Managing Stress & Anxiety

Stress and anxiety are common responses to many situations in life. We cannot eradicate these responses, they are important and serve a purpose for our survival in alerting us to possible danger.

The problem with the stress reactions of 'fight, flight or freeze' is when they become prolonged or chronic, causing harm to our health due to the overproduction of stress hormones thereby taxing the immune system.

It is vital to our well being to regulate our central nervous system and manage the intensity and longevity of our stress response by learning to relax our bodies and our minds.

Anxiety is an uncomfortable feeling of fear or imminent disaster often felt as butterflies in the stomach or more severely as sharp pain in the stomach. It can produce feelings of panic, difficulties breathing, increased heart rate, sweating. Anxiety is usually caused by projecting one's thoughts into the future and worrying obsessively about things that may go wrong.

It can be brought on by exams, conflict with someone close, a relationship break-up, losing a job or starting a job.

Counselling will help you to learn ways to regulate your body and your mental processes so that you will feel more in control of both aspects of yourself and have a more peaceful life.