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Articles
- June 2004: Over-stressed executives discovering why two heads are better than one ...
- IF YOU'VE got the hump, a visit to Lois Tilbrook could be just the ticket...
- June 2004: The place of therapy in the workplace - the stressed exec scenario
- Does this scenario sound familiar to you?: You (company executive or goal-driven employee) recognise you have high stress levels...
June 2004
Over-stressed executives discovering why two heads are better than one
...
IF YOU'VE got the hump, a visit to Lois Tilbrook could be just the ticket.
Dr Tilbrook, an all-rounder if ever there was one - anthropologist, psychologist, painter, sculptor, and now psychotherapist, has launched a new practice in Cambridge which she hopes will help stressesd-out businessfolk.
"I am very interested in working with people who feel they have a hump and
want to get over it," she says, "and it is very rewarding to see people achieve
this."
In less stiff-necked countries, like the US and Dr Tilbrook's own Australia,
what she is offering would be described as a visit to the shrink. Her leaflets
currently circulating in Cambridge call it "better outcomes therapy", including
hypnotherapy.
Her targets are the stressed executives who feel themselves to be under attack, eat and drink too much to try and feel better.
They may be close to opting out of work or they may be battling on, almost literally, fighting everyone in sight.
Word is getting round about Dr Tilbrook and her appointments book is filling
up.
She is married to super boffin, Dr Tony Hooley, founder of 1 ? Ltd at St John's
Innovation Centre, and is already a well-known figure in the tech circuit in
her own right - she has been commissioned to create etchings for the London
Stock Exchange's Techmark Awards.
As an artist she runs classes and special weekends and is an expert in art history as well as the hands-on stuff.
One of the aspects of being an artist has guided her towards psychotherapy, the sitting for long periods with her sculpture subjects, talking in depth about the important things in life. "Men in particular come to see me," she says, "sometimes after carrying one of my pamphlets around for a while.
"They are in a state when they first come, feel they are admitting they are not coping, but everybody needs a little bit of help at some time. I have great respect for the people who do come." For an appointment or more information call (01223) 462712.
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June 2004The place of therapy in the workplace - the stressed exec
scenario
Does this scenario sound familiar to you?: You (company executive or goal-driven employee) recognise you have high stress levels, and tell yourself you are evolved to cope. Feeling under pressure and under attack, you seek relief and comfort by exercising less and drinking and eating more, even though your have a sneaking suspicion that this is probably not really helping. This does not make you feel good, and nothing else changes, and so you feel less in control or work and life in general. You locate the problem in work colleagues, customers or clients. Your personal life is not looking too good either, and the world at large is far from perfect. Your neuro-bio-emotional self seem to be conspiring against you, and you develop annoying symptoms such as coldsores, ‘flu, other immune deficiency illnesses. You begin to feel you are literally breaking up.
“This is typical of someone experiencing a classic flight-or-fight response to stress, but with nowhere to go.” says psychotherapist Dr Lois Tilbrook. “Opting out of the workplace, or turning around and fighting everyone in sight, is simply not an option. However, this is just what the evolved brain-body-emotional system is gearing up to do. The upshot is rising stress levels with strong feelings of discomfort, unhappiness, circular thinking, and even more stress.
It is pure self-delusion that no one will notice, just as long as we keep our cool, because of the tell-tale signs. However, business culture encourages us to ignore what our emotions and body are telling us, and to work longer hours the more inefficient we become.”
Like consulting a GP when our body finally succumbs, consulting a therapist at an earlier stage of stress onset is the most sensible course of action to take. Happily, it is is becoming accepted by the business world that the wisdom to seek assistance at these times is a strength, a positive action, and the responsible thing to do. The most empowering kind of assistance is the sort that enables us to draw on our own strengths and resources. This is something that in theory we could do for ourselves but in practice, for the sake of efficiency alone, we usually need some assistance with.
Contemporary scientific understanding of how the body, emotions and mind work has done a tremendous amount to break down prejudice against using psychotherapy and hypnotherapy to deal with individual difficulties. Short-term psychotherapy can be extremely useful in regaining perspective, and the responsible use of hypnotherapy by a trained therapist often speed up the process..
Lois trained in psychotherapy and hypnotherapy and now has a practice in Cambridge. Her academic background includes anthropology and history, and she has wide working experience including business, education and organisation. She is particularly interested in the application of creative solutions to stress, especially as this affects prformance.
“The therapeutic relationship, based on total trust and cofidentiality, is the cornerstone of successful therapy. The dedicated personal attention by someone who is outside of the situation, and trained to listen and to spot and relate patterns of thought and behaviour, can prove invaluable to an individual seeking to draw their thoughts together and sort out their emotions. Life experience of the therapist helps, there is nothing like it.”
Lois can be contacted on 01223 462 712. Her practice is in Ravensworth
Practice, CB1, Cambridge.