Anxiety and Anger

I have become interested in the idea that much of what we suffer as anxiety or depression is unresolved anger. Some people are of the opinion that we are carrying around "Toxic" levels of anger, from our past and present, which are making us feel anxious.

There is a whole therapy dedicated to this belief, which is called "redirecting self therapy". The therapy involves releasing anger form the past by punching pillows (or other activities) while holding a scene or a picture of a past abuser in your mind. There are a few web-sites that wax lyrical about this therapy, but it is a bit hard to find success stories. It is true though, that people tend not to publish so much good news online.

Certainly, it might be worth looking at your anxiety, depression and a host of other symptoms as repressed anger.

The big question is this: So, I've got repressed anger and I feel anxious and bad a lot of the time. I may or may not know the things that made me angry in the past. What can I do about it?

Well, the answer is, to feel the anger! To let it come to the surface and acknowledge it. I like to write down my anger, sometimes express it as a letter to the person who made me angry. At other times I say it out loud. Sometimes I think it while I rip up old newspapers. The Internet is fairly awash with ways to let anger out. I think the key is maybe not how you release anger, but when you release it.

I recently had a situation where someone I was fond of didn't want to spend time with me. I felt anxious due to being rejected. I thought it meant she didn't like me and didn't want to be with me. As I was in need of some company I really felt quite bad about this, and when I say bad I mean rather depressed and anxious and worried. I had a kind of empty feeling. So what I did was to look at what had happened as anger, instead of anxiety or depression. I tried to think of why I might be angry and the answer was obvious. The person didn't want to see me. I wrote it down: How dare you reject me! Do you think you are better than me? Who are you to do this to me? I made sacrifices to spend time with you... etc etc. It might sound whacky but soon I felt much better, I felt that I had accessed what I had actually been feeling, and I felt better about myself!

So, anger is something that is worth thinking about if anxiety and depression and panic are problems in your life!

del.icio.us Tags: anger,anxiety,depression,panic attacks,redirecting self therapy

'My Depression Is Getting Out Of Control'

By Michael Cohen, founder of the Bioenergy Healing Research Foundation

Sarah* experiences depression with extreme emotional patterns including: sadness, tearful outbursts, low confidence, anxiety, distress, mugginess, irrationality...hormone imbalance, lethargy, tightness in chest, indigestion, stomach cramps, diarrhoea and shortness of breath.

Sarah says, “I am experiencing the depression and the other symptoms for an average of 1 in every 3 weeks. It [the depression] is getting to the point of being out of control”.

At 34 years-old Sarah finds herself losing the ability to function in a rational and able way, both in her work and social life. The irrationality, a key symptom to her ‘depression’, is one of the most destructive elements, affecting her sanity and ability to see a way out of her black hole.

For 7 years Sarah has been suffering with severe depression. Having been prescribed with Prozac she found herself stuck and unable to move forward. She decided that she needed a different approach to tackle her ‘depression’ head on, and sought treatment with me at the Bioenergy Healing Research Foundation’s Clinic in Central London.

What transpired for Sarah is a revelation on one level and a total relief on another. Most amazing for her was that she did not have to do any work…no talking about her problems, the depression, the trigger or the solution!

Moving beyond the ‘illness’

Sarah’s case history reveals that the Bioenergy Healing Treatment had the ability to rewire her brain in such a way that it was like pressing some master reset buttons. This had a major affect on her perception.

After all it was her perception that was so distorted, that it brought about her symptoms and needless to say the irrationality.

Research and treatment here at the Bioenergy Healing Research Foundation have led to a heightened level of successful results on a wide range of clients with debilitating and difficult symptoms.

Michelle* flew all the way from New Zealand to come for treatment after experiencing 30 years of depression. It was so ingrained in her that she couldn’t see beyond it. A `few months after treatment she sent an email to say ‘”That the results from your treatment Michael is 100% positive”

Cases like Michelle’s helps you to appreciate that there is nothing permanent about what you think, know or experience. It’s just how your brain is currently configured. And on the basis that you haven’t had any surgery that has caused any permanent change, then it is possible for the brain to be re-wired.

Our cutting edge approach here at the Bioenergy Healing Research Foundation has seen 12-year-old William* transform from being a very quiet, subdued and as his mum said “solemn” little boy to 7 months down the line being awarded a scholarship to a public school.

For William, all his shifts and improvements occur at a pace that his body’s system could cope with. Therefore, there were no major dips or steps backward. Improvements were continuous, consistent and sustained. 

Post treatment, when I visited his home having not seen him for 2 months, it was like meeting a new person. He was communicative, expressive and most importantly he was alive with energy and vibrancy.

When William came for treatment his mother was not looking for a miracle cure; just hopeful that he would gain some improvements to make home and school life more enjoyable. She had no idea that she would see her boy’s life transform in such a way.

How Bioenergy Healing Can Re-wire the Brain

The Bioenergy Healing techniques uses non-invasive hands-on / off techniques that are able to work with the client’s electromagnetic circuitry system. This holistic yet scientific approach of working with this circuitry system encompasses and accesses every cell in the body as well as the mind.

The dynamic aspect to the effectiveness of the technique is the way it can pinpoint the areas in the brain (neurons) and the body’s neurological connections that are either not switched-on or need to be defragmentated (re-organised). This approach brings order to the way the mind works and how it connects to the physical body.

A key aspect to the success of Bioenergy Healing treatment is NOT having to go down the cognitive route, nor determine which issue is to be dealt with first based on the severity of the symptom or what the textbook says. 

I use a unique Bioenergy Healing technique to scan your body with my eyes. It is precise and specific and enables me to pinpoint the primary points in your body on that day, without referring to your past. Moving beyond the textbook enables you to be treated individually and according to how your symptoms resonate in your body and mind. This approach has led to the heightened level of results at the Bioenergy Healing Research Foundation.

Once the primary point is located, I use hands-on techniques to activate the point sending a message to the brain to release the point that is blocked. Then I use hands-off techniques to release the memory pattern on a psychological level as well as on the cellular level.

Put together, the Bioenergy Healing techniques cause a shift in your perception releasing the trigger that was the root cause of the symptom with respect to the mind as well as bringing order to the cells on a physical level. All without having to address the whys, when’s and how’s.

The results speak for themselves!

To read more about treatment, training, research and case studies at the Bioenergy Healing Research Foundation visit www.bioenergyhealing.org.uk or email info@bioenergyhealing.org.uk or telephone 0845 4561336.

Authors Biography

Michael Cohen

Founder of the Bioenergy Healing Research Foundation

Founder of RaphaYad Bioenergy Healing Technique

Michael Cohen, founder of the Bioenergy Healing Research Foundation is an acknowledged expert in the field of Bioenergy Healing. His Bioenergy Healing Clinic in London W1 specialises in treating debilitating, difficult and long-term symptoms.

Michael’s ongoing exploratory and experimental approach to his work is at the cutting edge of Bio-energy medicine and healing treatment. Most importantly they have led to the extraordinary high level of results and his work continues to push the boundaries of human: rehabilitation, development and potential.

Contact

Bioenergy Healing Research Foundation, London

Tel: 0845 456 1336

Email: info@bioenergyhealing.org.uk

Web: www.bioenergyhealing.org.uk

Complementary Medical Association

British Complementary Medical Association

*The clients names have been replaced in order to protect her privacy. Should you wish her case history to be verified please contact the administration office.

del.icio.us Tags: bioenergy,depression

anxiety, panic and phobias - what worked for me

As in my last post, I am going to continue on the theme of what treatments actually work, and if any of the magical, instantaneous, easy cures actually work.

As I have talked about before, the only common remedies for anxiety, panic and phobias that have any scientific backing are the drug therapies (Citalopram / Celexa, fluoxetine / Prozac, Xanax and Valium etc) and CBT. There is also a decent body of evidence supporting the use of MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction). The reason given for the lack of data on other forms of treatment is that proper experimentation is very expensive. This is indeed true.

To try and get round this, I am devising my own experiment. Which I cannot say is really scientific, but I think it is interesting any way. I am going to use a popular search engine to look for personal recommendations. I want to see what has worked for who, how they went about it and what they said about it.

Why am I doing this? Good question...

It struck me the other day that there is a lot of hot air and hubris surrounding alternative healthcare. I was watching a BBC documentary about addictions and they featured two therapies that interested me: EMDR and TFT.

I have seen both of them on documentaries before, usually on either diet or anxiety programmes. Interestingly they almost always fails. There are notable exceptions, but for the most part the people they show on the programme do not get over their problems. And the therapist is left telling the camera how much he believes in the therapy, and how such failures are unusual. In fact for all the hype surrounding these therapies, and all the claims of the therapists, there never seems to be anyone around who will put their hand up and say "yes, it cured me!".

Is it in fact possible that these therapies are absolutely worthless - especially when you bare in mind how many people are successfully treated by the placebo effect! These treatments can be a good way, or at least are perceived to be a good way, to make money. And the therapists, blinded by charismatic gurus, can be lead to believe that something works when it doesn't. For example, when TFT or EFT doesn't work the therapists and experts are quick to blame toxicity. Toxicity occurs when a chemical such as soap powder causes the treatment to be blocked in some way. As most people can't or won't go through the rigours of removing all potential toxins it is an easy get out from the situation for the therapist.

I once read an interview with a woman who had been at the forefront of an energy therapy that involved tapping. She said that she suddenly noticed that what they had recorded as an 85% plus success rate was in fact much closer to 30%, it was just that they repeatedly removed results from their statistics that didn't make the therapy look successful. There was nothing malicious in this, she argues, they were just so caught up in the whole thing that they were certain it worked, and wanted to prove it.

So. I am going to google three phrases:

"EMDR worked for me"

"EFT worked for me"

"Hypnosis worked for me"

The quotation marks are important, they will ensure that only pages which contain exactly those phrases will be returned. There is no mention of anxiety, panic or phobias here. That is deliberate. I am trying to see if they work. I don't care if I find they work for quitting smoking or anything else. I am going on the assumption that if they work, then they work across the board. It's a dangerous assumption, but I warned you this wouldn't be perfect.

Results:

"EMDR worked for me" got 6 returns.

"EFT worked for me" got 70 returns.

"Hypnosis worked for me" got 514 returns.

Interesting results. It is also worth looking at the quality of the results. Quite a few came from sites which are obviously trying to sell a certain cure - "it worked for me - send me $100 and it can work for you too!". But there are some people out there who were helped by these three therapies. More than just the placebo effect?? Who can say without proper science!

del.icio.us Tags: anxiety,panic attack,phobias,panic,emdr,eft,hypnosis,experiment,scientific,emperical,evidence,proof.

The truth about phobia and anxiety treatments

Hi

I am trying to compile a small list of common treatments for anxiety and phobias which actually work. Easy, you might say, just look on Google or in a book shop. Problem is, there is a lot of rubbish out there and it's really hard to tell what's good and what's bad, and more importantly where an anxiety or phobia sufferer might best look for help.

There are two provisos that I want to make clear at the start of this post:

Firstly, I accept that no one treatment in any field however scientifically backed or esoteric works for everyone. If such a treatment did work for everyone then there would be no need for this list and everyone would be cured!

Secondly when I judge what works I want to see real evidence. I don't want to know about conventional wisdom, I don't care if it has been used for centuries, and I don't care hoe many people therapists or treatment inventors claim to have healed!

CBT

I won't say too much about CBT here because I have talked about it in general terms in the article CBT and criticized it a bit in this article: CBT - The Great Con. I will just summarize my thoughts here. CBT is good for things you can practice a lot and can make yourself do even though it is uncomfortable at first. It is bad for things you can't get into the habit of doing regularly or bring yourself to do in the first place. If you are really stuck then this won't necessarily get you going!

Hypnosis

Hypnosis is a common treatment usually offered privately. It is very hard to measure because there are many different types and many different practitioners. I have been trying to find some studies that prove hypnosis is a valid treatment for anxiety or phobias, but I can't really find any. If anyone can find some, I will edit this!

Psychoanalysis

It seems psychoanalysis might be good for general anxiety levels, but like CBT it is maybe not so good for getting you passed blocks that actually stop you doing something. Freud himself is said to have said that psychoanalysis does not remove a phobia so much as put the patient in a position from which they can face it (i.e overcoming it through behaviourism). Psychoanalysis is hard to measure because something which takes so long can't be isolated from other potentially important factors. It is not unusual for anxiety to come and go over time anyway.

Energy Therapies

By Energy Therapies I mean EFT, TFT and other meridian or tapping therapies such as TAT. They have been popular for almost two decades now but there is still very little research to support them. Advocates of these therapies claim that they work but the research that would prove this is too expensive to conduct. This is indeed true, drug companies can conduct extensive research into drugs because their end product will be protected by patent laws etc. The only hope is for university studies...which I have not been able to find! The exception is the oft-sited ENERGY PSYCHOLOGY
Theory, Indications, Evidence by Joaquín Andrade, M.D. and David Feinstein, Ph.D.

This study is very positive and makes EFT look like a really good approach. It has been criticized for not being double-blind but the statistics are interesting. For more info check out http://www.emotional-freedom.com/tapping-works.htm and http://www.innersource.net/energy_psych/epi_research.htm

I will add to this list as time goes on! Please also let me know your thoughts and ideas!

del.icio.us Tags: anxiety,phobias,treatment,eft,energy therapy,psychoanalysis,hypnosis,list

Anxiety and Anger

Can there be a link between anxiety and anger? Recently, the UK's Mental Health Foundation released a report entitled "Boiling Point" which describes how anger, if left untreated, can lead to other health problems, including mental health problems such as depression. I will argue that anxiety should be on that list as well.

The charity's chief executive described  anger as "the elephant in the room". It is massively under diagnosed and under treated. Interestingly, in the UK, anger only tends to get treated because of a court order when someone has become so angry they commit a crime, or because the individual has sought private and/or alternative therapy. Very few people are being treated for anger having presented at their GP's surgery with it.

So what about anxiety and anger? Is there a relationship? The statistical answer is that we don't yet know. There has been some research into the effects of anger, mostly by looking at the lives of people with anger versus people without. Some very interesting conclusions have been drawn, including that those people who have anger have a higher risk of heart disease, strokes, self-harming and also depression.

Depression is the item there that I find the most interesting. It is my theory that people are like an over-filled bottle, and when the pressure gets to high the cracks begin to show - in the weakest place. Different reasons probably effect why different people have different weaknesses. It could be that people have minor genetic bents towards anxiety, or anorexia, either way. What I am saying is that repressed anger, or anger which goes unmanaged, could possibly manifest as anxiety. It seems to me that what can manifest as anxiety can also manifest as depression. I have experienced both myself.

It's just a theory and hopefully there will be more research done into the connection between anxiety and anger.

What can be done about it? There are of course anger management classes to be had in every major town or city across the western world, and of course the plethora of alternative and complimentary therapies. I will do what I often do at this point, and say that whether you are suffering from anxiety, anger or indeed depression, why not try Mindfulness Meditation. 

del.icio.us Tags: anxiety,anger,depression,mindfulness meditation,boiling over,link

Stress Hardiness - beat anxiety?

I recently read about a concept called Stress Hardiness, which was first coined by Susanne Kobasa. To cut a long story short stress, in whatever form it enters your life, is a contributing factor to anxiety. If we can control our stress levels and respond to stress more appropriately then we can start to control our anxiety levels more. Note that I don't use "beat stress" here. That is because stress is in our lives and makes us move and act, without any stressors for a length of time life is pretty dull.

Beating anxiety come, in part, from controlling how we react to stress.

Most of us don't like stress. But some lucky blighters seem to positively thrive on it. Some people manage to use stress to promote them to great heights! Others tend to go the opposite direction, being reduced to fear, panic, insomnia and of course anxiety.

So why is it that some people apparently like stress, while others can't stand it. Well, like so much of life (and even more of mental health) it comes down to attitude.

Kobasa found that there are three attitudes that help people thrive from stress:

1. Number one is "Commitment". That means that it's ok for some things in life to cause you stress, but they need to be things you are committed to. A job you love can still be stressful, but when a job you hate is stressful you are very unhappy. In fact, we all go through immense amounts of stress for things we love: childbirth and pregnancy, bank holiday traffic, exercise programmes. These things that cause us stress but that we don't mind so catastrophically (and if you give it a few minutes thought I am sure you can identify your own in your life) are good signs, now you can tell yourself that you can take stress, instead of constantly reinforcing the idea that you can't.

2. Number two is "control". The more control you have in a situation the more stress you can take. Of course you can't control the whole lot, or everyone, but you can control some parts of situations and willfully decide to relinquish control of the other parts, this is also strangely empowering.

3. Number three is "challenge". That basically means you need to be able to see the problem you are tackling as an opportunity to grow and find out new things. If you see struggles in that light they become easier to deal with.

For anxiety sufferers the key is to try and reassess the stress in your life using those criteria, and starting with the smallest trying to reengage with that area of stress and this time, control it!

del.icio.us Tags: stress hardiness,stress and exercise,anxiety,panic attack,insomnia,control,commitment,challenge

Morning Pages - anxiety aid?

I have always secretly harboured ambitions of becoming a writer. In fact when I was younger I wrote three novels....sadly none of them were published and maybe it's easy to see why. How is this linked to anxiety? Keep reading, you'll see.

Over the past few years I have dreamt of once again becoming a writer. But I found that I had no motivation and few ideas, or at least the ideas I had seemed to evaporate when they were put down on paper. Elsewhere on anxiety2calm I have blogged about Art Therapy, a form of psychotherapy where art (usually visual art) is used to let the subconscious communicate. This can be helpful in untangling problems such as misunderstood motivations and ambivalence that would otherwise manifest as anxiety. I have tried it and I can vouch that it was extremely helpful.

It was while talking to an Art Therapist that I discovered the book The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron available in both the UK and USA. It is basically a book about unblocking creativity, but I think some of the exercises in it are equally helpful for unblocking aspects of yourself that are causing anxiety. The main aspect of the book, or at least one of them, is this idea of "morning pages". The details are in the book but basically you write freestyle, three pages each morning before you do anything. You can write about anything you want and the only real rule is that you write without stopping. You do tend to find that recurring themes come up and that these can guide you and educate you as to blockages in your life. I must admit I found it helpful as both a writer and someone who is prone to anxiety or depression. It felt good and was worth the struggle.

I recommend writing down all your worries big and small, setting aside some time every day. I know it's hard to find time, but make time! It will be worth it. Try it for two months, I don't think you will look back!

 

del.icio.us Tags: anxiety,art therapy,morning pages,the artists way,julia cameron,depression,therapy