Many of us know what it's like to feel stressed, worried, or nervous about something. Usually, these feelings are fleeting and disappear as quickly as they arise. For those with anxiety, however, these feelings persist longer and can be much more intense.
If you have an anxiety disorder, you may avoid certain situations because you're worried that something might happen. This can make daily tasks challenging and prevent you from doing what you want.
Hypnotherapy for anxiety aims to address the root cause of the problem and change your relationship with anxiety.
What is anxiety?
We, as humans, have evolved to protect ourselves. One way of doing this is through the "fight, flight, or freeze" response. If our brain perceives a threat or danger, it releases hormones to prepare us to either flee, fight, or freeze. These hormones include adrenaline and cortisol, making us more vigilant about what's happening. They also make our heart beat faster, sending blood where it's most needed when we're under attack. It's a great system, but as society develops, we often have less need for it. For many of us, the system gets activated when there's no physical danger present. For instance, our fight, flight, or freeze response might be triggered by our manager asking us to add another task to our to-do list. We end up internalizing the feelings and find ourselves sitting at our desks, heart pounding, with no idea how to make it stop.
Anxiety becomes a mental health issue when it starts affecting daily life.
Do you experience any of these anxiety symptoms?
Anxiety may look different for everyone; however, here are some symptoms you may relate to if you have anxiety:
Overthinking
Headaches
Chest pain
Dizziness
Difficulty sleeping
Rapid breathing
Nausea
Fast or irregular heartbeat
Teeth grinding / Bruxism Restlessness
Types of Anxiety
As anxiety is a normal part of life, it can be challenging to recognize when it's becoming a problem. However, if you're experiencing strong feelings of anxiety or they last for a long time, it can become exhausting and overwhelming.
Symptoms and issues associated with anxiety differ among individuals, but depending on the type of problem you're facing, you may be diagnosed with a more specific anxiety disorder, such as Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Panic Disorder, or Social Anxiety Disorder.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): Those with GAD feel anxious frequently and may not know why. Anxiety can interfere with daily life as individuals may seriously worry about family, money, and health. The condition is often diagnosed when an individual spends at least six months excessively worrying about day-to-day issues. It can be a challenging disorder to live with, as it may seem like there's no relief from anxiety.
Panic Disorder: Panic disorder is characterized by intense feelings of terror that can strike suddenly and without warning. A common symptom is panic attacks, though not everyone who experiences a panic attack has panic disorder. Those diagnosed with panic disorder often constantly fear having a panic attack, creating a vicious cycle.
Social Anxiety Disorder: Social anxiety disorder (also known as social phobia) involves extreme feelings of anxiety and discomfort in social situations. Common signs of social anxiety include a fear of being around and interacting with people and a fear of being negatively judged by others.
Hypochondria: More commonly associated with OCD, hypochondria is a specific type of phobia or anxiety that can make everyday life extremely challenging. Someone with hypochondria worries extensively about their health and may think they are unwell when they are not. They regularly check their body for signs of illness, including lumps, pains, or other unusual physical sensations. They may also have an extreme fear of dying.
Other forms of anxiety disorders include:
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Phobias
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
How can I reduce anxiety?
Anxiety is a challenging thing to live with. It can feel exhausting, affecting our mental and physical health. If you suffer from anxiety in any form, know that you are not alone, and there are many tools to help you.
What works best for you will depend on the nature of your anxiety and your personal circumstances. For some people, self-help techniques such as meditation, breathing exercises, and journaling are sufficient to manage anxiety symptoms. For others, more professional guidance is necessary.
Hypnotherapy for anxiety brings positive changes not only in anxiety symptoms but also in your relationship with anxiety itself.
Will hypnotherapy for anxiety work for me?
Hypnotherapy for anxiety helps increase feelings of confidence and self-assurance while reducing feelings of fear and intense worry. This can help you develop the ability to access the mental state needed to overcome the often overwhelming emotions that accompany anxiety. Hypnosis aims to access your subconscious to identify triggering factors/events, reframe them, and promote positive changes. The client will learn what triggers their anxiety and why, as well as change how they react to it. Your hypnotherapist will guide you into a state of deep relaxation. Once your body and mind are fully relaxed, your hypnotherapist can access your subconscious mind, identifying the emotion attached to the issue.
How does a hypnotherapy session for anxiety work?
To begin, you will typically discuss what you hope to achieve from hypnotherapy with your hypnotherapist. Your hypnotherapist will ask questions to try to establish any triggers or causes for how you feel. They will explain how hypnotherapy works, outlining the process for you so you know what to expect and have the right mindset.
After your initial consultation, your hypnotherapist will start by helping you enter a state of relaxation. You may be asked to focus on physical sensations and think about what might trigger your anxiety.
Once these sensations are recognized, your hypnotherapist will guide you to the part of your mind where the anxiety originated, reframing the triggering events. After reframing, positive suggestions will be used along with hypnotic triggers (the idea behind this technique is that when you start feeling anxious or fearful, you trigger the hypnotic suggestion or calming words into your conscious mind, helping you cope with the situation.)
You may find that you only need one or two sessions to help you understand why you feel this way and what you can do to deal with it, or you may need more. In terms of how many sessions you have, this can be discussed with us.
At GMO Hypnotherapy, we also teach self-hypnosis techniques that you can turn to when needed. We provide recordings to reinforce positive suggestions at home.
If your anxiety symptoms are impacting your life, schedule your consultation with us here.