What is Anxiety?
Contents
If you’re reading this page, there’s a high chance that you’re looking for a way to get rid of your anxiety. You are not alone; many people are searching for effective ways to remove anxiety, which can often be quite an obstacle in daily life. Hypnotherapy for anxiety is increasingly sought-after and for good reason.
Anxiety can manifest in many ways – from panic attacks and phobias to social anxiety and generalised worry. It’s not just limited to being nervous about public speaking or exam stress; sometimes, it’s more subtle, like a pervasive feeling of unease or apprehension without any clear cause.
Let’s distinguish between fear and anxiety. Fear is usually in response to an identifiable external threat, like worrying about an upcoming medical procedure. Anxiety, on the other hand, often seems to be internally generated. It’s a feeling that something isn’t right, but it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what that is. Anxiety might make you feel like you’re losing control or that something bad is about to happen, even if there’s no specific reason to think so.
Now, it’s important to understand that some level of anxiety is a normal part of the human experience. It can even be beneficial in certain situations by keeping us alert and focused. However, when anxiety becomes chronic or excessive, it can severely impact our work, relationships, and overall quality of life.
So, What Can be Done About It?
This is Where Hypnotherapy Comes Into Play.
Hypnotherapy for anxiety involves guided relaxation and focused attention to achieve a heightened state of awareness. It helps in communicating with the subconscious mind, where a lot of these anxious feelings and thoughts are rooted. Through hypnotherapy, you can learn to change your responses to stressors, cultivate positive thinking, and build confidence in handling situations that used to provoke anxiety. The best bit is there are no side effects of hypnotherapy for anxiety at all.
This empowering approach can be an essential component in taking back control over your life and well-being. It’s an investment in your mental health and a step towards a more balanced and focused you.
If you feel like anxiety is holding you back and you’re ready to make a change, consider hypnotherapy it could make a real permanent difference in your life. A calmer, more relaxed life is within reach. The decision to take steps towards your mental well-being is yours alone but it will make a difference.
What Are Some of the Causes of Anxiety?
Anxiety can often be traced back to experiences in our childhood or young adulthood, sometimes emerging as a result of traumas or difficult periods in our lives. Additionally, it’s important to recognize that anxiety can also be a companion to other conditions such as depression, or even be linked to alcohol dependency.
Now, sometimes the cause of anxiety is clear and linked to specific events. For instance, the nerves that bubble up before a driving test, a presentation, or visiting the dentist. When these events are over, often the anxiety dissipates. However, there are cases where anxiety lingers, long after the triggering event has passed. It can be a bit puzzling and distressing.
The silver lining here is that anxiety doesn’t just pop up without a reason – there is always an underlying cause. And this is where hypnotherapy for anxiety can be incredibly beneficial. Through hypnotherapy, we can explore and address these underlying issues in a calm and supportive environment.
So, what happens during hypnotherapy? Well, it’s a process where you’re guided into a relaxed state of focused attention. In this state, your mind is more open and can effectively process positive suggestions and insights. This helps in rewiring the thought patterns that fuel your anxiety. Essentially, it’s like pressing the reset button on those anxious thoughts.
The relief from releasing the weight of anxiety can be profoundly life-changing. It can open doors to a more relaxed and fulfilling way of life, where you can engage more freely with your work, relationships, and personal aspirations like losing weight, going on holiday, joining a club or even socialising more.
It’s worth pondering over how long you’ve been shouldering the burden of anxiety. Perhaps now is the moment to take a step towards change. Here, you’ll find understanding and support. Through hypnotherapy for anxiety, we can work together to help you move beyond anxiety towards a more peaceful and positive chapter in your life.
Anxiety Symptoms
- Upset stomach
- Diarrhoea
- Dry mouth
- Palpitations
- Feeling sick, wanting to vomit
- Shortness of breath
- Dizzy feeling
- Feeling of a lump in the throat, difficult to swallow
- Shaking and trembling
- Tense muscles
- Tingling in the hands and feet
- Cold or sweaty hands
- Problems sleeping
- Fear of losing control
- Fear of going crazy
- Fear of dying
- Fear of a heart attack
How anxiety can significantly affect lifestyle.
If anxiety becomes more strongly marked it can show itself in different ways – we may have trouble falling asleep, think about a particular situation and find it difficult to think of anything else, feel tense, restless, or have trouble concentrating. Some of us overeat or lose our appetite, and have a feeling of disaster. All these symptoms can be very disabling and have a great effect on our friends and family and our ability to work.
Anxiety problems are self-perpetuating with the overuse of flight/fight, negative thoughts, and avoidance strategies.
As an example: let’s say Michael was terrified of going to the dentist, he booked an appointment, and the night before he starts to think about the terrible things that might happen, what if he cannot control himself and faints, he then experiences a considerable amount of anxious negative thoughts and physical symptoms, the more anxious he gets, the more catastrophic he thinks, until he can’t stand it anymore and cancels the appointment.
This brought about an immediate reduction of anxiety, and therefore, the next time Michael makes an appointment with the dentist, he will not only be likely to think even worse thoughts but will experience more anxiety, he will also be strongly compelled again to cancel the appointment – and then he will be stuck in an anxiety avoidance cycle that is difficult to get out of.
Research on How Hypnotherapy for Anxiety is Effective
Below are several studies indicating that hypnotherapy can be a useful tool for managing and reducing anxiety.
- Hammond, D. C. (2010). “Hypnosis in the treatment of anxiety- and stress-related disorders.” Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, 10(2), 263-273. DOI: 10.1586/ern.09.140
- Elkins, G., Fisher, W., Johnson, A., Carpenter, J., & Keith, T. (2013). “Clinical hypnosis in the treatment of post-menopausal hot flashes: A randomized controlled trial.” Menopause, 20(3), 291–298. DOI: 10.1097/gme.0b013e31826ce3ed
- Shih, M., Yang, Y. H., & Koo, M. (2009). “A meta-analysis of hypnosis in the treatment of depressive symptoms: a brief communication.” The International journal of clinical and experimental hypnosis, 57(4), 431–442. DOI: 10.1080/00207140903099039
- Montgomery, G. H., DuHamel, K. N., & Redd, W. H. (2000). “A meta-analysis of hypnotically induced analgesia: how effective is hypnosis?” The International journal of clinical and experimental hypnosis, 48(2), 138–153. DOI: 10.1080/00207140008410045
The actual access to these studies might be behind a paywall, so you may want to consider utilising a university or institutional database, or potentially reach out directly to the authors of the papers if you’re unable to access them.
So When is Anxiety Inappropriate?
It is important to realise that there are many situations that come up in everyday life in which it is appropriate and reasonable to react with some anxiety. If you didn’t feel any anxiety in response to everyday challenges involving potential loss or failure, something would be wrong. Anxiety disorders are distinguished from everyday, normal anxiety, in that they involve anxiety that is:-
- More intense, for example, a panic attack
- Lasts longer – anxiety that may persist for months instead of going away after a stressful situation has passed
- This leads to phobias that interfere with your life.
How Can Clinical Hypnotherapy for Anxiety Help?
Hypnotherapy for anxiety helps by changing the beliefs at the subconscious level. These beliefs are often fictitious and serve to hinder rather than help you.
By using hypnotherapy for anxiety we can help you bring these beliefs more into line with your conscious thinking and in doing so make the beliefs more appropriate for you and the way you want to be. Freeing you from the debilitating effects of anxiety once and for all.