This is about as close as I am going to get to being a ‘rock star’! I have spent a number of days in rural Northants in the recording studios – Fit Dog Studios which is run by a wonderful couple Chris and Louise.

I have set up a separate site for downloads – www.wellbeing-online.com – which will enable those who perhaps can’t get to visit a hypnotherapist the opportunity of listening to my recordings.

There are currently three downloads available at £9.99 each – Somni is a sleep aid recording, and the feedback from individuals who have enjoyed a deep sleep after using Somni is very encouraging. Most people don’t get to the end of the recording – they are already asleep! I believe it is an excellent sleep-aid.

Serana for de-stress is also available. It is useful to create a calm and relaxed place to let go of stress and improve your state.

Laetus is a confidence download. If you feel insecure and don’t like being the centre of attention – this is the confidence download for you.

I will be recording a session on self-esteem in May.

All of the downloads include relaxing music and are of a far higher quality than I can create in my therapy rooms. Please do not play them in the car or whilst working machinery – you will drift into a pleasant relaxing place – not ideal for driving!

If you are in any doubt that listening to a download is not enough for you and you feel the need to speak to someone face to face, please contact your local hypnotherapist or counsellor. The HA and BACP websites have lists of qualified therapists.

Jonathan Lloyd
April 20

Since the current concept of stress was formulated in the 1950s stress has become a word used extensively in modern everyday language. Roskies (1983, p.542) explains the astronomical change in the use of the word ‘stress’,  “from it’s humble origins as a laboratory term in the 1950s, stress has now become a short-hand symbol for explaining much of what ails us in the contemporary world invoked to explain conditions as diverse as nail biting, smoking, homicide, suicide, cancer, and heart disease”. In the twentieth century the pace of life has been viewed as the root cause of much illness (Cooper and Dewe, 2004). During the 1980s and 1990s there was an explosion in the interest in stress. Much of the current theory and literature around stress were written in these decades, possibly because there was so much stress around? Indicative of the sheer volume lies in a 1995 report which indicated that stress played a major factor in 70% of visits to the family doctor (Posen, 1995). Powell and Enright (1990) allude to the size of the problem by the end of the 1980s. An estimated eighty percent of all diseases have their beginnings in stress, one in five British females are prescribed tranquilisers, in the USA there is a reported five hundred percent increase in coronary heart disease over the last fifty years, eight million in the US have stomach ulcers and twelve million have alcohol problems, forty million days are lost to British industry to stress related conditions and finally Americans took five billion doses of tranquilisers and sixteen thousand tonnes of aspirin each year. These figures have increased subsequently and continue to increase.

I reflect on the possible reasons for the stark increase in the report of stress related problems. To my mind there are many possibilities.  There is a possibility that they have always been there and we now have a ‘pigeon-hole’ to place them in or the stigma of stress related illness has diminished. Whilst these are probable contributory factors they do not fully reflect the other causes. I see them at a Meta and Macro level - there have been significant changes of the last three decades. Many countries have seen significant development in material development; ways of working and technology have become more and more sophisticated, new weapons have been developed, wars are being fought over energy sources, new diseases have appeared, the environment is being polluted and global warming is on the increase. On a personal level, media-led high expectations drive us in search of the “perfect job”, the “perfect home” and the “perfect partner” and despite the increase in personal wealth we are left feeling unsatisfied and wanting more. You could say that our spiritual connection with what it is to be truly human and enjoying a spiritual connection with the environment is waning, see Gyatso (2000 pp 2-3).

References

• Cooper, C.L., & Dewe, P. (2004). Stress – A Brief History. Malden MA: Blackwell.
• Gyatso, G.K., (2000). Eight Steps to Happiness. Ulverston: Tharpa.
• Posen, D.B. (1995). Stress management for patient and physician. Canadian Journal of Continuing Medical Education, Vol.121, 213-245.
• Powell, T., & Enright, S. (1990). Anxiety and Stress Management. London: Tavistock/Routledge.
• Roskies, E. (1983). Stress Management: Averting the evil eye. Contemporary Psychology, 28, 542-544