Hippocrates Health Institute Florida Part 9 with Antony Chatham. We asked the final questions submitted by you, the listeners.
Learn from Antony Chatham, sit back and relax as he wraps up this amazing interview.
Hippocrates Institute Florida psychologist Antony Chatham responds to this question:
The financial pressures that we’re dealing with have become too much for me. I am very fearful for the future of my family. My husband and I are starting to develop physical ailments from all the stress. I don’t know what to think or do anymore.
This is a question of the times we are living in. I’m aware of many families that have been hit by this during these times. This can be one of the biggest causes of stress at this time.
We have to take a stand like we do with any challenges. One of the key ways to manage stress is to assess what are my challenges and what is working for me, what are my strengths?
For example, am I or my family members healthy to deal with the financial stress? Make a list of everything that is still working for you because many times we take things for granted.
Then the awareness of the negativity becomes larger than life…
…so it overwhelms us. And when we are overwhelmed, we become less effective in dealing with it.
In spite of these challenges, make a list of everything that is still good, all the resources you still have -- and focus on them so the challenge doesn’t overwhelm you and defeat you.
And of course you want to enlist the support of family members and those around you; churches and other organizations. You may even want to seek the support of a professional as they are sometimes able to think things that we have never even dreamed about.
I recently read an article about counterphobic mechanisms. Many of us want to change our lifestyles and eating habits to be healthier, could this primal subconscious mechanism be sabotaging us?
Counterphobic mechanisms often connected to Freudian defense mechanisms.
We have to become aware that even if we are starting something from fear, if it is taking us in a positive direction, it’s a good thing.
Winston Churchill said, “For a pessimist every opportunity has a problem, but for an optimist every problem is an opportunity.”
This counterphobic mechanism is usually an opportunity because the fear of whatever you are running from is an occasion for you to make some substantial changes.
For example if heart trouble is an occasion for us to become conscious of our own eating habits and make changes, that is a positive thing. You have to judge it from the outcome. What is the outcome or end result? Perhaps it causes us to adopt the Hippocrates diet and live longer healthier lives over many decades!
So my opinion is that this counterphobic mechanism can be a positive thing.
Please listen to Antony and leave him a comment back.
