Most people experience stress and anxiety at some point in their lives. Depending on the level of severity, they can detrimentally impact one’s quality of life. Although stress and anxiety share many of the same emotional and physical symptoms – uneasiness, tension, headaches, high blood pressure and loss of sleep – they have very different origins. Determining which one you’re experiencing is critical to finding an effective treatment plan and feeling better.

Generally, stress is a response to an external cause, such as a tight deadline at work or having an argument with a friend and subsides once the situation has been resolved. Because stress is caused by external factors, tackling these head-on can help. If you’re experiencing prolonged, chronic stress, there are many ways to manage and reduce your symptoms, including physical activity, breathing exercises, adequate sleep and taking time connect with others.

Anxiety is a person’s specific reaction to stress; its origin is internal. Anxiety is typically characterized by a persistent feeling of dread or apprehension in situations that are not actually threatening. Unlike stress, anxiety persists even after a concern has passed. In more severe cases, anxiety can escalate into an anxiety disorder, the most common mental health issue in the U disorders are classified in a variety of ways: generalized anxiety, panic disorder, phobias, social anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Those living with anxiety, as well as chronic stress, will likely benefit from supervised care and should consider seeing a licensed mental health professional.

It’s important to know how to identify and differentiate signs of stress and anxiety. Stress is a common trigger for anxiety and it’s important to catch anxiety symptoms early to prevent development of an anxiety disorder.

Ellen utilizes an integrative approach to address anxiety with her clients. Some of the modalities you may experience include biofeedback, neurofeedback, energy therapy such as TFT, EFT, MASER, BAUD, AVE, Hypnotherapy, Guided meditation, Interactive imagery, hypnoanalysis and aromatherapy.

More recent research has shown that the so-called stress response is really more complex than first recognized. The autonomic nervous system does not respond as one single unit; rather a variety of divergent patterns occur in different individuals, some for example, affecting the cardio-vascular system in various ways, others affecting the upper or lower gastrointestinal tract, and others the musculoskeletal system. Both sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system activation patterns play a role in the multiple forms of the human stress response (Gevirtz, 1996).

Herbert Benson (1975) established that just as there is a human stress response , with negative effects on the body, there is also a relaxation response with a healing or restorative impact on the human physiology and mind. Benson began by investigating transcendental meditation, and its effects on physiology. The effects were the exact opposite of the stress response: a decrease in sympathetic activation, a reduction in stress hormone levels, lowered heart rate and blood pressure, relaxed musculature, and emotional calm. Benson reviewed the literature on Eastern meditation, Christian mysticism, and relaxation practices, and found that most approaches shared a common formula with three elements: a quiet environment, cultivation of a passive mental attitude (“letting go”), and the use of a mental device to focus attention. Benson then developed a non-religious form of meditation based on these three elements, and discovered similar effects on quieting physiological arousal. Benson hypothesized that this “relaxation response” (as he calls the psycho-physiological state), appears to underlie the beneficial effects of many schools of Eastern and Western meditation, yoga, and relaxation skills training.

Benson’s research showed the clinical benefits of cultivating the relaxation response: in lowered blood pressure, reduced anxiety, smoke cessation, and reduced drug and alcohol dependence. The relaxation response provides a conceptual framework for one of the major contributions of biofeedback.

Providing immediate physiological feedback enhances the acquisition of a relaxation response, with immediate benefits for a number of functional medical disorders.

I will seek to help you to calm the nervous system which has a profoundly positive effect on emotional, mental, and physical well being.