Anxiety and Stress
My experience of my working with clients in a GPs practice, also with Bupa and from my training has helped me with anxious clients.
Anxiety is a feeling of unease. The feeling of unease can range from mild to severe, and can include feelings of worry and fear. There are several different conditions that can cause severe anxiety. They include:
In short, three months of visiting James every week really helped me turn things round. James really gives you the space to talk and puts you at ease. He is an excellent listener, and his non-directive approach allows you to figure out the solutions for yourself and see things more clearly. He has helped me put my anxieties into context and seek potential causes from various critical points in my life - but his ultimate focus is on the here and now, and how to make things better for the future. He listens, gently probes and makes suggestions, and we developed tactics and strategies to help me change long-term patterns of negative behaviour.
My Clients Experience
With panic attacks you can experience:
These can be caused by childhood experiences, agoraphobia and similar problems, personality traits (always anxious, over critical and disapproving of self and striving to conform to expectation of others), physical causes and depression. With panic attacks we would look at taking control, breathing, relaxation, assertiveness and visualisation.
Trauma. I have worked with clients who have experienced trauma at the Everyman Project, Bupa as a Critical Incident Manager and privately. A psychological trauma or critical incident typically refers to an event which a person is connected to, that is:
Types of incidents:
What would be the person's reactions?
Physical reactions:
Emotional reactions
Effects on productivity
For people who have experienced a trauma it is best if they:
Don't:
Do:
People seldom have all of them, but you may experience some of them. If you do, your coping is entirely normal.
Do not be surprised if you have different reactions at different times. Having reactions in this manner allows you to avoid an emotional overload. Some of these are normal reactions. If they persist, then you need to talk to somebody about them.
Do not be surprised if you find you are overly attentive to matters relating to safety. After a traumatic event it is common for people to become concerned or preoccupied with their safety or the safety of others. It is normal to want to feel that we can do something to prevent further awful things from occurring.