Massacre in Norway triggers lessons in bereavement, grief, trauma and mental health
The massacre in Norway raises many points about mental health, bereavement, grief and trauma.
Let’s look first at Anders Behring Breivik whose actions resulted in 76 people being killed or, as we write this, unaccounted for. While it might have been legally judicious for his lawyer to label Breivik “insane”, using that word says more about prejudice than it does about understanding mental health.
When people retreat from the norm – behaving anti-socially, whether by withdrawing from others or behaving inhumanely towards themselves or others – it is often because they feel out of kilter with the world, or misunderstood by it, or because they cannot manage their emotions. This is not a defence of Breivik’s behavour (clearly extreme and exceptional) but it is an example of what can happen if mental illnesses are not recognised, diagnosed or treated.
While the majority of our clients are well-informed and self-aware, mental illness remains a taboo. Talking about mental health issues with partners, family, friends – or with colleagues at work – is not something everyone has the chance or inclination to do. Keeping concerns private does not often lead to extremes of behaviour – but it can cause significant shifts in behaviour or personality, turning people in on themselves. And that could lead to self-harm, eating disorders, mis-using drugs or alcohol, an over-reliance on smoking; it could cause anxiety, panic, stress, phobias, sleep issues. It can also affect behaviour and performance at work and relationships. Anyone feeling they do not fit in, that others are against them, or that they cannot cope deserves support and encouragement. Yet, as our human instinct is often to shy away from exposing what we think of as private weaknesses or inadequacies, support is often hard to seek.
The Norwegian tragedy also shows how others can be affected, directly or indirectly.
We’ve heard about the guilt that some survivors of the incident feel – that they escaped his attention or were just of out range so they lived but others didn’t. There is anger at the police – for taking what the public considered too long to respond to the incident, and for not having the right means to get their fast. Many who witnessed the incident were immediately traumatised and may remain affected by the trauma for some time. Some parents felt relief on learning their child was safe, but their relief was tinged with sadness at others’ loss. We saw the tearful response of the King and Queen of Norway at the memorial service, shocked and saddened by the individual deaths and by what was the country’s biggest loss of life since the second world war. And we noted the stunned expression on the Norwegian prime minister’s face as he took control of the incident, balancing his emotions with his responsibilities to set a lead for the country and protect its reputation as a tourist destination.
Paramedics who reached the scene described the people they found as traumatised. Those paramedics are likely to have built up resilience that helps them manage their reactions to traumatic incidents but they might need continuing support to maintain that resilience.
And we’ve experienced our own reactions, at a distance from the incident, trying to make sense of it from our perspectives, with many of us reliving grief at lives lost years ago or recently.
All of these reactions are normal – grief is a complex emotion even when a death or loss occurs naturally and is expected. Sometimes it takes an extreme act for people to notice the extent of their own or others’ mental distress – and to give themselves permission to seek help to overcome it.
If this traumatic incident has triggered difficult emotions, changed behaviours, or reopened issues you thought were under control, do get in touch with us for professional, therapeutic support. We offer a range of therapies including EMDR (recognised by NICE as particularly effective for recovering from trauma), CBT, hypnotherapy, psychotherapy and counselling - and often recommend a blend of therapies so each person receives the form of therapy that is best for them.
29/07/2011 | Posted in Psychotherapy, Psychodynamic therapy, Psychoanalytical therapy, Person-centred counselling, NLP, Integrative counselling, Hypnotherapy, Humanistic psychotherapy, Gestalt therapy, Existential counselling, EMDR, EFT, Counselling, CBT, Sensorimotor psychotherapy,
Medically unexplained symptoms
Recent studies have revealed that between one in six and one in three people in the UK consults their GP about what turns out to be medically unexplained symptoms – symptoms that are either not related to an illness or are unusually exaggerated for that illness. The majority of those symptoms has a psychological foundation, though the cause can often be missed.
Take, for example, the case of a woman (let’s call her Sarah) who comforted her aunt through her last days and was with her when she died. Several months later, Sarah began to feel out of sorts. She slept badly, largely because she repeatedly woke to find her left arm a leaden weight, cold and without feeling but causing pain including inside her chest. Worried, she imagined this was a sign of a heart problem and booked an appointment with her GP.
Tests showed no signs of a heart condition but a few questions revealed that Sarah had been unexpectedly affected by her aunt’s death – and she recalled that her aunt had died, from lung cancer, while lying on her left side with Sarah holding her left hand. The GP was reluctant to prescribe sleeping pills – sleeplessness was not the symptom that needed treatment. Instead, he referred Sarah to a psychotherapist where she talked through her aunt’s death and other stresses; the symptoms ceased.
Medically unexplained symptoms can affect all parts of the body and in various ways. About a third of them are musculoskeletal (including but not only back pain), roughly a fifth are abdominal (such as digestive problems), a smaller proportion has ear, nose or throat problems, others experience fatigue, dizziness or simply don’t feel right. Some symptoms can be extreme, such as paralysis or blindness; others are less severe.
Common experiences include people with depression who feel pain more intensely and people with asthma whose asthmatic attacks increase when they are under stress – but there are no hard and fast rules; symptoms and their severity vary from person to person.
We don’t know how the mind, brain or body turns the psychological into the physical; the fact is that it does – and we’ve known this for millennia. The solution is to consider whether the symptoms might be triggered by an underlying emotional cause and, if so, to seek psychological support. [Source: Therapy Today]
01/09/2010 | Posted in Psychotherapy,
CBT could cure insomnia
In a recent article we talked about the research done at the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University. Researchers involved in the study concluded that around five hours of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) could cure insomnia for most people.
CBT used in this research is based on psychological interventions encouraging the sufferers of insomnia to break their cycle of worry to sleepless nights and return to their normal sleeping patterns. The CBT methods start with using basic notes on what can promote sleep, so helping the sufferers avoid things like taking short naps in the daytime because they felt tired and encouraging them to start waking and going to bed at the same each day and night.
The therapy also included changing the sufferer’s habits to avoid caffeine, exercise or eating close to bedtime and teaching the sufferer how to relax, such as focusing themselves at night to avoid going over their day to day worries and problems.
CBT is known as a talking therapy, much like counselling or psychotherapy, and many people can feel quite cynical about it. However, the results are difficult to deny. This study showed 70 per cent of sufferers benefited greatly, including those who had been on sleeping pills for 20 years or so.
09/03/2009 | Posted in CBT, Counselling, Psychotherapy,
Using CBT instead of sleeping pills
It seems that the recession is not just upsetting many people financially. It is also causing an almost national epidemic of insomnia. Worries about redundancy, savings, mortgages and debt are causing countless sleepless nights. Research from one medical website showed that almost half the 1,000 survey respondents confirmed they were not sleeping as well as before the economic crisis.
Although the current economic climate may be exacerbating the problem, insomnia is not a new problem. Around one in 20 adults takes some sort of sleeping pill - even though many say that pills can often cause more harm than good as patients find it hard to sleep without the pills when they try to stop taking them.
Another answer could be CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy). Loughborough University conducted research into the matter and their Sleep Research Centre concluded that around five hours of CBT can actually cure insomnia for most people. CBT is a therapy that examines the way that we think or feel about situations or objects and how we react to them. Various techniques are used to help us change the way we feel or think about these and to adapt to more helpful reactions.
06/03/2009 | Posted in CBT, Psychotherapy,
Britain worries over finances
Website ReallyWorried.com shows the UK Worry Index, the resulting index devised from a survey of over 1400 people. According to this index, the global financial crisis means that the cost of living is now at the top of this UK's worries. The survey showed people are worrying more about money than they are about their health and drinking more than the previous year too, possibly in an effort to cope with worry.
Resorting to alcohol can breed more problems and this could be made worse as the survey showed 38 per cent bottle up their feelings. Talking about problems or looking at ways to change our patterns of thinking can really help and counsellors are finding that the credit crunch has meant an increase in the number of patients seeking help and solace from the stress.
Parents also worry their kids may become a victim of bullying. Youths aged from 16 to 24 worry the most as one in six apparently worries for around 12 hours a day. The worst day is Monday and after midnight is the time we worry the most.
Earlier this month The Sun quoted Phillip Hodson, a spokesperson for the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, as saying:
“It is alarming to realise from this research just how many people in Britain are chronic worriers. Worry is the central component of all anxiety disorders and most depression. Worry is the paralysing emotion that leaves us like rabbits trapped staring into the headlights. And it’s not only in the mind. The physical side of worry triggers a range of other symptoms from tics to indigestion and from obsessions to insomnia. “While it’s true that "born worriers" may never be cured, it is a darn sight more difficult to keep on worrying once you share your concerns with others who may already have found some good answers and who make you turn your fears into a realistic story with a beginning, a middle and, hopefully, a happy ending.”Counselling, psychotherapy, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and hypnotherapy are great therapies to help cope with the stress and worry so it is unsurprising that therapists are seeing more people for help with their day to day lives.
15/01/2009 | Posted in Psychotherapy, Counselling, CBT,
How does hypnotherapy help with the menopause?
For many women, the menopause is a particularly difficult phase of life. Some turn to hypnotherapy to relieve symptoms such as anxiety, insomnia, hot flushes, stress and more.
It works because hypnosis helps people put mind over matter. Because the mind is capable of telling the body how it should and should not feel, it can help alleviate symptoms.
For example, in the case of hot flushes, oestrogen has been proven to play a part in setting the temperature of the body in the brain. So, when oestrogen levels are low, the brain believes the body is getting hot and starts to cool the body down through sweating and releasing that heat. As hot flushes are just a small malfunction in the brain, hypnosis can help train the mind to influence the body to cool down the hot flush.
As reported recently in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, a group of 51 women took part in a trial. For the 26 (half the group) who received hypnotherapy, they had a 68 per cent decrease in hot flushes and most of them also foundthey had fewer uncomfortable side effects f(such as loss of sleep and difficulties in social interaction). The study's lead investigator, Gary Elkins, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor, said:
"This study validates that this type of treatment is effective in decreasing hot flushes. There is a real need to study emerging mind-body interactions to treating these ailments because many times, medications are not an option".
After the success of this research, the researchers now intend to recruit 190 post-menopausal women to take part in a five year study so that they can analyse the physiological response to hypnosis.
23/11/2008 | Posted in Hypnotherapy,
Blackpool man has hypnotherapy after acomplia
A Blackpool man was featured in the Blackpool Gazette recently as he told the paper how he had suffered suicidal thoughts after he had been prescribed a controversial weight loss diet drug, Acomplia, otherwise known as rimonabant. Gordon Pothecary came off the medication two months ago and, after reading of the worrying side effects in the papers this week, was shocked to discover the drug had been linked to suicide. The drug has now been banned in the UK.
Mr Pothecary, of Hornsey Avenue, said: "It did make me have suicidal thoughts. I would never have acted on them but it did make me think I would be better off not being here anymore. I felt I couldn't see a way out. I'd been taking another drug called Oralstat for about two-and-a-half months and I lost about 1.5lbs to 2lbs a month, but didn't suffer any side-effects. I went to see the nurse and she said they were changing my medication on to this new one. I lost about 12 or 13lbs in the first few months. It gradually got worse and worse, my stomach felt all tensed up, I was short-tempered. My moods were terrible. I would fly off the handle at the smallest things. All those side-effects I read about sounded very familiar: low mood, depression, anxiety, irritability, nervousness and I couldn't sleep."Mr Pothecary is now having hypnotherapy to help him to ease the symptoms and to get back to his old self and will shortly be starting counselling.
He commented: "After I came off it and started having hypnotherapy, I did feel better. Now I am gradually getting back to normal.”Hypnosis can help to ease both physical and mental symptoms and many people use it for weight loss.
04/11/2008 | Posted in Hypnotherapy, Counselling,
What can hypnotherapy help with?
As regular readers will know, hypnotherapy is a powerful tool using hypnosis for therapeutic purposes. But many people still associate hypnotherapy with stopping smoking and curing fears and that is it.
Hypnotherapy can be used for so many different things that the list is almost endless and hypnotherapists are finding new uses for it all the time. It can be used for almost any problem or situation where the body and the mind both come into play. Here are just a few of the issues that hypnotherapy has been used to help:
- sports – improving performance, anxiety, coaching, overcoming concentration problem, increasing focus, motivation;
- business – stress management, assertiveness, motivation and direction, problem solving and communication, public speaking, confidence;
- education – increasing concentration and focus, improving memory, exam nerves, study techniques;
- personal – increasing confidence or self-esteem, curing phobias and fears (whether of spiders, flying, heights, thunderstorms), anxiety and depression, insomnia, habits, addictions and other unwanted behaviour (nail biting, bedwetting, smoking, alcohol, drugs), sexual or relationship issues, eating disorders, shyness and blushing, pain management;
- health - chronic pain, hypno-birthing, IBS, snoring, dermatitis, asthma, nausea from pregnancy or chemotherapy.
Hypnotherapy promotes better health, well being and better life. For years, it was helped thousands of people in their every day lives.
22/09/2008 | Posted in Hypno-birthing,
New study reports hypnotherapy can help arthritis sufferers
The findings of a study from Bangor University were presented on 11th September 2009 to The British Psychological Society's division of health psychology annual conference. It stated that people suffering from arthritis can alleviate their pain by using hypnotherapy and mental imagery.
Rheumatoid arthritis is progressive and a disabling disease affecting just under one per cent of the adult population in the UK. It is very painful and can affect a person’s ability to do everyday tasks. Despite medical treatment, many still suffer with high pain levels and often turn to alternative treatment - including hypnotherapy - to lessen their fatigue and pain.
The study from Bryan Bennett and colleagues at Bangor University asked 42 patients to visualise their pain and attempt to manage it. The results showed that the imagery techniques and hypnosis were effective at reducing pain and tiredness. Bryan Bennett commented:
"All the participants were asked to identify what areas of their life were important to them but were negatively affected due to the rheumatoid arthritis. By doing so they were taking an active part in their own therapy. By employing the techniques they were taught, they were able to self-treat when necessary - allowing them to control their pain and enabling them to get on with enjoying life".
Pain is not the only side-effect of arthritis. The diagnosis itself can be devastating, leading to people feeling many negative emotions such as anger and depression. This in turn can lead to insomnia, mood issues and a lack of appetite. Furthermore, many wonder what their future may be like, and what medication they'll require, and this can lead to losing the self-image they have held of themselves.
Techniques such as visualisation and positive affirmations are effective, as is self-hypnosis as it helps to focus your mind on your body and immune system. A good hypnotherapist will be able to teach you self hypnosis techiques so you can then continue to use it at home.
17/09/2008 | Posted in Hypnotherapy,
CBT helps dialysis patients with insomnia
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, otherwise known as CBT, is a type of psychotherapy. According to a recent study reported in Reuters, it seemed to improve the quality of sleep in dialysis patients. CBT is a non-drug therapy and the investigators from the study said that it seemed to be quite effective with dialysis patients suffering from sleep problems. Dialysis is the procedure to remove toxins from the bloodstream when a person’s kidneys are failing to do it sufficiently for them.
According to the study chief, Dr. Hung-Yuan Chen from National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, told Reuters: “Sleep disturbance in dialysis patients is a "puzzling and prevalent complaint. However, only hypnotics are available for clinicians to solve this problem at present".
CBT has proved effective in the past for insomnia in the elderly and also cancer patients and those with chronic pain. The study included 24 patients, with 14 randomised to have one hour per week in a psychiatrist-led CBT session. Almost 80 per cent in the CBT group had improved changes in sleep patterns, and also had a decline in a blood protein called interleukin-1-beta, which has been linked to inflammation. The results after four weeks, although impressive, were not statistically significant according to the American Journal of Kidney Diseases.
15/09/2008 | Posted in CBT,
Overcoming corporate stress
Many business people recognise stress as their top complaint. But they do not necessarily realise how much stress can contribute to health problems until it is too late.
Although stress starts at work, it affects home life and other areas quite quickly. For example, it can interrupt normal sleeping patterns, cause weight loss or gain, and cause a lack of concentration. This can cause issues at home for the person's partner, children, family and friends.
Hypnotherapy is often used to relieve stress and many companies have seen success by incorporating hypnotherapy into their employees' routines and corporate benefits. Hypnosis helps, not just by relieving the stress but also by teaching the patient's mind how to deal with stress.
The physical problems we feel from stress are caused by a reaction in our mind. Sometimes a patient will have no conscious or concrete idea of why they are stressed. So the hypnotherapist can work with them on an unconscious level to help discover the reasons and how best to deal with them. It is not only a case of learning how to deal with new stress but also how to release the old stress of the past. Hypnotherapy can help people to do that.
06/08/2008 | Posted in Hypnotherapy,
CBT for insomnia: sleep without the medication
If you are taking sleep medication prescribed by the doctor, then you should consult your doctor before coming off any medication. Many of the new medications prescribed have few side effects, but if you want to get off the medication and try natural remedies or alternatives, then a responsible therapist will always advise you to speak to your doctor before stopping the medication.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a form of psychotherapy, which has proved very effective in the past for many people suffering from insomnia. CBT works, as the name suggests, by modifying behaviours or patterns that have become a habit, whether knowingly or not. For example, the therapist may work with you to try altering things such as waking up at the same time each day, avoiding short naps, minimising light and noise in the bedroom and getting out of bed if you're having trouble sleeping after 15 minutes.
Dependent upon your circumstance, situation and personal preference, CBT can also be combined with hypnotherapy, which can prove to speed up the process.
04/08/2008 | Posted in CBT, Psychotherapy,
What Not To Wear star uses cognitive hypnotherapy
Star of BBC's What Not To Wear programme, Lisa Butcher, started writing a new column in The Sun from July. In the column, Lisa talks about how she used cognitive hypnotherapy to help to boost her confidence when she first started working in front of the camera. Lisa said:
"When I started work on What Not To Wear at the BBC, the clothes I wore were important, but that was not enough to give me the confidence I needed. I discovered a solution in cognitive hypnotherapy/ neuro-linguistic programming... I went to two sessions and that was enough to build up my strengths and deal with my anxieties."Hypnotherapy is generally acknowledged as being more effective when combined with cognitive behavioral therapy. As Lisa discovered, it is very effective and results can be achieved in very few sessions. Hypnotherapy is ideal for use with anxiety, confidence, stress or relaxation issues, insomnia, and many fears and phobias. As we have talked about in our earlier articles, many hypnotherapists offer a free consultation to give clients the opportunity to ask any questions they may have prior to a session.
01/08/2008 | Posted in NLP, Hypnotherapy, CBT,
Symptoms of depression
Depression is more common than you might think, however, it is also often misdiagnosed when people feel down or are going through a tough period in their lives. Here is a list of common depression symptoms. Many people do not experience them all but if you have a few of these it might be worth seeking some help. Depression does not always mean treatment through medication. Often, other therapies can also help, such as psychotherapy, CBT or hypnotherapy.
- Low mood almost all day, every day
- Loss of interest or enjoyment in activities you normally like
- Feeling weepy, bursting into tears uncontrollably
- Feeling guilty, worthless or useless a lot of the time
- Lack of motivation, even for the simple thing sin life
- Lack of concentration, even to watch tv, read or work
- Lack of sleep or waking up early and unable to get back to sleep
- Lack of energy, always tired
- Going off sex and affection
- Poor appetite resulting in weight loss
- Too much appetite resulting in weight gain
- Often irritable, restless and agitated
- Symptoms are generally worse in the mornings
- Physical symptoms such as more frequent headaches, chest pain or general aches
- Preoccupation with death or suicide, thinking about it a lot
18/07/2008 | Posted in Psychotherapy, Hypnotherapy, CBT,
Top uses for CBT
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, is a relatively quick form of treatment, often requiring only 10 to 15 weekly one hour sessions. The exact number of sessions depends on the person and the problem, as CBT requires active participation by the individual.
Many people are unsure what CBT does. It is a behaviour therapy, meaning that it aims to correct negative or unwanted patterns of behaviour or thought. Here is a list of the top uses for CBT:
- stress
- schizophrenia
- anorexia
- bulimia
- chronic fatigue syndrome
- anger management
- insomnia
- OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)
- depression
- phobias
14/07/2008 | Posted in Hypnotherapy, CBT,
How hypnotherapy can help insomnia
When you are having trouble sleeping, it can affect all areas of your life. You feel tired, lethargic, can get run down and become ill, feel ill-tempered and emotional and take it out on your family, friends and work colleagues. Hypnotherapy is often a great help in curing insomnia, especially when combined with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).
One common theme, usually present with those who regularly suffer from insomnia, is that they are thinkers and over-think or over-analyse situations. Hypnotherapy can help to break the over-thinking and old sleeping pattern. A good therapist will also teach you strategies to help reduce over-thinking and learn to let go. If you are suffering from insomnia or having difficulty sleeping, why not try hypnotherapy?
24/06/2008 | Posted in CBT, Hypnotherapy,
