I had to go to hospital today for a routine appointment. As I was waiting, I remembered all the clients I have helped who get anxious about medical visits – doctors’ appointments, hospital visits, medical procedures, vaccinations … and so on.
It is surprisingly common for people to feel anxious about visiting their doctor or going to hospital. Some people feel anxious, but go anyway. Others feel the anxiety build up so much that they miss the appointment. And there are yet others who avoid going to any medical visits because it makes them so anxious.
Being anxious about medical procedures is often combined with an anxiety about health. If you are anxious about your state of health, then you may avoid going to see the doctor or have a medical procedure because you don’t want to know the result. Of course, this makes it more likely that you will have a medical problem that goes untreated.
Hypnotherapy for Medical Anxiety
Hypnotherapy can have a remarkably positive impact on medical anxiety. By calming down the subconscious part of the brain that causes the anxiety, it is possible to see the doctor and have those medical procedures, to help your body heal and get back into a more normal state.
Medical anxiety happens because the subconscious wants to protect you from the unpleasantness of thinking about your own illness, or the invasive nature of some medical procedures. It is not pleasant to think about your own body failing, and your subconscious tries to protect you from that unpleasantness by making you anxious enough to avoid the medical visit. This is not a logical or sensible but, unfortunately, this is how our brains work.
Hypnotherapy gets round the subconscious rejection of medical visits by tackling the fight-flight-freeze part of the brain directly, calming it down and gradually helping it understand that it is okay to go and see your doctor.
The result is that, after a few hypnotherapy sessions, people will be able to face the medical visits with much reduced anxiety, and so be able to look after their own bodies.
And Finally …
If you recognise this anxiety in yourself, or your friends and family, you are welcome to Contact Me to talk about the possibilities of what hypnotherapy might do. I work from my clinic in Fleet, Hampshire and can also work Online – whichever works for you.
It all starts with contacting me for a no-obligation chat.
Photo courtesy of RDNE Stock on Pexels