Hypnotherapy - any use?

[Speed addicted]

Having some fairly odd problems with stress and anxiety, mostly due to work. It's annoying because although I'm the type of person who obsesses it's never been a problem before.
Due to the nature of my work (offshore) I can't do the drugs approach.

Someone suggested hypnotherapy might help. I'm not sure where it sits in the real/not real medical solution scale (the scale in my head goes from surgery to Reiki) so i'm not sure if I trust people enough to mess with my head.

Any experiences or suggestions?

[Astacus]

Have you seen a doctor?

If you can't use pharmaceutical drugs off shore (why?) then your doctor may well suggest something called Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). It is a way of (re) training your mind to operate in different way, recognise the triggers for your anxiety and take a new approach (internally) to how you act in response to those triggers.

Imagine standing on a hill, with a bowling ball (stick with me here). You roll the ball down the hill, it can take any path to the bottom, but as it rolls, it makes slight groove in the soil
The next time you roll the ball down the hill, it could still go any route, but it has a tendency to follow the original route because of the groove in the soil.
Eventually, the ball wears such a deep groove that the ball will always follow the same path down the hill.

This is like a thought process.
Each time you react to a condition like anxiety you have a choice of how to do it, but after a while, you become locked into the same, wrong, process, because of the grooves.
CBT is an approach that can be used in lots of situations. It is a way or recognising that anxiety is coming on and teaching you to alter the path of the ball so that, once more you have a choice as to the outcome.

Your doctor should be able to recommend you someone who can help train you up. They call it counselling, but its really just training.

[Speed addicted]

You can't use anything that will effect mood or make you drowsy, the possibility of needing to escape from sinking helicopters or deal with emergencies that could become catastrophic very quickly means they're quite strict.

Good description of CBT, I haven't spoken to my doctor but I'll give it a try. I feel a bit silly asking for help with things like this.

[Astacus]

The problem is we feel silly asking so we don't, so it gets worse.....etc

good luck with it, I am sure it will be controllable with a bit of practice

[anonymous-user]

Astacus said:

The problem is we feel silly asking so we don't, so it gets worse

Yup, we wouldn't think twice about going to the doctor or hospital if we had a broken leg. Going on a diet or doing more exercise isn't seen as an embarrassing way to improve our health. Why on earth not do stuff that improves our mental well being?

[FredClogs]

Speed addicted said:

You can't use anything that will effect mood or make you drowsy, the possibility of needing to escape from sinking helicopters or deal with emergencies that could become catastrophic very quickly means they're quite strict.

Good description of CBT, I haven't spoken to my doctor but I'll give it a try. I feel a bit silly asking for help with things like this.

Yes it works, especially if you have a very clear objective in mind, if you just want to generally be less anxious or more chilled it might not be so good.

And don't be silly about feeling silly, stress and anxiety are perfectly normal human responses to a dangerous and uncertain world.

[Speed addicted]

FredClogs said:

Speed addicted said:

You can't use anything that will effect mood or make you drowsy, the possibility of needing to escape from sinking helicopters or deal with emergencies that could become catastrophic very quickly means they're quite strict.

Good description of CBT, I haven't spoken to my doctor but I'll give it a try. I feel a bit silly asking for help with things like this.

Yes it works, especially if you have a very clear objective in mind, if you just want to generally be less anxious or more chilled it might not be so good.

And don't be silly about feeling silly, stress and anxiety are perfectly normal human responses to a dangerous and uncertain world.

It's quite a specific thing, more centered around actually flying out there on the chopper than anything else. I'm not scared of flying or helicopters and have been doing this on and off for the last 21 years, steadily for the last 12. I'm not a generally anxious person.
It's just in the last couple of years it's become an issue and I'm not really sure what's changed.

Previously I'd sleep the whole flight but now I have to read to keep my mind occupied. My wife noticed that I get pretty agitated the night before I go and don't sleep much.

I'll give the doctor a call when I get home in a couple of weeks. Thanks for the help.

[Astacus]

This is exactly the sort of thing CBT can nail.

good luck, I am sure you will be able to beat this with a little practice.

[Hoofy]

I like that ball/hill analogy.

Try hypnotherapy. You may find it works.

[Gareth79]

I suspect it's worth just paying privately though, I think the waiting list times for CBT (or any sort of mental health) is pretty high, and if you work offshore I imagine you'd want to get something rolling sooner rather than later.

[Sticks.]

I can see how a one to one can be tailored exactly to your needs but given you're not back for a couple of weeks, why not try a download first and see how you get on?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Control-Stress-Stop-Worryi...

Which comes with a book to help you think about the issues a little (far from the best book, I'm sure, but a starter....)

http://www.rachaeleccles.com/ there's a free download on this one to try out (if you don't like their voice it might not work so well). It's a slower approach, spending more time on the hypnosis before the suggestion.

I think they're both available on iTunes, and I found one on Amazon for sleep for £1 which wasn't bad, so have a look around.

In my limited experience CBT or hypnosis therapy needs repeating regularly. I think any of these fill in the bowling ball's ruts, but if there are underlying issues, it's always worth seeking professional advice.

[popeyewhite]

Stress and anxiety are one and the same. CBT/hypnotherapy will make no difference to the source of the stress, only how you deal with it in the short term. Have you spoken to HR? As another poster has suggested seeing a counsellor is a good option. Best of luck.

[Hoofy]

popeyewhite said:

Stress and anxiety are one and the same. CBT/hypnotherapy will make no difference to the source of the stress, only how you deal with it in the short term. Have you spoken to HR? As another poster has suggested seeing a counsellor is a good option. Best of luck.

You're 100% correct. However, a good therapist will get to the heart of the problem.

[Sticks.]

Hoofy said:

popeyewhite said:

Stress and anxiety are one and the same. CBT/hypnotherapy will make no difference to the source of the stress, only how you deal with it in the short term. Have you spoken to HR? As another poster has suggested seeing a counsellor is a good option. Best of luck.

You're 100% correct. However, a good therapist will get to the heart of the problem.

Not entirely imho. Astacus analogy is that our reactions, in this case to pressure, can be learnt over time. The basis of CBT AIUI is relearning new reactions. What is just pressure for some is stress for others.

This doesn't mean ignoring the cause and yes, a counsellor/therapist will help you understand the issues and your reactions to them.

[popeyewhite]

Hoofy said:

You're 100% correct. However, a good therapist will get to the heart of the problem.

Certainly should do. My only preference in this situation for a counsellor is it their job to listen and er..counsel (more or less), whereas a therapist IMO is commonly used for dealing with a known issue. I guess it depends what the source of the issue really is.

[Hoofy]

popeyewhite said:

Hoofy said:

You're 100% correct. However, a good therapist will get to the heart of the problem.

Certainly should do. My only preference in this situation for a counsellor is it their job to listen and er..counsel (more or less), whereas a therapist IMO is commonly used for dealing with a known issue. I guess it depends what the source of the issue really is.

A good therapist will listen and try to figure out the root cause.

[meddyg]

popeyewhite said:

Stress and anxiety are one and the same. CBT/hypnotherapy will make no difference to the source of the stress, only how you deal with it in the short term. Have you spoken to HR? As another poster has suggested seeing a counsellor is a good option. Best of luck.

I'm sorry I must disagree here. Stress and anxiety are not the same.

The whole point about CBT is that there is no need to find the source, as it teaches techniques to help deal with problems without needing to understand why they are there. It it also very effective, and has a lot of evidence behind it especially in dealing with anxiety.

Trying to get to the source with long term one to one therapy isn't always effective with everyone.

All the best.

[CubanPete]

I had some anxiety issues, largely bought on by a change of boss, who was a bully.

In Somerset there is an organisation http://positivestep.org.uk that did a number of CBT training sessions. It took a while, and you have to work at it but it resolved my immediate thinking, and put me in a position where I could fix the sources of the problems. Speak to your doc.

The first thing they teach you is this is really common.

[popeyewhite]

meddyg said:

I'm sorry I must disagree here. Stress and anxiety are not the same.

Anxiety is caused by stress, so in a way you are correct

meddyg said:

The whole point about CBT is that there is no need to find the source, as it teaches techniques to help deal with problems without needing to understand why they are there.

This is true, and this is also why it's a weakness of the approach.

meddyg said:

It it also very effective,

With some people.

meddyg said:

and has a lot of evidence behind it especially in dealing with anxiety.

You mean there's plenty of research to back it up, surely. Unfortunately as most research on anxiety is completed using subjective psychometric tests, actual objective results are rare. This is true for all branches of psychology to be fair. And as anxiety is relatively easy to measure on a Likert, a number of branches of psychology have recorded positive results a huge amount of times.

meddyg said:

Trying to get to the source with long term one to one therapy isn't always effective with everyone.

In the long term CBT masks issues without getting to the source. This is not viewed as the most beneficial option for the client as the underlying issue may, for some, remain. Certain techniques like densensitization can work with issues such as phobias, as can CBT and hypnotherapy.

[Speed addicted]

So either way my first port of call should be my GP?
I can go private as I'd rather get this sorted out as soon as possible, but they're likely to know where to go in the first place.

I must admit I was kind of hoping for some sort of magic bullet. Here, look into the light, you're cured!