Now more than ever, scientific surveys are attesting the fundamental role of stress in causing and aggravating several psychological and somatic afflictions. An article from a 1983 Time Magazine called stress "The Epidemic of the Eighties." It also mentioned that stress is an extremely serious health issue. And one has to acknowledge that the world has become more and more complex and stressful in the past two decades since that article was written.

Many surveys show that almost everybody perceives themselves as being subject to a lot of stress. Researchers in the field estimate that 75 - 90 percent of the visits to PCPs (Primary Care Physicians) somehow have to do with stress.

Most people say that their job is the primary reason of their stress. And stress levels have also grown in children as well as the elderly population for reasons including: Peer pressures that often push people to everything from smoking to alcoholism and drug abuse; the wearing away of religion and family values; increased crime rates; threats to personal safety; and last but not least social isolation and loneliness.

Stress contributes to conditions such as diabetes, ulcers, low back and neck pain, hypertension, strokes and heart attacks. This is due to the increased sympathetic nervous system activity as well as a high level of cortisol, adrenaline, and other hormones. Chronic stress is co-morbid with defective immune system resistance. Stress can contribute to anxiety, depression, and its numerous impacts on one's organs.

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

The following definition is given for "tension": "Mental, emotional, or nervous strain"

The following definition is given for "anxiety": "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"

The following definition is given for "clinical depression": "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."

One thing is for sure, our mind is the main cause of our experience 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 manage to change our thoughts, attitudes, and points of view, then we can be relieved of our feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression and change them for a more positive state of being.

Since the beginning of time, people have tried to find methods for releasing stress. The pharmaceutical industry seems to have a pill for everything. For that the industry has developed a large array of tranquilizers from Valium to Xanax. If you choose to utilize these pills for relief, please make sure that you are aware of the side-effects by reading the fine print, which usually include addiction and dependency. Unfortunately, these kinds of drugs attempt to cure the symptoms, instead of the cause. So when one stops taking them, the symptoms can return.

A more appropriate way of releasing tension, stress, anxiety, and depression is to work on the root cause, which as I wrote above, is generally our thought processes. Now, here is good news. Hypnosis is all about relaxing. The AMA recognized hypnosis in 1958 as an effective method of treating stress and stress related symptoms. And unlike pills, there are absolutely no undesirable 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 which we feel as we're just about to fall asleep at night. And we feel it once again when we wake up in the morning. There are a lot of different ways that will help us guide ourselves into this relaxed mood, from step-by-step relaxation to visual imagery to listening to hypnosis CD's.

Once we access a hypnotic state, we can interact with our unconscious mind, which is the center of our emotions. And one can more easily admit new ideas and points of view that can help us to dissipate anxiety, or even avoid it completely.

NLP, which is a recently developed sort of hypnosis, offers a lot of great methods for getting rid of stress. Perhaps the most effective technique is called the "swish" pattern - or the "flash" pattern. After using this method, your unconscious will automatically use negative, stress triggering mental pictures, to generate relaxation producing mental pictures. In other words, your stressors will automatically make you feel more relaxed!

TO SUMMARIZE Tension, stress, anxiety, and depression can be triggered by our thoughts. So if we change our attitude and the way we resent our situation and what we have lived, we can dissipate these feelings at the root. Hypnosis and NLP are natural tools that we can use to help us change our attitude and point of view to easily dissipate the main cause of our negative feelings.

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