What I want to talk about today is depression. Now often when people got the doctors what they’re told is that the reason for depression is because we’ve got a chemical imbalance.
hypnotherapy
Can health anxiety make you ill
One of the questions I get asked all the time is, can you make yourself ill by thinking about illnesses? Can you literally think yourself ill? The answer is absolutely yes. Let’s look at one of the most common things that people come and see me about these days, which is health anxiety.
Health anxiety traits
Quite often, a person will think and think so much about illnesses that they will actually make themselves ill. They will actually develop symptoms through the very fact that creating them through their own imagination.
And when you think about negative thoughts. What you’re going to get your body to do is send through some very nasty chemicals that will start to affect you.
Those chemicals, cortisol and adrenaline. If they’re getting pumped in every day for hours and hours every day for absolutely no reason, they will start to manifest themselves as an illness.
What physical symptoms can you get?
You certainly can get bodily illnesses such as acid reflux, problems with your bowels, problems with the way your heart feels, tightness of the chest, you name it. And if you don’t stop that process, you will make yourself ill.
It’s almost like the self fulfilling prophecy where you think you’re going to be ill, and you think you could be, and you’re actually making yourself ill. So you’re out your mind is a very powerful thing. So, what you think about is asking your mind to create.
You’ve got to be careful what you think about. If you’re constantly thinking about your chest all the time, asking yourself “How does my chest feel, does it feel tight”? You’re actually asking your mind, to give you a tight chest. Every time that you think about dying or being ill, you get more and more adrenaline sent into the body that’s gonna make you feel ill.
So the short answer is yes you can make yourself ill, through thinking about it. So, what you do instead. Well, it is a fairly complex treatment to try to reverse on your own but it can be, quite easily reversed with the right guidance.
I see a lot of people with health anxiety, probably about 50% of the clients at the moment with health anxiety. Some can develop mysterious lumps that seem to develop some of them can’t swallow.
Some of them get feelings in the body and they’re convinced it’s cancer or a heart attack or something else. Some get tingling in hands and feet, and, and all of it it’s just because they’re focusing on it. They’re actually thinking that you’ve got it and they’re asking their mind to create some sort of a sensation.
It is something that you need to get a handle on, because you can make yourself ill through that physically through that process. So if you need any help, get in touch below and we’ll have a little chat. Alternatively go straight to the services page to read more on how my anxiety program works.
Stop negative thoughts
Negative thoughts create self fulfilling prophecies. That was a Facebook post I posted recently but what does it really mean? It means that what you think about negatively, is actually creating it in the future. So you definitely need to stop negative thoughts from becoming a part of your thinking.
Why you need to stop thinking so negatively
So, by the very fact that you’re thinking about what you don’t want, you’re actually asking your mind to create it. Whether it be an argument, whether it be a problem at work, whether it be a problem at home, whatever it is.
What you think about is going to manifest it or a version of it. So it could be something as simple as thinking I’ve got a train journey and I really don’t want to feel anxious on that train. And then what you do is you start imagining how you would feel, and the events that could happen.
How anxiety starts
Let’s imagine you’ve got that train journey weekend ahead. And what you’re thinking about is, every day, being anxious on that train. What you’re actually doing is rehearsing, to be anxious. And there’s a very high probability that when you get there that that will be the case, then you start thinking the trains the problem!
The train isn’t the problem. It’s the fact that without realising it, you’ve been rehearsing anxiety. You’ve been rehearsing having panic attacks or whatever it is that you do. So your negative thoughts then become that self fulfilling prophecy.
The solution to negative thoughts
So, we have to be very careful what we think about, because without realising it people are rehearsing their next problem. You must stop negative thoughts before they get a grip. And it seems so innocent, doesn’t it. Think about what you don’t want because you think surely, by thinking about what I don’t want, I’m going to prevent it, or at very least, I’ll be better prepared for it.
So what you need to do instead is think about what outcome, do I want on that train, on that job interview, in that personal thing that is going on in your life. What is the outcome that I do want, and actually start mentally rehearsing, that outcome instead.
Hope that makes sense why you must stop negative thoughts. If you want more personal assistance with this you can book in a chat with me below.
Hypnotherapy in middlesbrough
If you’re looking for help with anxiety, depression and other related conditions and you live in the North East of England I can help. As a former anxiety sufferer I know more than most how debilitating the condition can be. I have devoted my efforts since to help those like myself to be anxiety free.
How to stop feeling self conscious
One of the most common signs of anxiety is self consciousness. I hear most days from clients that they think people either think negatively about them or are even talking about them. This “what will people think” mindset causes much anxiety.