Hypnotherapy for Anxiety: Does Hypnosis Work?

Anxiety.

What is it really?

We hear it on TV, social media, and also many times from our friends. But still, many of us don’t have a clear idea about what anxiety really is.

We can start with fear. Fear is simply the body’s normal reaction to a stressor. Even though the stressor may not exist after a while, we may still live in fear and worry which creates anxiety. Unfortunately, many of us experience light to severe level of anxiety in modern life.

Even some of your favorite celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, Nicolas Cage, Ben Affleck, or Selena Gomez experience anxiety too. In other words, nowadays, anxiety is as common as it gets.

There are many unexpected conditions that can arise due to anxiety. There are also many different forms of anxiety. For example, did you know that phobias and fears are related to anxiety?

As much as hypnosis is still considered an alternative method for anxiety relief, it is a very effective approach because it helps with releasing the body's expression of anxiety, and emotional dysregulation caused by anxiety and altogether helps to be desensitized to these feelings.

What does anxiety feel like?

You may not be very familiar with what anxiety really is. It may seem like a struggle that is so far away that perhaps you even assumed that will probably never happen to you.

Truthfully, anxiety can be really close. Oftentimes, people who live in anxiety neither recognize the fact that they have anxiety nor do they reach out for treatment. One doesn’t have to go through a life-affecting trauma to experience anxiety.

Stressful work conditions, changing simple habits, or even relationship problems can create anxiety. Simply worrying too much, thinking excessively about the future, past or work-related issues, relationships or even insomnia can be symptoms of anxiety.

The most common behavioral example of anxiety is avoidance. Avoiding an anticipated stressor may create immediate relief but in the long-term avoidance will not result in relief from anxiety.

“In people with anxiety disorders, the brain circuitry that controls the threat response goes awry. Early life events, especially traumatic ones, can program the circuitry so that it is oversensitive and sends out alarms too frequently and with only minor provocations.

Survival mandates a system for perceiving threats and taking quick, automatic action, but those with anxiety see threats where there are none, perhaps because emotional memories color their perceptions.”

(“Anxiety.” Psychology Today)

Anxiety can also show reflections within the body and trigger physical reactions. Some of these symptoms can include shivering, an increased heart rate, headaches, insomnia, muscle tension, twitching, dry mouth, or even shaking.

The most common psychological problems may also be related to anxiety such as OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), fears, phobias, insomnia, chronic pain, PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and depression.

The opposite can also be true. Severe cases of anxiety may lead to other mental health problems as well.

Therapeutic approaches for anxiety

Anxiety disorder can be helped by a licensed health professional such as a psychotherapist. Most of the time, anti-depressants may be prescribed by a psychiatrist to the patient suffering from severe anxiety.

CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) is also a powerful therapeutic approach that is found to be really helpful with anxiety.

Unfortunately, in more moderate cases, because many people are not aware of their symptoms, they often bypass treatment simply because of a lack of self-awareness. In turn, they may be suppressing anxiety for longer times.

Hypnotherapy can help with anxiety.

Hypnotic approaches for anxiety

Hypnotherapy is a very effective approach for anxiety relief; physically and emotionally. It is an approach that supports to regulate emotions and behaviors subconsciously.

During hypnotherapy sessions, the therapy is curated specifically for individual’s needs. Everyone can benefit from hypnotherapy in a different way, but overall there are a couple of reasons why hypnotherapy is a great anxiety support:

1.     Hypnotherapy helps with improving subconscious triggers

Adverse childhood events may result in an oversensitive reaction system in the body. All of these events and the psychological consequences of them are suppressed subconsciously.

During hypnotherapy sessions, with release techniques, suggestions, or regression techniques, we help eliminate the subconscious triggers. Then, we can shift the focus on the future and the confident progress of the individual.

2.     Hypnosis helps with the mind-body connection

When someone is under hypnosis, they can get in touch with feelings and senses a lot easier than when awake. During hypnosis, we can help with locating the anxiety in the physical body. Anxiety can create muscle tension or pain sometimes in those specific areas. Then we can specifically focus on releasing any subconsciously held tensions.

3. Hypnosis can feel like exposure therapy on steroids

Anxiety can be triggered in daily life by a perceived stressor. In these cases, it can be really valuable to feel a sense of relief when thinking about the stressor.

For example, think about someone who is fearful of dogs. They will probably feel anxious anytime they are on the street. During hypnosis, we can desensitize them to the anxiety that is felt due to dogs. So when they think about dogs or the next time when they walk, they can feel neutral towards the trigger.

Desensitization happens during hypnosis by replacing the anxiety response with relaxation response instead.

Final thoughts

If you are living in a big city, working a regular job, and are surrounded by people in your life, there is a good chance that you might have at least one or two symptoms of anxiety. This doesn’t mean that you have to run to your doctor to get treated immediately.

Slight tension or nervousness are actually things that we all experience. There are many helpful steps that we can take to manage anxiety easily:

·      Doing at least 1 activity that you love every day

·      Breathing! We tend to forget to breathe properly. A deep focused breath is correlated with calmness and relaxation in the mind.

·      Exercising and healthy eating. The single most important element that allows accomplishing any goal is physical health!

·      Sleeping. As adults, we need a minimum of 7-8 hours of sleep every day. A sleep-deprived body is neutrally anxious and hyper-alert.

References:

·      “Anxiety.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/anxiety.

·      “Anxiety Conditions.” Anxiety UK, www.anxietyuk.org.uk/get-help/anxiety-information/.