What Are The Benefits Of Hypnosis
As you relax during hypnosis we’ll use guided relaxation and mental imagery which encourages a trance state. It also causes a natural shift in our brainwave patterns, perhaps from being in a fully alert mental state, into other more relaxed states. As we are guided into deeper levels of relaxation, the brain demonstrates more alpha and theta wave activity, where we feel calmer and more relaxed but can also visualise images and reflect on different ideas that may be useful to us.
The great new is that Solution Focused Hypnotherapy can be so beneficial, because it combines powerful solution-focused discussions, followed by encouraging a relaxing trance state so that the ideas and solutions discussed can then be explored and utilised by the brain for positive benefit.
To Conquer Bad Habits
Hypnosis has long been used to battle and obliterate bad habits including everything from nail biting to procrastination.
Again, this is down to its ability to get at the unconscious.
If you keep hitting it with positive suggestions and keep telling yourself you dont need to do whatever it is youre doing your unconscious will eventually get the message, youll start to believe it, and youll gradually change your behavior.
And as soon as you change your behavior, the habit is broken.
What Happens During Hypnotherapy
Before beginning hypnotherapy, your therapist should take your medical history, discuss your presenting problem, and provide a brief explanation of how hypnotherapy works.
The goal of hypnotherapy is to enter an altered state of consciousness, also known as a trance or hypnotic state.
During a trance, most people experience relaxation, lowered blood pressure and heart rate, and changes in their brain waves.
While in this altered state, you will be highly responsive to suggestions made by the hypnotherapist. Each hypnotherapy session will generally last between a half an hour and one hour. At the end of each session, you will be brought back to alertness and reflect on the experience. Often, you will be instructed on how to practice self-hypnosis outside of hypnotherapy.
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Additional Resources For Hypnotherapy For Anxiety
For more information about hypnotherapy for anxiety and hypnosis in general see these resources:
- The Science of Hypnosis An article from the National Geographic blog.
- Hypnosis Basics A video explaining some of the basic principles of hypnosis.
- The National Guild of Hypnotists offers educational material as well as a listing of hypnotists who are in good standing with the Guild.
- HMI College of Hypnotherapy offers free videos on hypnosis for health and self-improvement.
- Hypnosis Today: An article by the American Psychological Association about the benefits of hypnosis for treating anxiety.
- Online Therapist Directory: Watch intro videos and see articles written by the therapists youre considering working with. When youve found a good match, book an online therapy appointment with them directly.
Are you ready to connect with a therapist but feel a little overwhelmed by all your options? Speak with one of Choosing Therapys Client Navigators. Client Navigators are mental health professionals who will listen to what youre looking for in a therapist and help pair you with the best possible fit. Getting started is free, easy, and confidential.
How Can Hypnosis Help With Anxiety
Hypnosis can help you cope with anxiety in three significant ways.
First, while in a hypnotic state, you become calmer and more relaxed.
Second, during the hypnosis session, the hypnotherapist can give you pre-hypnotic and post-hypnotic suggestions to help you cope in anxiety-inducing situations.
For instance, you are anxious about the COVID-19 pandemic. Your therapist may say When you have thoughts about this pandemic, taking deep breaths makes you feel more relaxed.
Those words are embedded into your subconscious so that when those distressing thoughts come in, youre able to cope better.
Third, in some cases, hypnotherapists, such as Carla Chalah, of Hemisphere Hypnotherapy harness the power of neuroplasticity, by teaching pragmatic brain-hack techniques to begin rewiring the brain towards reducing anxiety. Join one of Carlas Anti-Anxiety Toolkit classes coming up.
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How To Recognise Anxiety
Anxiety can hold you back from living life the way you want, it may leave you thinking, I just want to get the ‘real me’ back again. There are different forms of anxiety and one of the most common is Generalised Anxiety Disorder. A long-term condition causing you to feel anxious and worried about almost any situation rather than anything specific. You may not recall when you last felt relaxed. As soon as one anxious thought is dealt with, it is replaced by another, caught in a trap of negative thinking.
Social Anxiety is another common issue associated with anxiety sufferers. A persistent, overwhelming fear of social situations, leaving you fearful of engaging with people in everyday activities, such as shopping or speaking on the phone. It causes you to worry excessively about dealing with people before, during and after the situation. In addition to feeling fearful, anxiety can also cause you to be preoccupied with what other people may think, which can be severely affecting your confidence and self-esteem affecting our work and relationships.
Panic attacks are often a common issue with anxiety disorders. It can leave you feeling out of control producing very real physical symptoms, from a rapid increase in heartbeat to a churning stomach sensation. These physical symptoms are naturally unpleasant which often sets off a cycle of worry and fear about the experiencing a further panic attack.
Anxiety Problems Hypnosis May Address
In terms of directly addressing your anxiety, there are 3 anxiety-related problems that hypnotism is commonly used to address.
Both mild cases of anxiety and clinically diagnosed disorders may result in these effects with hypnotherapy. If you have experienced any of the above, finding out whether hypnotism works for you may help you to conquer these difficulties and hopefully eliminate them altogether.
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Hypnosis And Performance Fears
Acting as a conduit for greater self-esteem, hypnotherapy for anxiety can help you to visualize yourself in healthy ways. Depending on the hypnotist, certain affirmations are used to aid in the process.
An example might be: My partner finds me attractive. I perform strongly in the bedroom with my mate.
Whats great about anxiety focused hypnosis is that it works well as an adjunct to other things you may be doing to address the problem.
If your doctor has encouraged you to exercise more or has prescribed an ED medication, hypnotherapy can be an additional resource you can call upon as part of a comprehensive approach.
Additionally, hypnotherapy for anxiety works well as an adjunct to various forms of counseling, including cognitive behavior therapy.
The key thing to keep in mind when looking for hypnotic services linked to performance anxiety is this: Hypnosis isnt something someone does to you. Instead, its a skill that you learn to create calmness, thereby increasing pleasure.
If you are a man who is considering hypnosis to help you with sexual anxiety issues, it is best to work with a mental health professional trained in hypnotherapy.
Hypnosis Helps Controlling Panic
Panic and anxiety are two accompanying feelings when an agoraphobia sufferer feels confined, trapped, or cant escape. Of course, these two feelings make everything seem worse than it actually is. By controlling the panic feeling, it is possible to control agoraphobia as well.
A possible way to control arising anxiety can be a few hypnotic interventions such as hypnotic desensitization and hypnotic anchor techniques. According to a study published in the National Library of Medicine, hypnosis can help eliminate the symptoms of panic and agoraphobia. During the hypnotic desensitization process, individuals go over the triggering situations in their minds until they are comfortable with them. This allows them to build up confidence and have lower levels of anxiety. Additionally, with a hypnotic anchor, the person can remember that they can choose to be calm rather than anxious. They can also use the hypnotic anchor to bring themselves back to calmness.
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Hypnosis And Relaxation: The Trance State
One of the challenges with mental health issues is that no single treatment works for everyone. Anxiety and depression, for example, can almost always be treated. But finding that treatment can be a lesson in frustration. The same medications and therapy that work for one person may not work for another.
When other anxiety treatments have failed, or you want to exhaust every option before you consider medications or therapy, its not uncommon to seek out alternative treatments. One option that many consider is hypnotherapy. But does hypnosis for anxiety really work?
What Is High Functioning Anxiety
In order to understand what high-functioning anxiety is, lets first explore what anxiety is in general.
Anxiety is typically characterized by feelings of nervousness, worry, and unease. It can show up in your body in a lot of different ways, but it often manifests as a sense of impending doom or fear, trembling, a pounding heart, insomnia, hyperventilation, avoidance of triggering situations, restlessness, and more. It affects your sense of well-being and makes it hard to live in the present moment.
Feeling some anxiety from time to time is normal.
For example, before a big competition or presentation, or when youre waiting for medical test results, its normal to feel anxious. You may also feel some anxiety if youre not sleeping enough, eating poorly, or if youre overindulging in caffeine or alcohol.
If your anxious feelings are consistently overwhelming you and interfering with your day-to-day life, you may have an anxiety disorder. There are many different types of anxiety disorders, and they affect people with both mild and severe anxiety.
There is generalized anxiety disorder , social anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder , panic disorder, and post traumatic stress disorder. No matter the type of anxiety you may have, if its negatively affecting your everyday life, its best that you seek the help of a mental health professional .
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Who Can Be Helped By Hypnotherapy
Anyone who is genuinely interested and sufficiently motivated to make a change can likely be helped by hypnosis. The key to achieving pretty much any goal is motivation. You have to want to make the change. If you are reaching out because your husband/wife/mother/children influenced you to do so, I cant help you.
Many of my clients have fears or phobias that impact their lives. Fears about snakes and fears about flying can make people shut-ins and are fairly common in my practice. Ive also used hypnotherapy and NLP successfully to help with weight loss, reduce stress and anxiety, and to give people the confidence necessary to overcome a fear of public speaking or optimize their performance in sports.
Hypnotherapy can also be useful for getting rid of negative emotions like grief, shame, anger, and sadness.
People with serious mental health conditions sometimes seek hypnotherapy as well. I wont treat a person living with something like bipolar disorder however unless they are also receiving care from a specialist.
How Can Hypnotherapy Help Someone With Anxiety
It is natural for most people to experience some kind of anxiety from time to time. However, anxiety disorders such as social anxiety disorder, agoraphobia, panic disorder, and specific phobias can severely affect a persons quality of life.
With its emphasis on physical and mental relaxation, hypnotherapy can be a highly effective treatment for various forms of anxiety.
Hypnotherapeutic techniques for working with anxiety include:
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What You Need To Know Before Trying Hypnotherapy
As long as youre seeing a licensed mental health professional who has extensive training in hypnosis, the use of hypnotherapy to treat anxiety is considered very safe.
The first thing to consider when choosing a hypnotist is the practitioners qualifications. Look for a licensed mental health care professional such as a psychologist, psychotherapist, psychiatric nurse practitioner, counselor, social worker, or medical doctor who is also a hypnotherapist.
An effective overall treatment plan should include several modalities , and hypnotherapy is just one of the many clinically effective tools known to help treat anxiety.
You can also ask if theyre affiliated with any professional associations, such as the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis.
If for example, a hypnotist uncovers trauma while doing hypnotherapy, they need to know how to treat trauma. In other words, having the education and training to diagnose and treat mental health conditions which comes from being licensed is a key component in the success of hypnotherapy.
For more information on how to find a qualified hypnotist, visit the following sites:
Can Nlp And Hypnosis Help With Anxiety
This week’s question from my portal The Neagle Code: Directions for Life comes from someone who wishes to remain anonymous.
Hi David,
Ive struggled with anxiety forever, and Im realizing how much its controlled me. Can hypnosis and NLP help with this? Ive been reading self-hypnosis books. Ive had some good days where I felt so freefeelings Ive never felt beforeand my anxiety doesnt last all day.
But I also have really dark feelings that are more pronounced. The low cycles are hard to deal with. Youve mentioned when someone gets close to breaking through a pattern, the darker feelings can get more acute. Whats the best way to deal with that, other than just concentrating on whats working?
First off, you might want to get a medical check-up to make sure the anxiety isnt being caused by a physical issue. Especially for men, if your hormones are off, you can have terrible anxiety problems.
Outside of that, anxiety often comes also from not expressing something. Humans are meant to express what theyre feeling and work through those feelings. If youre suppressing how you feelespecially when it comes to fear or worrythose feelings will be expressed as anxiety through the body.
- What do you need to express?
- What unmet needs do you need to address?
- What do you need now?
Anxiety is a way of stopping a person from moving forward. If we feel really anxious about something, were not going to want to move forward on it.
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Can Hypnosis Help With Anxiety
I wont leave you guessing any more. It cant cure anxiety because anxiety is a normal part of peoples lives. Its natural to get anxious and to some extent its natural for it to take over your thoughts and actions. Hypnosis for anxiety is more about focusing on the triggers of anxiety. The habits and the non-habits that lead to the anxious moments in life.
Hypnosis Downloads You Can Try At Home
For those who feel anxious about situations might find it difficult to believe that meditative thinking can be a positive step on their way to eradicating anxiety for good.
But as Sheila explains, Self-hypnosis requires practice and people think if they cant do it the first time around then its not going to be something for me. But as human beings, whatever we practice we become good at.
Try these hypnosis downloads from home
Mindbox
Mindbox is a website that offers therapy 24/7 for those with a range of mental health issues – from anxiety and panic attacks to stress management.
They “provide the best therapy, in the right place, when you need it the most” via video, audio and journal sessions that you can complete anytime, anywhere and at your own pace. It’s a great go-to for instant help and anxiety relief.
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