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Now more than ever, scientific investigations are attesting the essential role of stress in triggering or aggravating several physical and emotional afflictions. A cover story in the June 6, 1983 issue of Time Magazine described stress as “The Epidemic of the Eighties.” The journalist also said that stress is our major health issue. Indeed one has to recognize that today’s world has become a lot more complicated and stressful in the past two decades since that article was written.

Many surveys show that almost everybody perceives themselves as being under a lot of stress. Researchers in the field estimate that 75 to 90 percent of all visits to PCPs (Primary Care Physicians) are for stress related problems.

Most people report their stress is for the most part due to their job. Stress levels have also increased in children as well as the senior population for reasons including: Peer pressures that often lead to everything from cigarette smoking to alcoholism and drug abuse; the wearing away of religion and family values; increased crime rates; fear for personal security; but also social isolation and loneliness.

Stress can be responsible for conditions such as diabetes, ulcers, low back and neck pain, high blood pressure, strokes and heart attacks. This is because of the ever growing sympathetic nervous system activity as well as the release of cortisol, adrenaline, and other hormones. Chronic stress is corollary of weakened immune system resistance. Stress can contribute to anxiety, depression, and its different impacts on one’s organs.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines “stress” as follows: “To subject to physical or mental pressure, tension, or strain”

The following is the definition of “tension” from the same dictionary: “Mental, emotional, or nervous strain”

It defines “anxiety” as follows: “A state of uneasiness and apprehension, as about future uncertainties”

And the following is the definition of “depression”: “The condition of feeling sad or despondent”

The following is the definition of “clinical depression”: “A psychiatric disorder characterized by an inability to concentrate, insomnia, loss of appetite, anhedonia, feelings of extreme sadness, guilt, helplessness and hopelessness, and thoughts of death.”

We can be sure of one thing, our thoughts are the chief cause of our feelings of stress, anxiety and depression. In other words, what we think about, and our attitudes and the way we view our experiences strongly influence what we feel. That way, if we can learn how to modify our thoughts, attitudes, and points of view, we can release our stress, anxiety, and depression and change them for a better state of being.

People have always tried to find methods for getting rid of stress. The pharmaceutical industry seems to have a drug for everything. And to that end the industry has developed a large array of anxiolytics from Valium to Xanax. If you choose to use drugs for relief, please make sure that you are aware of the side-effects by reading the fine print, which most of the time are, among others, addiction and dependency. Indeed these sorts of drugs attempt to treat the symptoms, instead of the cause. So when one stops taking them, the symptoms can return.

A finer way of getting rid of tension, stress, anxiety, and depression is to treat its actual cause, which as I wrote above, is most often our thought processes. Now, here is some good news. The heart of hypnosis is relaxing. The AMA accepted hypnosis in 1958 as an effective way to treat stress or stress related symptoms. And unlike pills, there are completely no undesirable side effects.

Hypnosis is the Alpha level of consciousness. It’s the daydream like temporary psychological state that we feel as we are just about to fall asleep at night. And we feel it another time when we awaken in the morning. There are many different ways that will help us guide ourselves into this state of tranquility, from progressive relaxation to visual imagery to listening to hypnosis CD’s.

Once we enter a hypnotic state, we are able to interact with our unconscious mind, which is the center of our emotions. And one can more easily admit new ideas and points of view which can help us to eliminate anxiety, or even avoid it in the first place.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming or NLP, which is a recent sort of hypnosis, has numerous great methods for getting rid of stress. Maybe the technique that works best is called the “swish” pattern - or the “flash” pattern. When you use this method, your unconscious will automatically use negative, stress triggering mental images, as triggers for relaxation producing mental images. Put differently, what usually makes you feel stress will now make you feel more relaxed!

TO SUM UP Tension, stress, anxiety, and depression can be triggered by our thoughts. So by changing our attitude and the way we perceive our situation and our experiences, we can eliminate these feelings at the root. Hypnosis and NLP are natural tools that allow us to change our attitude and point of view to swiftly eliminate the root cause of these negative feelings.

Alan B. Densky is an NGH certified hypnotherapist. He offers a complete line of anxiety elimination hypnotherapy CDs, and advanced anxiety management CDs through his Neuro-VISION hypnosis website. You can visit his video hypnosis blog, and download a free MP3.

- Alan B. Densky, CH