York lifecoach JOHN PATTERSON argues we can all manage our stress and anger - even Cabinet ministers.

"LIAR or idiot" screams the headline on my tabloid newspaper next to a picture of Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon. He had just told MPs he did not think that the 45-minute weapons of mass destruction threat from Iraq was a matter of great public concern, and couldn't even remember newspaper headlines proclaiming "45 minutes to doom".

Astonishing. Yet if we view the Government's recent behaviour as a collective reflection of what happens to each of us when we are under pressure, then things become clearer.

Any sort of emotional arousal makes us stupid. When you feel under threat, your "fight, flight or freeze" mechanism is activated, emotions take over, access to higher brain faculties is denied and your perspective is narrowed.

When the threat is real, this response ensures our survival as individuals and as a species; but, when the threat is only imagined, it can make even sensible people act like a goon.

Together with a colleague I shall be examining issues such as depression, stress and future planning and offering new tools to deal with these challenges in a series of six workshops. The first looks at this "emotional ambush" and ways to avoid it.

Another session examines ways to establish relaxation as our "default" mode in preference to our customary states of stress and mild panic. Had poor Mr Hoon known about the relaxation response technique - which can be activated in 45 seconds - he probably wouldn't be gracing the front pages for the wrong reasons.

As well as stress, depression is becoming worryingly widespread. Figures from the Office for National Statistics show the number of 25 to 34 year olds being treated for depression is rising by ten per cent every year.

That figure is bad enough, yet how many other sufferers fail to ask for help because of embarrassment or they fear the only treatment they will receive is medication with harmful side-effects?

Knowledge is the safest medicine.

Recent research into the function of dream sleep shows we can generate depression without realising we are doing so. And even well-intentioned "talking-therapy" can inadvertently exacerbate the problem, unless the therapist has an understanding of what works and what doesn't.

So, before we resort to pills, perhaps the first thing to do is ensure we are not shooting ourselves in the foot.

Although the title of my course, Sanity On Sunday, is intended in a tongue-in-cheek way - suggesting an oasis of clarity is an otherwise blurred and hectic week - there is a serious point to be made: up until now there has been too much squeamishness about discussing healthy thinking.

Show your friend, family or boss that plaster-cast on your arm and you can expect understanding, sympathy, or even jokes. But tell them you're feeling depressed, or confused, or stuck in the past and the best you can expect is an awkward shrug or a crisp: "Get over it". What no one explains - much less in simple terms - is how to get over it.

We need to understand that toning up the muscles in the mind is not much different from building up biceps in the gym.

My colleague for the Sanity On Sunday sessions is Rita Leaman. Rita is the first practitioner in the region to be trained in the Human Givens approach, which is transforming psychotherapy and was recently featured in Dr Raj Persaud's All In The Mind programme on BBC Radio Four. Together we aim to offer a refreshingly light-hearted look at how we can level out life's ups and downs.

Memo to Mr Hoon: there are still a few places left, Geoff.

Sanity On Sunday begins on Sunday, February 15, 2004 and runs for six weeks at the Human Givens Centre in St Saviour's Place, York. Prior booking is essential. For facts and fees, go to workshop booking information at www.yorkhumangivens.co.uk or ring (01904) 673765

Updated: 09:49 Monday, February 09, 2004