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Edinburgh ASP
Significant progress in taking control of your life again can be made in
one 3 hour session.** |
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| Comment from Susannah 5th June 2009
I
booked an appointment with Neil after the realisation that something in my
life needed to change. I was becoming increasingly anxious about certain
social situations, with my anxiety manifesting itself in the form of shaky
hands when nervous, under pressure, or if I felt someone was 'judging' me.
It got to the point where I dreaded going into my part-time waitressing
job, as I couldn't serve a cup of coffee to a customer without my hands
trembling. And I completely dreaded any kind of social situation that made
me nervous as the shakes would sometimes be apparent to other people. |
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Stress and Panic Attacks
Stress symptoms:
These days stress is becoming more recognized for the real problem it is. Doctors and health professionals are aware of it, they know the symptoms but find difficulty with treatments because they just don't have the time to spend with patients, nowhere near long enough anyway. Stress takes many forms and can have a harmful effect on our psychological well-being and physical health. An individual's life can be enormously affected by stress especially when it's excessive and prolonged; not only their health and working life, but also their relationships. Unfortunately the sufferer is often not aware of the problem, going through their daily lives in a constant state of background anxiety. The very nature of the problem, being the feeling of an inability to cope, leads many to deny it exists and they suffer in silence. There are two different aspects to stress - the psychological and the physical. Psychological stress is most easily described as a feeling of being unable to cope any more, with a corresponding feeling of despondency, a lack of self-worth and value which can lead to frustration and a never-ending circle of gloom and near panic. Activities that once were easy become a struggle. The ability to think clearly or logically becomes impaired. Sleep is affected and the situation worsens. This can result in finding it very hard even getting out of the door to go to work let alone being motivated for good work performance . It causes problems with relationships both at work, at home and socially. Physical stress is caused by the body's reaction to the psychological stress making the body run on adrenaline in an almost permanent state of the classic 'fight or flight' syndrome. This is the normal physical response to danger, which prepared the caveman's body to either fight or run to save life and pass genes onto the next generation. This response would normally be fairly short-lived (as in the ancestor years of human development). The competitive world that we live in now creates difficulties because the human body's evolution is far slower than the evolution of our intellectual capabilities. The human body and mind is not designed to live with this type of stress day after day, week after week, month after month. If it goes on for too long it produces all the classic symptoms of stress:- One of the causes of stress in my clients is that promotion at work which sounds and feels great until you discover and realise that now you have to do 'Presentations' and that involves 'Public Speaking'. You go into near-panic feelings at this prospect. Don't you just love those meetings at work where you've all just arrived and are sitting around the conference table. Whoever is running the meeting says, "Let's all introduce ourselves starting here," and points to someone randomly. You are some way around the circle and so you start rehearsing in your mind what you are going to say - and your heart starts banging in your chest, you get those butterflies or sick feeling in your stomach. You start to sweat and your mind goes blank. You don't hear or listen to what anyone says as your mind tries to go into overdrive but just won't work. It comes to your turn and you blab out your piece which is nothing like you have been rehearsing and you sit down wishing the earth would swallow you up, and why couldn't you have been first on and got it over with. You may actually listen to the remaining people. You have to make a speech at a wedding. You have written it out carefully, time and time again. Your turn is coming closer and the old butterflies start, you get up to deliver and your mouth goes dry. You take a deep breath because you think it will help not knowing it is exactly the WRONG thing to do. (Most people misinterpret a 'deep breath' as meaning a 'full' breath' rather than 'deep' meaning 'deep down' i.e., deep down in the belly - a diaphragm breath). You try and concentrate on what you have written and the words don't make any sense. The hand holding your carefully written speech won't stop shaking. You are making such an idiot of yourself and you start to feel hot and begin to flush. Your jokes fall flat and you only hear one embarrassed titter somewhere but you can't tell where from because of the mush in your ears. God, this is awful let me die now. Everyone else in the room is glad it's not them. If you suffer from any or
all of these, whether caused by stress at work, at home, socially or
something as yet unknown, Got an interview coming up? Read Kirsty's Story below and see how much you identify with. |
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Life Story - Interview nerves Kirsty's story - couldn't get a new job because interview nerves let her down . . . . She now has her new position. I began going for promotion over a year ago, with each interview I found that my nerves were becoming worse and worse and by the time I’d had about 8 unsuccessful interviews, within a 6 month period, I was a nervous wreck and my confidence had hit rock bottom. People with less experience were being given promotions ahead of me, even my seniors were telling me they couldn’t understand why I wasn’t getting the jobs! I had tried herbal remedies, breathing techniques and had spoken to my GP who said they couldn’t give me anything to settle my nerves and that interview nerves were just something we all had to go through. I was at the end of my tether. During my last interview I was on the verge of tears throughout it, I was having palpitations even before I went into the room, I couldn’t even take a glass of water to my mouth without it going everywhere and I couldn’t concentrate properly during the interview. In the lead up to it, I even ended up off sick with gastritis. In post-interview feedback, apparently I tend to hold my breath during the interview and my hands always end up round my throat! My nerves were getting worse, so I decided to get in touch with Neil and ask him if he could help. He was immediately very positive and put me at ease, he told me that he could help me in only two sessions. I was extremely nervous when I arrived, but he immediately made me feel comfortable. He spent a long time analysing and explaining why my body reacted in the way it did to interview stress and instilled positive thinking in me, even before he began the relaxation session. In the relaxation session he encouraged my positive thinking and a feeling of relaxation that I was able to carry over to my interview day. On the day of my next interview I was extremely calm and only became slightly nervous prior to entering the room. I was able to take time during the interview to think calmly about the questions and answer them logically and appropriately, almost enjoying the situation, and the ultimate test ….. I was able to take a drink of water without a single shake of my hand! I got the job! They actually told me I was the best out of all 13 candidates, I couldn’t believe it. Thank you so much Neil, I couldn’t have done it without your help and I’ll definitely be back before my next interview for a “top-up”, but maybe not for a year or so, I’m still ready for a rest from interviews! |
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Do
the same old problems and anxieties keep going Round and Round in your
head and you can't make them STOP
