Health anxiety goes beyond the normal concerns about one's health and can significantly impact a person's daily life. People with health anxiety may exhibit behaviours such as frequent doctor visits, seeking multiple medical opinions, and engaging in excessive health-related research. These actions, while driven by a genuine fear of illness, can lead to heightened stress levels and a reduced quality of life. Hypnotherapy can help.

I think there's a lesson for us all there. Sometimes, when that anxiety is really biting and you can't settle to anything, it's not as easy as taking a few deep breaths and meditating. In fact, many people tell me they really find it hard to meditate when the anxiety is at its worst. So, it's important to have a few other tricks up your sleeve.

Panic attacks are extremely frightening to experience. They are also unpredictable and can seem to happen anywhere...

I talk a lot about the important connection between our thoughts, emotions and behaviours and how each one has such an important effect...

A phobia is an excessive and irrational reaction to a particular object, scenario, place or person. Phobias quite often interfere with a person’s daily life and can make things quite difficult. Someone with a phobia will go out of their way to avoid the feared object, person or place. Phobia are most often developed in childhood or early adulthood. Read more in my blog post.

You may be diagnosed with panic disorder if you have sudden, extreme anxiety attacks or panic attacks that seem to happen regularly and out of the blue. Read my blog to find out more about what you can do to help yourself.

Avoidance is very common but what we have to recognise is that none of these outside factors are the cause of the anxiety. It is all coming from inside. As soon as you avoid one situation or try to take control of your anxiety with a certain type of behaviour, another situation will take its place. Read more about avoidant behaviours and habits...

Many people who suffer from anxiety have a really hard time with uncertainty. They want to know what is going to happen, when and why and find it really difficult to "go with the flow". They want to prepare for every eventuality and find it really hard to just wait and see what happens. Can you relate to any of this? If you find it hard to tolerate uncertainty, you might find yourself always preparing for the worst. Read more...

Anticipatory anxiety is the feeling of worrying about or dreading an event or situation in the future. It often builds as the anxiety-inducing event gets closer and may cause weeks or even months of insomnia and anxiety symptoms. Very often, the anticipatory anxiety is much worse than the actual event, which, if you brave it, is never as bad as you imagined it would be. When you really break it down, anticipatory anxiety is just our minds attempting to travel into the future.

Health anxiety is a condition that causes healthy people to worry that they are seriously ill, even though they may have no symptoms or very minor symptoms. It used to be known as hypochondriasis but as that term has such negative connotations, it is now rarely used. Health anxiety is a serious condition and can have a huge negative impact on the life of the sufferer and their family.

The physical effects of anxiety are known as the "stress response". You have probably heard it described as the “fight or flight” response. It is designed to protect us by preparing our bodies to fight the danger or run away from it. What happens when we perceive a threat takes place very quickly and automatically before we even have a chance to consciously assess the situation.

What is it you fear about social interaction? Do you avoid certain social activities, such as parties or dinner invitations? The Social Anxiety Institute state that people with social anxiety disorder usually experience significant emotional distress in the following situations...