[img]560|left|Nicholas D. Pollak||no_popup[/img]I received a call recently from an osteopath asking if I had time available to see his daughter who was returning to college in a week. She was suffering panic and anxiety.
He had been impressed with my hypnotherapy knowledge when we had met some months ago and wanted to entrust the welfare of his daughter to me to resolve her issues. He said his daughter and his wife were willing for her to try this “alternative” treatment.
When the osteopath’s daughter arrived, I saw that the problem was not complex and was easily resolved.
An Extra Heaping
A college freshman, she was not eating or sleeping properly. Besides the normal pressures for a freshman, she was facing tough choices socially and careerwise.
Her friends drank. She didn’t. Her friends used recreational drugs. She did not.
While anxious to fit in, she was unsure of her own behaviors and what kind of men she might attract. Additionally, she had the pressure of her father being a successful practitioner who had certain career expectations for her.
The accumulation created stress that was depleting her body of sugar.
Sugar is made in the body as it digests food. Carbohydrates are digested quickly. The energy burst is brief and leaves the body more depleted than it was before. Protein, which breaks down to sugar, as does carbohydrate, is digested evenly and slowly.
The Way It Works
The brain is run by sugar. When it lacks sugar, it becomes hypervigilant looking for it. If it does not find it, the brain sends out panic signals that include:
Tremors,
Rapid heartbeats,
Hyperventilation,
Dizziness,
Fear,
Excessive sweating.
The individual involved does not understand the mechanism by which the brain is functioning. Instead of understanding that the brain is lacking a constant source of evenly delivered sugar by eating small amounts of protein every two hours, they attach any of the listed reactions as the result of whatever they may be doing at the time. Perhaps getting on a freeway or entering a store.
No matter when an attack is experienced, it is usually extremely uncomfortable and may be embarrassing, let alone scary. An attack rarely is life threatening. But it can feel like heart attack, as if death is imminent.
Using desensitization and visualization, she overcame her panic and anxiety. By changing her diet and firmly making the choices she knew were the right ones, her panic and anxiety issues were further resolved. Her diet ensured an even flow of protein, which, in turn, reduced her hypervigilance, allowing her to sleep better.
She and I spent some time discussing behaviors. She gained insight into the behaviors of others as well as (most importantly) herself.
With these discoveries came confidence and self-esteem. She learned why other people act as they do. She learned to spot the kinds of people she knew would be right for her. She is progressing at the rate she and her parents were looking for.
Much more contented than before, she is successful person with a clear path that she chose to gain the success, happiness and prosperity she desired.
She learned that having to do things made everything a chore, but wanting to do made everything a desire, a clear path to self-motivation.
With the understanding of how panic attacks worked and her newfound image and focus, she is on her way.
Good for her.
A clinical hypnotherapist, handwriting analyst and expert master hypnotist, Nicholas Pollak may be contacted at nickpollak@hypnotherapy4you.net
