Stress is a term that is often mentioned these days. But what exactly is stress? In very broad terms stress may be defined as "any change to which you must adjust". Having said that, the change to which you have to adjust will only be stressful to some people, but not to others. Thus there is an element of capability, be it physical or emotional, or time related, and an element of perception.

Stress, in reality, is an umbrella term, which refers to an adverse reaction, which may be experienced by an individual in response to pressures or demands that they are faced with. A stress response will only be experienced where such pressures are perceived as important, and perceived as beyond the individual's ability/competence. What is stressful for one person may be motivating for another.

Most people assume that stress is caused by negative happenings, such as illness or the death of a loved one, or pressures of work or exams, or relationship difficulties. But stress can also be caused by positive events such as moving house, or getting married or being promoted.

Thus stress can be triggered off by events in the environment in which you live, by changes within your body and by your own thought processes.

Whatever the context of your stress, it is essential to firstly clearly identify the stressful triggers, or "stressors". Usually individuals know only too well what these are. However, in some circumstances the causes of one's stress are outside their conscious awareness. In such a case the first step is to identify these causes and hypno-analysis and NLP provide invaluable tools to assist in this task.

Once the triggers to stress have been clearly identified, an individual plan of action needs to be decided upon. Any stress management programme has to be tailored to the individual's own subjective experiences. A broad toolkit of approaches is required to then deal with the stress and eliminate it.

Broadly speaking there are three major approaches which can be applied in successful stress management.

• Action orientated - if the cause of the stress is something that can be changed through action, then do it. Therefore a plan of action needs to be decided upon and carried out. But it's often not as simple as that . . .
  
  

  The question of "why didn't you do it before?" needs to be addressed. "What's stopping you from doing it?" The answer may be fear of the possible result of such action, a belief that you can't do it, a deeper belief that there's no point in doing it, that nothing will work, etc. Such thoughts, habitual responses and deep beliefs can be changed, so long as you want to . . .

• Emotionally orientated - This approach is relevant where the stressor is in fact unchangeable. In this case all we can do is change our attitude towards it, change our response and how we feel about it. You may not be in control of the stressor, but you can take control of your reaction to it. And Roseanna can show you how.
• Acceptance orientated - this approach is relevant where the stressor cannot be changed, and your emotional response is similar to that of any normal individual, as in the case of losing a loved one. The assistance needed here is based on coping strategies.

Whatever your experience is, stress is treatable. Hypnosis itself is a state of relaxation, and allows relief from stress and anxiety, as well as access to your subconscious. NLP provides an invaluable set of tools allowing the programming of language into your neurology. The combination of the two enables a swift and easy reprogramming of your instinctive and automatic thought patterns, expectations and behaviour. You can be reprogrammed to respond to the old stressors/anxiety cues with a feeling of calm control. And where you are presently unaware of those causes and cues, hypno-analysis can be employed to get to the root cause, allowing relief from the symptoms.

The most important thing to remember is that everyone has the ability to think and to feel differently, and to be able to heal himself or herself with a little help from a competent therapist. Hypnotherapy and NLP are invaluable in the treatment of stress-induced anxiety.

Roseanna has been in private practice since 1989, and has a great deal of experience in assisting people in the diverse areas covered by the umbrella term "stress management".

You can contact her on 670303 for a confidential discussion of your problem.

Please note that even when calling during office hours you may still be connected to an answerphone as Roseanna may already be in consultation with a client. Please do leave a message and your call will be returned as soon as possible. Alternatively, you can e-mail Roseanna here.