and as the name suggests, it looks at the part of you that is holding onto your fear of being sick, and the other part of you that wants to be free from your fear of being sick. The part of you that holds onto your fear of being sick is known as the ‘Original Part’, and this part has a positive reason why it is holding onto the fear. The part of you that wants to be free from your fear of being sick is called the ‘Positive Part’. Great now we have set the basics down, let’s get stuck in... Step…
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Learn how to overcome your beliefs and thoughts using nlp Hey everybody. Hope you are all well. It's coming close to winter here in the UK and it's getting colder and colder. How I wish I lived in a hot country lol. This post is inspired by a client session I did this week. This person suffers from de-personalisation disorder, and we have been trying different approaches to tackle not only that but depression and anxiety as well. Sometimes as a Hypnotherapist I come across things that challenge me, and I love a challenge. I had been trying to think of how we could have a breakthrough in these sessions, how could I best help my client. After trying different techniques and thinking of different things to do, I have to admit I was beginning to doubt my own abilities. Then, the strangest thing happened. I was doing a hypnosis session, and from nowhere I just threw in this concept, which i'm going to teach and share with you today, and the results of this, were really exciting, and my client noticed a difference, which was so rewarding. Maybe your similar, your beliefs about your condition wear you down, your depression tires you out leaving you feeling exhausted and frustrated with youself. There are times I guess when you feel like life is one big spiral, and nothing you seem to do changes how you feel. It's the same feeling as being trapped, trapped with no way out, stuck within…
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Wednesday, 10 October 2012 17:39
More Powerful Proof of the Power of Music to End Anxiety
Written by carolan deacon
I think it is important to provide data illuminating the connection between ending anxiety and music (since that is what I am all about)for you to peruse, every so often. Several concluded that listening to music could decrease heart rate, blood pressure, and anxiety in heart patients — individuals who were physiologically effected by the stress and anxiety associated with their conditions. Out of 23 studies that included a total of 1,461 patients, listening to music provided relief of anxiety and stress by lowering blood pressure and heart rate. Although a significant mood change wasn’t seen in those with depression, a positive mood change was seen in some. Only 2 of the 23 studies used actual music therapists for music listening and treatment. David Bradshaw, Ph.D., of the Pain Research Center at the University of Utah helped explain, "Engaging your mind with music can help alter your sense of time so you worry less about what's happening in the moment.” One hundred forty-three subjects were evaluated for yet another study. They were instructed to listen to music tracks, follow the melodies, and identify deviant tones. During the music tasks, they were given safe, experimental pain shocks with fingertip electrodes. The findings showed that central arousal from the pain stimuli reliably decreased with the increasing music-task demand. Music helps reduce pain by activating sensory pathways that compete with pain pathways, stimulating emotional responses, and engaging cognitive attention. Music, therefore, provided meaningful intellectual and emotional engagement to help reduce pain. Among the…
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Feeling Good Feeling StrongIf you had told me ten years ago I would be going to Weight Watchers meetings I probably would have punched you in the face. In fact, after punching you in the face I would have laughed at the absurdity of your statement.I wasn't a believer in the whole "metabolism slows down after 30" thing. I'd always eaten junk food like it was going out of style. I even worked at Burger King for like, two years in high school. Mainly because I had a friend who worked there and she told me it would be fun. And I believed her.(Are we noticing a certain naivete in my younger self? I think so.)Sadly, everything I refused to believe has kind of come true. I'm not saying I'm wildly overweight and am on track to need a crane to get me out of my recliner. I'm just saying, I'm not digging my 34-year old body and think I could be doing a better job steering this ship.I suspect a part of the anxiety I've been wrestling with has been about the belief that I am not strong in body or in mind. Because every time I had to do something out of my comfort zone over the last ten years I'd either have to drug the shit out of myself with Xanax and/or Clonipin (which did not always work, eventually my tolerance for that shit was on par with that of an angry rhino) or have a massive…
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Yesterday I talked about how great EMDR is. I explained how it works by essentially allowing you to change your old negative pathways of thinking and develop new, positive ones. This allows those old, negative pathways to heal over and eventually disappear. I tried to describe the feeling and experience of EMDR but in the interest of time I decided to make this a 2-part essay.Going to an EMDR therapist you should probably be prepared to see and experience things differently than when you go to your regular therapist. While you are doing EMDR it is probably best to put your regular therapy on hold so you can focus solely on your work in this model. A lot of the time, you will only see your EMDR therapist for however many sessions it takes for you to reach your goals. This depends completely on the therapist you choose. Some only do the intense EMDR work and that is all they do. Others mix traditional therapy with EMDR and you may end up seeing them for longer. My main point here is, EMDR is intense, it's draining, it's real, actual work. Going to your traditional therapist while trying to do EMDR may be too much to handle and if it is, that's totally okay. If your therapist cannot or will not work with this, find out why first and foremost. Your therapist knows you, they may have very good, clinical reasons for their opinion. Hear them out and try to figure…
"If it's hysterical, it's historical." - Words to remember when freaking out. My former therapist used this phrase to explain to me how far back the anxiety and panic response goes. It wasn't until I began EMDR therapy that I began to understand exactly how true those words are.EMDR is an amazing form of treatment that is slowly gaining attention in the larger world thanks to the power of Google. EMDR is: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprogramming. In a nut shell it helps you build new neuro-pathways in your brain which allows old, negative pathways to grow over. Picture your brain as a forest. If you walk the same way day after day, you will create a path. EMDR allows you to see, in your minds eye, all the stops along that pathway. What will blow your mind is how seemingly random the events that created that path appear. By bringing these old, buried memories to the surface of your conscious mind you are able to process them and take the power of negativity away from them.You are then able to build new, healthy, happy pathways by flooding your brain with powerful, sensory memories of a time in your life when things were wonderful. Eventually, like any other trail, when your old pathways go unused, nature will reclaim itself and those old pathways will heal over. This is also why positive affirmations work. Because by repeating something over and over it eventually wears a pathway, affirmations are great, but it…
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One awkward thing about treatment is, what do you do when you've outgrown your therapist? I mean, it's great, they probably helped you a lot. So how do you end treatment with them?Technically, the therapist is supposed to see when things are at an organic end point but that doesn't always happen. I saw my former therapist for almost three years. She was exactly what I needed when I needed it but when my life finally began to change and stop sucking so much all the time, I actually felt like she didn't trust me. I felt that she was overly critical and even territorial when it came down to it. I didn't feel that she understood the extent of the suckage that was my life. I was legit living in the ghetto for just under two years. And my original land lord had died and left us with her horrible partner in charge. The partner (Slum Lord Biotch or SLB for short) was truly the most horrible human being I have ever met. And let's face it, I attract assholes like moths to a flame. So I wasn't surprised that she was awful, I was just surprised she was THAT awful.When we got the opportunity to move out of there 2 months before the lease was up we were all over it. We did everything by the book but...being a psycho SLB, she continued to hound us and hound us for more money. The last time I ever saw…
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Sunday, 15 July 2012 13:01
Anxiety Social Net Therapist Program Coming Soon
Written by Salomon Ptasevich
Future Plans for AnxietySocialNety (ASN) When AnxietySocialNet (ASN) made its debut, one of its primary objectives was to provide support to the individuals whose lives were clouded by their silent struggles against anxiety related disorders. Almost a year since its launch, this aim has been met, and ASN continues to build up strength with each new member and contribution from the community. Within ASN, members have been discussing their fears, symptoms and experiences, and it's been reassuring when the advice and exchanges have proven helpful. Whereas in the past, sufferers felt alone, they now realize there are many out there in the same boat, who are willing to reach out with support and encouragement. To continue on the path of providing support to our members, we are working on launching a new dimension to ASN, the Therapist Program. What are the goals of “Therapist Program”? Since the start, ASN has leaned towards creating an environment of peer-to-peer support. It is our core belief that personal stories and shared experiences can provide an important level of moral support. Yet, we also understand that this approach may not work for everyone, and in many cases, it is important to seek outside expert help. Just as there is no substitute for peer-to-peer support, there is also no substitute for trained and professional therapy. Depression and anxiety manifest themselves in different ways, and symptoms may be dissimilar, even from person to person. The roots of an individual's problems are sometimes deep seeded, and a…
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