Stress: a state of mind

Everyone talks about being stressed, overwhelmed and anxious. The pharmaceutical and alcohol industries pray that you stay way. We know that unrelenting stress can lead to physical and emotional problems such as hypertension, ulcers, migraines and depression. But what is stress exactly? Is it tangible? Is stress a traffic jam, money or relationship problems?

The way people commonly refer to stress you would think it would at least be something you could see or touch. Maybe stress is more like the common cold; feels lousy for a while, then it either goes away or perhaps you just get distracted and stop thinking about it.

My clients learn that stress is a point of view, or a perspective. Two people experiencing the same situation can respond in very different ways. What pushes the stress button in one person can have no effect on another. So it’s not the situation or event but rather how it is perceived or interpreted.

To take it a step further; everytime someone with the fear of flying, takes off in an airplane, and experiences panic, the phobia becomes more deeply rooted. Over time, with repetition, the fear can spread. Soon the person feels uncomfortable driving to the airport, then he or she experiences discomfort just booking the flight, and then just the initial thought of taking the trip to begin with, can provoke a stressful response.

The bad news is that with repetition fear can spread and become deeply rooted; the good news is that the opposite is also an option. Relaxing confidence can become just as automatic, you can’t have one without the other. Think of the subconscious as a greenhouse, you can grow roses or poison ivy with equal efficiency.

Hypnosis is the only way to clean out your inner house, to uproot and delete the problem patterns, and to then plant the seeds supporting new preferred alternatives. By repeating the hypnotic process daily for a couple of months, the new patterns become just as deeply rooted as the problem patterns were.

My clients experience a series of sessions offering a variety of creatively effective techniques supporting healthy change. Most have never previously tried hypnosis, inspite of this the overwhelming majority feel a significant emotional release from whatever problem they had when they arrived. If you are struggling with a problem please consider hypnosis. It’s a powerful tool that’s easy to do and it feels fantastic.

By: Paul Gustafson RN CH

Emetophobia relief

My first emetophobia (fear of vomiting) client, Amanda, was in 2010. She was a young mother of an infant child and had been experiencing the fear of vomiting for many years. After finally confiding with her primary physician, she was referred for hypnotherapy. Amanda had no experience with hypnosis but was desperate for relief.

Hypnosis is powerfully relaxing, and helps individuals to tap into an open, receptive level of thought.  Once clients are guided into this meditative bliss they receive direct or indirect suggestions as well as metaphors and creative imagery supporting relief of irrational fear.

Individuals struggling with extreme levels of worry, stress, or fear tend to do really well with hypnosis, and this was the case with Amanda.  After the initial session, she described a refreshing emotional separation, as though there was now emotional distance between how she felt at the conclusion of the session compared to before. Throughout the course of her remaining two office visits this emotional distance increased and Amanda was able to gradually become more involved in her child’s care and was not preoccupied with vomiting.

Months later, Amanda graciously agreed to appear on my TV show and I posted a short clip of her interview on my website. That video has touched the lives of many. In the last 5 years I have not only helped dozens of local clients with this emetophobia, but there have also been many not so local clients who benefited as well.

I created a long-distance program that extends the same in-office experience Amanda had to those across the country. In fact, Amanda has offered to contact these individuals to support them through the process. Emetophobia is a devastating phobia which significantly affects the quality of life. As a Consulting Hypnotist and a Registered Nurse I have been greatly fulfilled to be able to offer this relief to my clients.

I will close with a heartwarming example of a family desperate for relief. A family from Albany, NY saw Amanda’s video online and immediately contacted me. Initially, because of the geographical limitations, I suggested the long-distance approach, but they preferred the same experience that Amanda received. They spent 6 hours on the road for each office visit and at the time of this writing the young woman from New York is doing very well.

By: Paul Gustafson RN CH