Understanding Anxiety

Put very simply, anxiety is basically a fear response that is triggered when we feel tense and worried about future events or imagined undesirable scenarios or outcomes. Sometimes the reason that you feel anxious is not clear to, you especially if you have become chronically anxious about various things, maybe even tipping you over into Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD), which is when you feel anxious a lot of the time about almost everything rather than just specific issues or situations, and your mind spirals into more and more anxiety and negative thoughts.

Or perhaps you’ve struggled with anxiety for many years in many situations due to lacking in confidence. For instance, this could manifest as social anxiety in social settings, or as performance anxiety, which can be experienced in many different situations, one very common example being anxiety about giving a presentation.

You may have gradually become more and more anxious over time, or you may have suddenly become highly anxious after a very distressing experience or a series of stressful events over a relatively short period of time, and you may feel like anxiety has taken over your life.

Or it may be simply that you have an upcoming event that you feel negative or lacking in confidence about and have started to feel anxious whenever you think about it.

Anxiety can be sudden and intense or can sneak up on you gradually as one stressor after another overloads your system until it becomes too much to cope with, and it can be overwhelming.

When we feel anxious it sends signals to the fear part of our brain, which triggers the fight, flight or freeze response, which is a normal survival response for when we seem to be in danger. When this response is triggered in an ongoing way by our perceived threats in response to our thoughts, emotions and worries about things that we fear might happen, we increasingly experience the physiological symptoms of anxiety, such as a pounding heart, rapid breathing, muscle tension and more, which leads to a vicious circle of increasing anxiety.

Whether triggered by a traumatic incident, prolonged stress, major life changes like moving house, losing a job, or going through a divorce, or a specific fear or phobia, anxiety can be overcome.

What Causes Anxiety?

What causes us to become anxious about something is not the event itself, it’s really the meaning we make of it and our perceived ability or lack of ability to cope. Any threat that we perceive may be about our level of confidence or lack of it, possibly leading to fear of failure, and worrying about what people might think of us, or we might be anxious about our physical safety in some way, or our financial security.

What underlies our fears usually have their roots in experiences where we formed fears and/or limiting beliefs about ourselves or the world around us as we were growing up, and/or traumatic experiences that we’ve experienced since then.

Common Types of Anxiety

There are various types of anxiety, or anxiety disorders, from anxiety about a specific upcoming event to the more all-pervading Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD). Common types include:

• Panic attacks
• Social anxiety
• Performance anxiety
• Specific fears or phobias
• Health anxiety
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
• Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD)
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following one or more very distressing event.

Anxiety can range from mild to severe and for some people it can have a major impact on their life. Life can become a vicious circle of fear, overthinking, and worry,

Anxiety can take over your thoughts, emotions, and even your physical well-being, persisting even when the cause eludes you. Incessant worry and fear can cripple your ability to engage in everyday activities, impacting your relationships, your work, and self-esteem. it can hold you back from enjoying life and make you want to avoid situations until your life becomes more and more restricted.

Anxiety can become very problematic when it becomes a barrier to leading the life you desire. If your worrying consumes your daily existence, or if you find yourself avoiding situations to evade anxiety feelings and responses, or it's holding you back in your career or relationships, you may want to seek help to overcome it.

How Does Hypnotherapy for Anxiety Work?

Hypnotherapy is a safe and natural way for overcoming anxiety and empowers you to be able to take charge of your own mind and body. Hypnotherapy can help with even the most severe anxiety.

There are many myths about hypnosis and hypnotherapy, and no swinging watches or staring into my eyes need to be involved. Hypnosis or trance is a normal and natural state that you go into several times a day, like when you daydream or when you are deeply engrossed in a book or film. You will be completely in control at all times and will be able to open your eyes at any time.

Hypnosis can feel like a calm relaxed state, and it allows your mind to absorb and integrate new perspectives. It works with the subconscious mind, helps you to you to calm your emotions to triggers, and helps you to tap into your own inner resources.

Hypnotherapy for anxiety involves the use of positive suggestion, relaxation techniques, guided imaginative techniques, and ways to address the underlying patterns, beliefs, and behaviours that fuel anxiety.

How Does Hypnotherapy Help for Anxiety?

Hypnotherapy for anxiety has been proven to be highly effective, helping you to start to feel a sense of calm, and to be able to think more clearly, and helping you to create lasting positive change in your emotional, mental, and physical well-being.

Hypnotherapy helps with both the mental and physical manifestations of anxiety. It can reduce symptoms such as heart palpitations, muscle tension, gastrointestinal discomfort, trembling, perspiration, blushing, and panic disorder by addressing their underlying causes.

Through hypnotherapy, you can overcome negative thought and behaviour patterns, reduce stress, overcome specific fears and phobias, and anxiety disorders of all kinds, and we can also enhance self-confidence and self-esteem.

As our minds can become entrenched in negativity over time, hypnotherapy aims to shift this focus. It can guide you away from a worrying state of mind, towards a world ripe with possibilities. By helping you to form healthy habits and reshaping your mindset, hypnotherapy aids with personal growth and helps you to flourish.

Hypnotherapy can gently guide you towards a life that’s no longer ruled by anxiety. By targeting underlying beliefs, thought patterns, and behaviours, it offers an empowering way for you to reclaim peace of mind, and rediscover joy and fulfilment.

How Many Hypnotherapy Sessions are Needed for Anxiety?

Every individual is unique, and while there's no one-size-fits-all approach, for many people 4 to 6 sessions will be what they need. For a specific fear or a simple phobia, you may only need a couple of session, and for more complex anxiety issues, you may need many more.

How I Help Clients to Overcome Anxiety?

Helping people to overcome anxiety is one area that I specialise in. I use a personalised, flexible approach, tailored to your specific needs, issues and goals. I use a combination of hypnotherapy with other effective therapeutic techniques. Including EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques), NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) and Time Line Therapy™. I give clients tools and techniques that they can use on themselves to help them to help them feel calm and confident.

You can also read more about how I help people with hypnotherapy for anxiety, and also how I use a combination of effective therapeutic therapies and techiques to help people to overcome anxiety issues of all kinds.

 

If you want to find out more about anxiety and ways to overcome it, I wrote two articles on the Hypnotherapy Directory that you can read here:
1. How effective is hypnotherapy for treating anxiety?
2. Insights on anxiety and natural ways to overcome it

How You Can Overcome Anxiety

If you have been struggling with anxiety, know that’s something that you can overcome. Hypnotherapy for anxiety offers a safe and effective solution, guiding you towards a life free from the shackles of anxiety.

If you have any questions, I’m happy to have a chat. I offer a free no obligation 20 minute consultation.

If you would like to have a chat about any issue you are struggling with please free to get in touch to arrange for a complmentary chat on the phone.

 

karen@karenhaynestherapies.co.uk

07532 269258