Imagine a person sitting at home when a sudden fear about a family member’s safety appears. Their partner is driving back from work, their mind throws up images of accidents and hospitals, their heart starts racing. In an attempt to cope, they decide to picture their partner arriving safely and repeat that image several times.
Anxiety is not only about what happens to you, it is also about the words and pictures your mind creates in response. Those inner words and visuals shape feelings, then feelings drive behaviour.
a personal guide through midlife change Opening up about what really happens in the middle years is not easy, I know. For many of us, the first clues arrive quietly, then everything seems to gather pace. Sleepless nights creep in, words vanish mid sentence, your heart scurries when you are only making tea. You tell …
Toilet anxiety can make everyday life feel like logistics. You plan ahead, you check exits, you carry just in case supplies, and still the worry shows up. The first video in this Toilet anxiety recovery series explains why familiar coping strategies, from breathing routines to toilet mapping, often keep the cycle alive because your brain …
Every day, plenty of people find that worry has taken charge of ordinary life. Not just a quick flutter before a test, the kind that seeps into decisions, relationships, even sleep.
If that sounds familiar, treating anxiety is about retraining how your mind and body respond, so you are not white knuckling your way through the day but actually changing the pattern.
Our overcoming claustrophobia programme offers a practical route back to everyday freedom, especially when enclosed spaces have begun to dictate what you do and where you go.
For people with toilet anxiety, the question can anxiety cause diarrhoea is not just academic, it is central to their daily life. The fear of diarrhoea is often at the heart of toilet anxiety. Many clients tell me they are not frightened of the toilet itself, but of what might happen if they cannot reach one in time. This single worry can spiral into obsessive checking, restricting what they eat or drink, or even avoiding leaving the house altogether.
This interim report presents findings from a randomly selected sample of 100 patients presenting with toilet-related anxiety disorders at The Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy. All patients identified toilet anxiety as their primary presenting issue. The sample reflects a demographically representative subset of the wider clinical population and includes individuals presenting with anxiety related to urination, defaecation, or both.
If you’ve been living with a quiet fear that creeps in before travel, meetings, meals out, or any moment where access to a toilet might not be guaranteed, you’re not alone. The behaviours, the worry, the planning, they’re all far more common than most people realise. More common than most people would ever admit.
Toilet anxiety is one of those things people hardly ever talk about. It’s awkward, it’s personal, and it can feel deeply embarrassing, especially when needing the toilet is a constant fear and that fear becomes so intense it starts to take over your life. Maybe it’s the constant checking for toilets. Or the creeping dread …
I’ve been working with clients that needed toilet anxiety help for over 25 years, and if there’s one thing that makes my blood boil, it’s reading content from so-called experts who clearly have never worked a day in their lives with this condition.
Hypnotherapy Backed by Research A major new study published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health (2025) has confirmed what many paediatric hypnotherapists have observed in clinical practice for years, that gut-directed hypnotherapy is one of the most effective treatments for abdominal pain in children. This breakthrough research is a landmark moment for families looking …
Research from the Henry Ford Center for Sleep Disorders found that there was a strong link between being able to fall asleep (primary insomnia) and/or waking up in the middle the night (middle insomnia), and severity of high blood pressure.
Anxiety is a silent force that can shape thoughts, beliefs, and behaviours from an early age. For many, the challenge to tackle anxiety begins in childhood. It does not always appear as obvious distress but often emerges through behaviours like clinginess, avoidance, or excessive worry.
In this article, we aim to give you a deeper understanding of toilet anxiety, helping you determine if you or someone you know may be experiencing this condition and how to fight toilet anxiety so you can live without this debilitating fear.
Toilet anxiety refers to the fear of needing the toilet, but more specifically…
In this article, we’ll explore the causes, symptoms, and triggers of the fear of needing the toilet, and discuss practical strategies to overcome it.
Understanding this common but often hidden issue is the first step towards letting go of the fear and thus letting your mind forget all about needing a toilet. Read on and discover how to remove this fear together.
As human beings, we experience a range of thoughts each day, and by and large we are able to keep them in check. However, there are some people that find it hard to manage rage and this affects not merely them, but also their close friends, workmates and family members. The inability to manage rage …
To show how this works I arranged for an actress with severe stage fright to go on stage in a bear costume so nobody in the audience would know who it was. As soon as this happened her stage fright evaporated. This fear of judgement is typical of virtually all forms of social phobia. The …
When someone is disorganised it can put a strain on their relationships with friends and family, and this causes a whole lot more stress which creates more problems in life. Hypnotherapy can help you learn why you are disorganised, give you the tools to contend with those problems and most importantly, make it easier to …
Binge drinking, the habit of consuming excessive amounts of alcohol in a short time with the intention of getting intoxicated, is a growing concern across many Western countries. While it often starts as social drinking or a way to relieve stress, it can quickly escalate into a harmful and destructive cycle. Many people underestimate the …
Because of this, any type of painful sensation would then be perceived as being a whole lot more intense and distressing. As anxiousness levels increase, so does the experience of pain, which causes a spiral of fear, worry and pain. It is no surprise that focusing on relaxing, deep breathing and pushing can be difficult. …
“I thought toilet anxiety ruining my life was just something I would have to live with, but after one session everything began to change.” – Becky, Verified Review, Dec 2022 What is Toilet Anxiety? Toilet anxiety is a condition that affects countless people around the world, although most keep it hidden. Friends, colleagues, even family …
As human beings, we go through a range of emotions each day, and in the main, we are able to keep them in check. However, for many people, controlling their anger can be quite difficult, causing great difficulties in their life for themselves and the people close to them. Uncontrolled temper can be related to …
We use our internal self-talk to reason, question and to keep us safe. If we have a problem to reason out we will use our self-talk to work out the pro’s and con’s so both positive and negative points of view are appropriate. To do this I use my 6 year old rule.
The Guessing Machine! What part does it play in maintaining and generating anxiety? What can we do to mitigate its power to enable us to feel more relaxed.
Anxiety responds really well to hypnotherapy, However, there are some things that we train our clients to do that assist in the process, and even without hypnotherapy they can really help someone with anxiety. In these articles I explain these techniques.
Dangers of Drinking Diet Drinks The study, headed up by Dr. Ankur Vyas, was one of the most comprehensive of its type with nearly 60,000 postmenopausal women participating over nine years. Known as the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study, the research found that participants who drank two or more cans of diet soda a day …
No 6 is something most of us do, but shouldn’t… As full-time hypnotherapists, we spend a lot of time helping people who suffer from anxiety and the progress we make is sometimes unwittingly undermined by the people closest to them. So we thought it would be useful to share some ways that friends and family …
What are distraction techniques for anxiety? For many people, anxiety is a challenge they have to overcome on a regular basis. When people experience anxiety, it’s common for them to try to distract themselves from their feelings. Distraction techniques are often used in the process of dealing with anxiety, as they provide relief by helping …
In our reproductive years, our menstrual cycles work on the fluctuations of different hormones, such as FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone), LH (luteinising hormone), oestrogen, and progesterone. FSH and LH regulate the production of oestrogen during the cycle. FSH turns on the follicles to produce oestrogen (follicles are fluid-filled sacs containing our ovaries). After achieving a specific …
Are these gadgets the answer or the devil? When experiencing anxiety, your body produces stress hormones, i.e., cortisol, the primary hormone, and a chemical known as norepinephrine. These hormones create a fight-or-flight response in your body. These hormones send impulses for certain body acts such as biting your nails, pulling your hair, upward and downward …
What is perimenopause? After this time, the chances of a recurring menstrual cycle or period are almost impossible. “What is Perimenopause” is a common question asked by women who are experiencing these changes and are unsure of what’s happening to their bodies. Duration of perimenopause So, perimenopause is the phase before menopause, the day after …
Some common symptoms of hot flushes are the sudden sensation of warmth, a reddish appearance, fast heartbeat, sweating, chills after episodes of hot flushes, and anxiety. The frequency and duration of hot flushes vary from woman to woman, ranging from around 7 years to 10 years [1]. What happens when hot flushes appear During hot …
Hot flushes are the most common symptom among women suffering from menopause. It is an uncomfortable feeling to have a sudden increase in temperature. Mainly, hormone replacement therapy is used to relieve hot flushes. But some women can not take hormone therapy due to its potential side effects on their bodies or sometimes if HRT …
Discover how breaking your diet could be the one thing that helps you stick to it According to a study published earlier this year in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, cheating on your diet may help you lose weight by sticking to your healthy eating plan in the long term and help you to lose …
How does hypnotherapy work? Research answers the question David Spiegel, from Stanford University, scanned the brains of volunteers who were told they were looking at coloured objects, when they were really black and white. A scan showing areas of the brain that are used to register colour showed an increased blood flow, indicating that they …
In the Times on Boxing Day this year (2018), this article was published about the use of hypnotherapy for anxiety and depression. The study was done at Southhampton University and showed a reduction of 60% in both anxiety and depression. There is so much evidence with regards to the effectiveness of hypnotherapy, one wonders why …
Millions of people are affected by anxiety every year. Many live and cope with their anxiety on their own, suffering quietly. Anxiety is something we all experience at some time in our lives, but for most, it is just a short term experience. Anxiety affects us both physically and psychologically and in its normal form …
Three studies that will change your thoughts about diet and exercise, and you’ll love the third… We all know that the best way to ward off unwanted weight is through diet and exercise. But, according to new research from Arizona State University, burning more calories than you eat may not result in changes on the …
It can be hard to move your career forward if you find it difficult to present yourself. Continue reading to see how hypnosis will help you achieve this. Improving in your career is not always easy if you do not have the basic tools to do this. You can have the experience, the grades and …
Grief has an effect on everyone in due course. A lot of people endure the undesirable impact of grief for a great many years, more than they should. This information explores using hypnotherapeutic processes to help take care of and resolve the symptoms of grief. It’s important to note that grief should not be interrupted …
Phobias are an irrational and overwhelming fear of a predicament or object. Phobias are much more distinct than just being slightly concerned about something; it is a severe fear and avoidance of a particular scenario or object that characterises a phobic anxiety. In really serious cases, phobic anxiety can cause isolation, anxiety and panic attacks …
Teenagers can benefit enormously from hypnotherapy. Hypnotherapy can help young children with lots of the difficulties that they have, and in the following paragraphs we look at how hypnotherapy may help. There are lots of stressors on children in these modern times. They may endure feelings of low self-worth, anxiety as well as hormonal difficulties. …
If you have ever asked yourself, does exercise help you lose weight, you are in good company. It is the advice most people hear first, move more, burn it off, earn your food. And yet a lot of people discover something awkward. They do the workouts, they feel fitter, sometimes they feel proud, but the …
For some, job interview nerves can be so extreme they can stop them performing at their best, or even attending interviews at all. In the following paragraphs I would like to explain how hypnotherapeutic specialist techniques can make a difference. Having anxiety about job interviews is quite common. In fact, it’s hardly surprising that men …
At the Surrey Institute, we use the Hypnotension programme to treat high blood pressure problems. The programme has been designed specifically to assist the vast number of men and women with hypertension (high blood pressure). What is raised blood pressure? Blood pressure is a way of measuring the pressure inside of your arterial blood vessels …
I’m hearing a lot of buzz in the hypnotherapy industry about the ITV show ‘Back in the Room’, due to be shown this Saturday the 14th March. There seems to be a lot of scaremongering and worry about how it will be detrimental to our profession. One self-proclaimed spokesman on behalf of the profession stated …
Huge numbers of people are affected by severe and continual pain. That’s why an effective pain management strategy like hypnotherapy is crucial to manage and alleviate this pain. In this short article, we examine the effects of pain and how hypnotherapy could help to control and even prevail over the problem. There are ten million …
According to an article in the Daily Mail, Paul McKenna claims that his Hypnotic Gastric Band app is a ‘surgery-free weight-loss solution’ that ‘can help convince the unconscious mind that a gastric band has been fitted, so the body behaves as though a band is physically present.’.However, top surgeons have warned that, in their opinion, …
At the Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy we see many clients that have had cancer or fighting it now. The effects are often devastating and sometimes tragic. However, there is so many advances happening that can really give us great hope for the future. Having had throat cancer myself I am very aware of the …
Just about everyone has needed, or planned to, shed unwanted weight in the course of their lives. But does hypnotherapy work for weight loss i’ll answer that a little later Let us be honest, modern day society as a whole is getting heavier and fairly quickly. Putting on the weight is almost a fact of …