Stress can be a killer. People are designed by nature to deal with short-term stress – it goads us to cope with sudden emergencies. In our primitive form it helped our survival, so that we could, say, run from a predator. That was essential then, and the stress response is still necessary for us in many different brief situations, but in modern society we have created a new kind of problem for ourselves – long-term stress. We are not so well equipped to deal with this type.

The most prevalent form of constant stress is the ongoing financial struggle – to pay the mortgage, or keep up with loan and credit card payments. The current economic downturn has brought even more concern to the minds of people in that situation.

People vary a lot in their susceptibility to stress. In some, the dire situation ‘concentrates the mind wonderfully’ so that that they will analyse their finances carefully and make sensible plans to cope. However, others may panic, not discuss the matter with their partner, and generally avoid facing the growing problem.

Chronic stress can deleteriously affect the mind and the body. The defensive immune system suffers and a variety of illnesses may appear – which of course can exacerbate the problem if the person is then unable to work.

What can be done therapeutically for people who feel crippled by the deep anxiety of financial stress? I think that hypnotherapy is an ideal procedure. The very induction of hypnosis brings about a lovely state of tranquillity and calmness in the client – a haven of rare peacefulness – enabling quiet, logical thinking as a preparation for the first step of facing the issues – before working out a plan of campaign.

It may be discovered in a session of hypnotherapy, using regression, that much of the present stress is in fact a re-run of that emotion from an earlier event that has been amplifying the current anxiety, unnecessarily.

Self-hypnosis may be taught to the client as a method of ‘self-tranquilization’.

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We offer treatment for stress in Egham, Surrey, London, etc.