Panic & Stress

Most people think of stress as bad or something they want to rid themselves of. The truth is that humans need stress to evolve and improve. If humans did not have the stress of needing food, shelter and safety, we would probably still be living in caves. Now, most of us can easily obtain those three necessities of life. In fact, most of us have more than enough physical stuff and choices for spending our time. So, the stress in modern times is different. It usually relates to distractions, too much “stuff”, and lack of knowing or living our true purpose.

We can think of stress-related anxious feelings as a network of neural clusters in the brain that create an area of association. Some neuroscientists say “the cells that fire together, wire together”. The more we reinforce patterns, the thicker and stronger the cluster of neurons becomes. When we practice a musical instrument, we are firing cells together that will wire together to play increasingly more beautiful music. Pattern reinforcement can be either internal or external. Some people will see something external and then say something inside their minds and then feel anxious feelings. Others will hear something or tell themselves something and then create an internal image which brings on the anxious feelings. So, each time you interrupt the stress pattern, you are working to literally rewire the brain!

Hypnosis works for this by by-passing the part of the mind that is sort of a “sentry” and keeps change from occurring. We all have this sentry part of us whose job it is to keep us safe. Unfortunately, the sentry is not discerning and discards positive change as well as undesirable changes. The brain can be rewired by calming, informing and changing the bully that wants to keep the patterns intact.

Panic is the stress response that causes fight, flight or freeze to occur. It can be thought of as anxious feelings on steroids. Hypnotic techniques and hypnosis therapy can greatly reduce or eliminate panic attacks.