Blushing
Most people would have experienced blushing at some point in their lives. It is a very normal physiological reaction. Blushing happens when the tiny blood vessals which carry blood to our skin widen and allow more blood to flow beneath the skin. Even in certain social events where subconsciously we may perceive a threat we start to blush. e.g. meeting a lot of people for the first time, tripping over in front of people. In a way, it is the subconscious’s way of protecting us from events that it may perceive as uncomfortable or even threatening.
However in certain situations blushing can become incredibly consistent and therefore very problematic for some people. A person may start to blush in a lot of situations and it can become excessive- specially involving social situations which can be potentially very embarrassing for the person and lead to other issues such as anxiety, low confidence, being self conscious and even low self esteem. Often there is an initial event that might trigger the inappropriate blushing behaviour. e.g. such as being told off by the teacher in front of students or being teased about blushing when younger. Such events may lead to the brain ‘learning’ that certain social situations can be threatening which tends to be reinforced over time, thus leading to excessive and inappropriate blushing It can sometimes be a ‘vicious cycle’ as excessive blushing can lead to the person ‘worrying’ about the blushing- therefore they end up blushing even more! Often other people may notice the blushing, and may ask ‘why is your face all red’? This in turn reinforces the excessive blushing as it leads to the person feeling more self concious thus blushing even more and the cycle continues.
How does Therapy for blushing work?
One of my approaches, is to tackle the initial sensitising event to change the behaviour that the brain may have subconsciously learned, whilst using hypnotherapy to program the subconscious mind to feel comfortable in events that may trigger the blushing. Blushing inappropriately- like any other behavior is a learned response. Hypnotherapy is about programming the subconscious mind to be more confident towards external situations that may trigger he blushing. For example, some people may start to blush when meeting new people for the first time- in their line of work where they have to meet new people- this may become problematic. Hypnotherapy would therefore be used to train the mind to move away from worrying thoughts (which also lead to excessive blushing) and learn behaviors that are more appropriate instead.
Contact me today to be free of inappropriate blushing.
If you do not see your issue on the treatment list please do give me a call as I work with a variety of issues and can help.
Sidra Khan: BSc Psychology (Hons), MBPsS, MNCH (Reg), Dip. Hyp, C.Hyp, PNLP
Contact: 07526 000360