A Client who called to see me recently had a very interesting problem. Whenever he reached a certain level in his sport he would injure himself. He would give up that sport (not as a result of the injury). He would start a new sport, only to have the pattern repeat itself. As time passed, he ran out of new sports, and the pattern was replaced with a new one. Now, whenever he tries to exercise he gets unexplained stomach pains.
Unconscious Sabotage
What is happening? The subconscious mind is protecting him, in a weird way keeping him safe, by causing him to unconsciously sabotage and prevent him from exercising. This ‘unconscious patterning’ can be caused by a number of things. With the combination of coaching and hypnotherapy, we were able to change the subconscious thought process and the client is now back exercising and playing sport.
The Mind Body Link
The body has a very ancient protection mechanism called flight, fright or freeze response. When a person is exposed to a highly stressful or traumatic event the body responds by going into this survival response.
Fight Flight Freeze
In other words, the person will either run away from the event, fight against the event, or when the event is too horrible or uncomprehensible, freeze. Often when a person freezes such as in a rape or continual molestation this creates feelings of guilt; I should have resisted more.
Normally, when the event is over the levels of stress and anxiety come back down to acceptable levels and the person resumes normal life.
Unfortunately, sometimes the brain is not able to process the event and the event keeps looping. This means the person is continually reliving the event. The result is the person stays stuck in the flight, fight or freeze response.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
When a person is stuck in Fight, flight, freeze mode, their muscles are tight and tense, cortisol is being produced in large quantities. This tension creates stress, anxiety, and when prolonged, depression. In severe cases, it is diagnosed as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Victims of domestic violence are exposed to a continual cycle of stressful traumatic events so no wonder it leads to severe stress, anxiety, and depression.
Resolving PTSD
There is a way to get the brain to process the events that cause the symptoms of PTSD.
The first is to want to change the environment. This sounds easy but often it is the most difficult thing to do in the case of domestic violence. The second is to consider the use of hypnosis. I have been using hypnosis to great effect with some truly remarkable results.
If you would like to know more contact us on 1300 64 53 54