Anxiety and Depression

Most people experience anxiety or at some point in their life and in fact it is often the strongest and brightest that will suffer the most. Sadly however, it is a surprisingly small minority who appear to be able to find any long term solution through the state provided services. There has also been an increased reliance on a ‘magic pill’ and use of the traditional therapies that are designed to over analyse the problem and which seldom seems to create a long term effective treatment for mental well-being.

All of this is happening at the same time as we are seeing an explosion of awareness of mental health issues and an understanding that is perfectly normal not to be normal.

By way of background Anxiety or Depression is probably experienced by 20% of the UK population at any given point in time. Research says that 90% of people who receive treatment for anxiety or depression will be prescribed medication and/or a talking therapy which is normally designed to focus on, and continually analyse the issue and underlying causes and triggers. It has been shown that medication can be an important help to many, and as part of a solution can work very well. I often see clients who have been prescribed anti-depressants by their GP and a few are able to use it as a bolster to start their journey back to good mental health, where they are able to start to move forwards towards a preferred future. Sadly in other cases it appears that these medications may relieve the symptoms but seldom address the underlying issues and in some cases seem to inhibit progress. Of course even when it helps them, in time they may decide that medication no longer forms part of their long term mental health plan and so then that needs to be tackled too.

In terms of therapy most people wish their anxieties or challenges to be acknowledged, but there is an increasing body of evidence that shows that talking about the problem (problem focused therapy) reinforces the long term damage and increases the recovery time to a point where a client may never fully be able to move forward.

For all of these reasons I use a mixture of Solution-Focused and Clinical Hypnotherapy to help clients to move forward and banish their anxiety and depression. My therapy concentrates on finding solutions in the present time and exploring your hope for the future to find quicker resolution of your problems. This method takes the approach that you know what you need to do to improve your own life and, with the appropriate coaching and questioning, we are capable of finding the best solutions.

Of course for many people the first challenge is recognising that this isn’t just a ‘low mood’ and that they will grow or snap out of it. For those that have reached this point and asked for help then it can be a continual struggle to get back to feeling normal at a time when you may not have the mental resilience to make the leaps required.

I specialise in treating anxiety and depression and have found that the integration of a range of these therapeutic approaches to be the most efficacious and rapid way to create long term change in my clients helping them to move back towards a more meaningful and happier life. If you would like to find out more or book an initial assessment then please get in touch.