More than ever before scientific investigations are proving the fundamental responsibility played by stress in causing and aggravating different psychological and somatic afflictions. A cover story in the June 6, 1983 issue of Time Magazine described stress as "The Epidemic of the Eighties." It also said that stress is a considerable health issue. Indeed it is doubtless that our world has become a lot more complicated and stressful over the past two decades since that article was written.

Numerous surveys show that almost everybody is under the impression of being subject to a lot of stress. Researchers in the field estimate that between 75 and 90 percent of the visits to primary care doctors somehow have to do with stress.

Most adults report their stress is primarily due to their job. The levels of stress have also soared in children and the senior population because of several reasons including: Peer pressures that often lead to everything from smoking to alcoholism and drug abuse; the wearing away of religion and family values; increased crime rates; fear for personal security; and last but not least 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 because of the increased sympathetic nervous system activity along with the release of cortisol, adrenaline, and other hormones. Chronic stress is co-morbid with impaired immune system resistance. Stress can cause anxiety, depression, and its varied impacts on the body's organs.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines "stress" as follows: "To subject to physical or mental pressure, tension, or strain"

The following is the definition of "tension" from the same dictionary: "Mental, emotional, or nervous strain"

It defines "anxiety" as follows: "A state of uneasiness and apprehension, as about future uncertainties"

And the word "depression" is defined 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."

We can nonetheless be sure that our thoughts are the main reason for our feelings of stress, anxiety and depression. We could also say that, what we think about, and our attitudes and the way we view our experiences dictate our feelings. So if we can learn how to alter our thoughts, attitudes, and points of view, we can be relieved of our stress, anxiety, and depression and replace them with a better state of being.

Since the beginning of time, people have searched for methods for getting rid of stress. With the pharmaceutical industry there seems to be a drug for everything. For that the industry has designed a large line of tranquilizers from Valium to Xanax. If you choose to use drugs for relief, please be sure to pay attention to the fine print and learn about the side effects, which most of the time are, among others, addiction and dependency. Indeed these types of drugs try to treat the symptoms, rather than the cause. So when one stops taking them, the symptoms can come back.

A more appropriate method to eliminate tension, stress, anxiety, and depression is to try to cure the root cause, which as I wrote previously, is generally our thought processes. Here is good news. The main principle of hypnosis is relaxing. The AMA recognized hypnosis in 1958 as an effective way to treat stress and stress related symptoms. But unlike pills, there are categorically no negative side effects.

When you enter the state of hypnosis, you are in the Alpha level of consciousness. It's the daydream like temporary psychological mindset that we experience as we are just about to fall asleep at night. And we experience it once again when we wake up in the morning. There are hundreds of different ways that will help us 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 are able to communicate with our unconscious mind, which is the seat of our feelings. And one can more easily accept new ideas and points of view which can help us to reduce anxiety, or even avoid it in the first place.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming or NLP, which is a recently developed kind of hypnotherapy, offers a lot of excellent techniques for releasing stress. Maybe the technique that works best is called the "swish" pattern - or the "flash" pattern. When you use the "swish" pattern, your unconscious will automatically use negative, stress producing mental pictures, to generate tranquilizing mental pictures. Put differently, what usually makes you feel stress will now cause relaxation!

TO SUM UP Tension, stress, anxiety, and depression can be caused by our thoughts. So if we change our attitude and point of view towards our situation and what we've experienced, we can reduce these feelings at the root. Hypnosis and NLP are natural tools that allow us to change our attitude and point of view to quickly reduce the main cause of our negative feelings.

Alan B. Densky is an NGH certified hypnotherapist. He offers a complete line of anxiety elimination NLP CDs, and advanced anxiety reduction CDs through his Neuro-VISION self hypnosis website. You can visit his self hypnosis blog, and download a free MP3.