More than ever, research is proving the fundamental role played by stress in triggering or aggravating different physical and emotional afflictions. An article in a 1983 issue of Time Magazine described stress as "The Epidemic of the Eighties." The journalist also claimed that stress is a leading health problem. Indeed it is unquestionable that our world has become even more complicated and stressful in the past two decades since that article was published.

Numerous surveys show that almost everybody feels that they are subject to a lot of stress. Researchers in the field estimate that between 75 and 90 percent of the visits to PCPs (Primary Care Physicians) are related to stress.

Most people claim that their job is the major cause of their stress. Stress levels have also increased in children as well as the elderly population because of several reasons including: Peer pressures that often lead to everything from smoking to drug and alcohol abuse; the dissolution of family and religious values and ties; increased crime rates; fear for personal safety; but also social isolation and loneliness.

Stress can cause and aggravate problems such as diabetes, ulcers, low back and neck pain, hypertension, strokes and heart attacks. This is due to the augmented sympathetic nervous system activity along with a high level of cortisol, adrenaline, and other hormones. Chronic stress is often associated with weakened immune system resistance. Stress can contribute to anxiety, depression, and its numerous impacts on the body's organs.

"Stress" is defined as follows by the American Heritage Dictionary:

"To subject to physical or mental pressure, tension, or strain"

The following definition is given for "tension":

"Mental, emotional, or nervous strain"

The following definition is given for "anxiety":

"A state of uneasiness and apprehension, as about future uncertainties"

And it defines "depression" as follows:

"The condition of feeling sad or despondent"

"Clinical depression" is defined as follows:

"A psychiatric disorder characterized by an inability to concentrate, insomnia, loss of appetite, anhedonia, feelings of extreme sadness, guilt, helplessness and hopelessness, and thoughts of death."

What we can be sure of is that our thoughts are the first cause of our feelings of stress, anxiety and depression. To put it into different words, what we think about, and our attitudes and points of view about our experiences dictate what we feel. So if we can manage to alter our thoughts, attitudes, and points of view, we can release our stress, anxiety, and depression and change them for a better state of being.

Since the beginning of time, people have sought out methods for releasing stress. With the pharmaceutical industry there seems to be a drug for everything. And to that end the industry has produced a wide array of tranquilizers from Valium to Xanax. If you choose to utilize these pills for relief, please be sure to be aware of the side-effects by reading the fine print, which often include addiction and dependency. Unfortunately, these types of drugs aim at treating the symptoms, but not the cause. So if one stops taking them, the symptoms can come back.

A smarter way of releasing tension, stress, anxiety, and depression is to work on the root cause, which as I said before, is usually our thought processes. There is some good news. Hypnosis is all about relaxing. The AMA accepted hypnosis in 1958 as an effective way to cure stress or stress related symptoms. However unlike anxiolytics, there are totally no undesirable side effects.

When you enter the state of hypnosis, you are in the Alpha level of consciousness. It is the daydream like temporary psychological frame of mind that we go through as we're about to fall asleep in the evening. And we go through it again when we awaken in the morning. There are many different ways we can guide ourselves into this condition of tranquility, from step-by-step relaxation to visual imagery to listening to hypnosis CD's.

Once in a hypnotic state, we can interact with our unconscious mind, which is the center of our feelings. And one can more easily accept new ideas and points of view which will help us to get rid of anxiety, or even avoid it in the first place.

NLP, which is a modern kind of hypnotherapy, offers various excellent methods for eliminating stress. Maybe the most effective technique is called the "swish" pattern - or the "flash" pattern. After using the "flash" pattern, your unconscious will automatically use negative, stress producing mental pictures, to create relaxation producing mental pictures. In other words, what usually makes you feel stress will now trigger relaxation!

TO SUMMARIZE

Tension, stress, anxiety, and depression can be triggered by our thoughts. So if we change our attitude and the way we resent our situation and what we've experienced, we can get rid of these feelings at the source. Hypnosis and NLP are natural tools that we can use to help us change our attitude and point of view to easily get rid of the main cause of our negative feelings.