Hypnotherapy is not the only way to tackle anxiety; however, it is certainly an effective one. Other ways to combat this intrusive emotion are medication, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and self-help – but I am a hypnotherapist, so today I want to discuss the use of hypnotherapy.
What a Hypnotherapist Can and Cannot Do
Hypnotherapists are not magicians. They cannot make calmness appear like a rabbit out of a hat. They cannot make the anxiety disappear in a puff of smoke and then reappear on the other side of the stage dressed up as tranquility and peace. Hypnotherapists cannot make people change (especially if they don’t really want to).
What hypnotherapists can do is to help the subconscious understand that being calm, peaceful and … let’s call it normal … is quite safe.
The Anxiety Vicious Circle
Anxiety is simply a reaction that the more primitive part of the brain has when it detects signs that the world might not be safe. It draws you attention to everything that might go wrong. It is a survival mechanism that is trying to make you be aware of what could endanger your life.
The part of your brain that does this is very primitive. It is optimised to work in a world that is a lot more hazardous than the one we live in today (at least in most parts of the world). It does not care how you feel, it just cares about keeping you alive … and so it draws your attention to everything that might go wrong and makes you anxious.
And of course, drawing your attention to things that might go wrong has the effect of making you even more nervous and stressed. That primitive part of your brain reacts to the stress and assumes that you are stressed because of something dangerous, and so repeats the pattern.
And so the anxiety vicious circle builds.
How Hypnotherapy Tackles Anxiety
A hypnotherapist’s job is to help you break that vicious cycle. Through a process of discussion and hypnosis, the hypnotherapist leads their client into a thought pattern outside of the vicious circle. The client’s brain starts to build new pathways that do not follow the same route round and round that created the anxiety in the first place.
Once these new neural pathways start to form, quite gradually, the client will find themselves able to take control of their thoughts and feelings. It does not happen immediately. Over a series of sessions, the client will gradually notice the changes.
Typically, I see clients for around 5 to 10 weeks before they get themselves back into a position where they feel normal again. (Caveat – there are no guarantees of success in this timescale – it’s just what I normally expect to happen.)
And Finally …
Hypnotherapy is not the only way to tackle anxiety, you may want to try other methods as well. However, if you do want to experience the changes that hypnotherapy can help with, you can Contact Me. I work from my clinic in Fleet, Hampshire as well as working online.
Photo by Ann Danilina on Unsplash