Judging from the media it would seem anxiety is epidemic these days doesn’t it?

10 years ago around 1/4 of the people coming through my practice had some form of anxiety, today it is around 3/4.

The ‘presenting symptom’ may not always be anxiety, however after the first session it will often show up.

It used to be that Depression was always in the spotlight, now it’s Anxiety and Depression, and although there is a link between the two, they are two very different conditions.

I see many, many people who suffer from both these conditions. Right now though let’s just focus on anxiety. A very apt word is ‘focus’, because that’s exactly what anxious people do, FOCUS on their ANXIETY, and what you focus on GROWS!

So what to do?

Anxiety is a condition, not a disorder, you are not ill and medication will not change the problem or make it go away.

Many routes exist: Hypnosis, Coaching, Mindfulness, EFT, Solution Focused Therapy, some people will benefit from one therapy or even a combination of them.

Brain Structure

Anxious people often have a predisposition to think and feel negatively, which according to neuroscientists sets up a certain structure in their brain, so one thing we have to do is change the neural structure of the anxious brain.

We used to think the brain structure was fixed, we now know that the brain is malleable, i.e. neuroplastic. So it makes sense, does it not, that the more you repeat a particular thought/emotion the deeper the ‘groove’ (neural pathway) in the brain will be.

Imagine you go to the gym for months but only ever train one bicep. Over time it would become very strong whereas the other one would weaken and atrophy. Your brain structure works the same, in order for things to change it needs different ways of thinking and perceiving. The mind and body are inextricably linked, one affecting the other.

Anxiety States

Highly anxious people suffer terribly from OCD, Intrusive thoughts, Agoraphobia, Panic Attacks, to name but a few.

What high anxiety sufferers don’t realise is that they are actually experiencing fear, genuine fear. The problem is that fear is an emotion that is inappropriate and unnecessary in their situation.

Fear is designed to cope with a real threat to our survival, triggering ‘high arousal’, the typical ‘flight or fight’ mode. Basically all our senses, eyes, ears, feelings, smell, skin gather data and send back messages to our Autonomic Nervous System. They will tell our brain we are in danger and need to run. Our sub-conscious mind will trigger hormones causing the blood to rush to our limbs and various other physiological responses.

So fear is appropriate if you walk through the woods and see a bear. It is not appropriate if you are doing your shopping in a supermarket.

A person who experiences high anxiety feels and lives in an almost constant heightened, alert state, even though there isn’t any bear after them. This is both exhausting and terribly sad for anyone to suffer in this way.

Interestingly, most high anxiety sufferers have a great creative intellect, which is being misused and it is working against themselves.

Anxiety condition and its physiological effects have been conditioned over years, so that feeling of fear has become a habit stored in the sub conscious mind. It becomes a habit in your daily life activated by all sorts of triggers. The body has been ‘re-set’ at a higher level of anxiety.

However, all that can stop and be re-conditioned with The Linden Method.

The Linden Method (TLM)

When I came across TLM, I thought it was too good to be true, so I called their centre and had a long chat about it. As a therapist I knew about the subconscious mind and the autonomic nervous system, I knew a lot about anxiety and treating the condition, as well as the associated neuroscience which is a passion of mine. So what was I going to learn that was new that would help better cure my clients?

In short, Charles Linden, who suffered from high anxiety conditions between the age of 4 and 27, has put together a system, a process, after curing himself of his own debilitating anxiety. If this process is followed religiously, it will help cure the anxiety sufferer. Everything they explained about the process all made absolute sense so I decided to train and become a TLM coach.

Sufferers usually have tried every form of therapy and nothing seems to work, so I can understand that a high anxiety sufferer may be cynical in thinking why should TLM work. The trouble is that talking therapies don’t generally work on their own. It’s because the brain, the subconscious and the nervous system have to be ‘re-conditioned’, and standard talking therapies cannot do this.

TLM basically recalibrates the body’s physical and mental equilibrium. It helps change inappropriate anxiety responses to appropriate responses, so there is no longer a need for anxiety.

The process is about using a very deliberate structure every single day, and being supported by your coach, online resources and ‘live’ backup on the phone. A lot of people have been known to feel better after just a few days following TLM. It is the quickest, most effective process that I know of, and I can only recommend that you try, commit to it and see the results for yourself.

Should you wish further information please get in touch, fill in this assessment form or visit my Linden Anxiety Recovery Programme page.