Blog

So why should you see a Therapist?

Despite an estimated 1 in 4 people suffering from a mental illness in their lifetime and high profile people like Prince Harry and Ant McPartlin seeking Therapy, a lot of people will only consider Therapy as a last resort after trying several other things and spending a fortune trying to mask the issue by themselves.  They not only spend a fortune but often do things that are bad for their health too.

So, what do I mean by that comment?

How many people do you know who

• Say they can’t stop smoking because it helps them to manage stress?
• Get drunk every weekend as they have had such a stressful week at work?
• Or the overweight person who is shy and lacking self-esteem who sits at home every evening with a take away, alcohol or a pile of chocolate

It’s not only things considered ‘bad’ either

What about the person obsessed with going to the gym every day?  or the person needing to run 10 miles every evening? they may very well have their own issues they are fighting too.

In fact, anyone who does anything to excess perceived either good or bad is probably battling something.  There is a lot of truth in the saying ‘everything in moderation’.

So, sales pitch alert!

I have built up a proven track record of helping people overcome both minor and major obstacles in their lives.

I regularly travel the country to learn new techniques to ensure I am using the latest methods so that YOU get the best care available.

I specialise in helping YOU to resolve YOUR stress and anxiety, improving YOUR self-esteem so you can deal with life and life’s challenges in a more calm and confident way.

I also have a pain elimination technique that can often remove pain in just one session. This can be pain from an old illness or injury as well as conditions such as arthritis, sciatica, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome etc.

So how do I do that then?

All my methods work with your subconscious, I do this because, in my opinion, it’s the fastest and most efficient way to get the permanent change that you are looking for when you come to see me.

So, what does your subconscious do then?

Well basically it runs the show.  Every one of us has a phenomenal subconscious. It is there for 2 reasons and 2 reasons only

• •                to keep you safe and
• •                to keep you happy.

Your subconscious is responsible for keeping you alive, it checks and rechecks your whole-body millions and millions of times a day.  If it finds something wrong either physically or emotionally it will send you a signal to alert you.  If you ignore it, it will send a stronger signal and another one until you can’t ignore it anymore.

In fact, it will send a signal as strong as the attention that you need to give it.

So, if you hit your leg it will send a short sharp pain and this will do 2 things

• •      1 alert you to the fact that your leg has received an injury and
• •      2 store a memory of the impact so you will think twice before doing it again.

If on the other hand, you break that leg the pain message will be much stronger, making you act immediately

• •      so, you get yourself down to A&E so the bone can be reset and repair correctly
• •      and again, store a memory to hopefully stop you doing it again.

This is how I explain it to my clients.

If you imagine your brain is like a computer.  When you are born, you have all the functionality and connections in your hard drive but you only have a small amount of data stored.  From the moment, you are conceived that hard drive is receiving and storing information and building up your own internal database so when an impulse is received in it acts like a search engine and will look for the most suitable response.  Some of these responses you are completely unaware of as your body checks, repairs and fights infection behind the scenes.

Others are happening in your subconscious and you are totally unaware of them UNTIL you consciously think about them! like breathing, listening and blinking.  Now you weren’t consciously aware of them until I just mentioned them but now that I’ve brought them to your attention you are very aware of them.  But in a few seconds, you will forget about them again and they will carry on doing their work invisibly.

Other things are in your subconscious too but will send a message to the conscious part of your brain to make you do something to protect you and keep you happy like send a message that a gnat is crawling on your arm so you can swat it away before it bites you, or to alert you that your hand is getting too close to that hot kettle to stop you getting burnt.

Well this is very interesting but what has it got to do with Therapy? Well, quite a lot!

All those millions of messages that have been stored since you were conceived are what controls your personality and behaviours now.  If you have done something in the past and stayed alive your subconscious will do the same thing again and again because it thinks it is keeping you safe and happy.

Now most of the time, your subconscious is doing exactly what you want and need it to do for you.  If not you still wouldn’t be able to walk, talk, feed yourself, write, drive or any number of the hundreds and thousands of things you have learnt over the years.

If you learnt to ride a bike when you were younger and hadn’t ridden one for 10 years you would still be able to ride one, because your neural network has been created and your brain knows what it needs to do.  In fact, you would have great difficulty in making yourself unlearn and fall off.

But have you ever wondered why you can’t

• •           stop doing something you don’t want to do?
• •           or make yourself do something you do want to do?

Well that’s your good old subconscious following old and trusted neural pathways and behaviours.

Science has proven when an impulse comes into your brain, it goes to your subconscious first and takes approximately 1/3^rd of a second to reach your conscious brain.  In that time, your subconscious has looked for the best and most trusted neural pathway; it’s like the top search in your own personal search engine.

So, if something has made you anxious in the past, guess what?  your body will create that anxiety again and again.   You may consciously know that there is nothing to fear but that subconscious has already kicked in and your body is already well on its way to panic mode, before you are even consciously aware of it.  A message that may have been useful in the past is now unnecessary.

It’s like a virus in your computer, if it’s not brought into check a small fear of an insect in your garden can, over time, manifest itself into a complete fear of even stepping outside your house.

For some people, changing thought patterns or behaviours will make a difference, for others they need a bit of help and that’s where I come in.  You only have one life and each one of you deserves to be healthy and happy.

If you break your leg you go to the hospital

If you have an infection you go to the doctors

If you have low self-esteem, stress, anxiety etc. or unnecessary physical or emotional pain you see a therapist!

If you have any questions or you wish to contact me, please feel free to go to my website karenbrittertherapies.com where you will find all my contact details.