If you’re feeling anxious and stressed much of the time, it is likely to be interfering with your life. It may be limiting the places you go and the things you want to do. You may have already tried a few different things to see if you can reduce your anxiety but nothing seems to be working.
Hypnotherapy has been shown to be very effective for people with anxiety. Most hypnotherapy sessions are split into two distinct parts: ‘the talky bit’ and hypnosis. The talking bit, which could be either counselling or psychotherapy, will help you understand why you feel as you do and to understand what can be done. Hypnotherapy can help you experience a sense of relaxation and calm while in a trance state. If you have any physical symptoms relating to your anxiety, hypnosis will also help to reduce these.
The length of your hypnotherapy session could be from 30 – 90 minutes. An initial consultation will generally be held, prior to your hypnotherapy sessions. This is to agree the aims and goals of your treatment, to discuss your symptoms and to give you a guide of the number of sessions required. This will vary from client to client due to the severity of symptoms and the length of time you have suffered with anxiety. As a rough guide, for long term results most anxiety disorders will be alleviated with around 8 hypnotherapy sessions.
Everyone has feelings of anxiety or stress at some point in their life. You might be going through a particularly stressful experience, such as a driving test or job interview. In these types of situations a certain level of anxiety can sometimes be helpful, or at least seen as normal. However, if you’re feeling anxious or stressed most of the time, then worries can spiral out of control and can develop into an anxiety disorder. Once this happens it can affect your daily life, particularly if your reactions are seen as out of proportion to the situation.
If your anxiety is high then you might feel overwhelmed, find it hard to make decisions and lose your motivation. This would be difficult enough on its own but you may also be experiencing elevated levels of stress or low mood/depression. This is because anxiety often presents alongside other symptoms, such as PTSD, phobias, IBS or depression. If you are experiencing a combination of symptoms, then you’ll find it extremely difficult just to get through the day.
You may have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and been given medication such as antidepressants or anxiolytics (medication that treats the symptoms of anxiety). If you have, you are not alone, anxiety disorders affect nearly 30% of adults at some point in life.
With an anxiety disorder, your life will probably have been affected, potentially impacting your work, social life and relationships. There are a number of different anxiety disorders and many of the symptoms can be reduced with the help of hypnotherapy. Anxiety disorders include: Phobias, Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Panic Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) and Trichotillomania.
If you are suffering from anxiety, you probably worry a lot about even the smallest of things. You might worry about situations that could take place in the future, imagining things going wrong in huge amounts of detail. You might also constantly beat yourself up for things you’ve done or not done. You could feel constantly on edge and irritable, snapping at people over little things. It’s possible that you feel drained of energy much of the time and struggle to sleep properly. Physically, you might experience unexplained muscle pains, headaches or stomach aches.You may have experienced a panic attack. These can be extremely frightening as the symptoms include a dry mouth, rapid heart rate (sometimes leading to heart pain), churning stomach, feeling clammy and a strong feeling of danger where you feel out of control.
If you experience a few of these symptoms, then you probably have anxiety. However, the more symptoms you have, the stronger the likelihood that you have an anxiety disorder and you should make an appointment to see your GP. If you have already seen your GP and you’d still like more help with your condition, then hypnotherapy has been shown to help with anxiety related issues.
Hypnotherapy can help with anxiety by relaxing you so that you can let go of any tension and see things from a different viewpoint. Different brain waves become more prevalent and you will likely be able to problem-solve more easily. The change in brain waves will also make it easier for you to take on new ideas and new ways of thinking. Most hypnotherapists use an element of talking therapy and this supports the trance session by helping you to evaluate your current behaviour and the way you think.
Hypnotherapy works in two ways. Most hypnotherapy approaches use a blend of talking therapy plus trance.The talking element of the session will help you to look at your anxiety from a different perspective. You might explore your current behaviours or thought patterns that are getting in the way. The talking element might be some form of Counselling, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) or a Solution Focused (SF) approach. The aim is to help give you a better understanding of how to get better. This will then be followed by a trance session where the therapist will use hypnosis to relax you into a trance state. While in the trance state, which is a natural state of focused attention, you will be able to let go of any tension and relax fully. This allows your brain to view the causes of the anxiety and see things differently. When you are in a trance state the predominant brain waves change from Beta to Alpha and Theta, these allow you to change the way you think and to problem solve more effectively.
Hypnotherapy has been shown to be a very effective treatment for anxiety. A meta-analysis carried out in 2018 found that participants in receipt of hypnosis improved more than 84% compared to the control groups who had no hypnotherapy. It also found that hypnosis was more effective when combined with a psychological element than just hypnosis alone.
It is always important to contact your GP about your anxiety before seeing a hypnotherapist. This is because sometimes anxiety can mask another medical condition.
Even before lockdown many hypnotherapists were running online hypnotherapy sessions for anxiety. The good news is that there is now evidence to support the effectiveness of online hypnotherapy sessions for anxiety-related conditions. All you would need to take part in an online hypnotherapy session is a laptop, tablet or smartphone, access to the internet and somewhere quiet where you can relax.
Everyone is different and much will depend on the severity of your symptoms and your commitment to the hypnotherapy process. You can expect to see some improvement in your anxiety symptoms after the first hypnotherapy session. You might feel more relaxed and have more energy. Your sleep pattern might improve a little, particularly if listening to an MP3 download everynight. However, you’ll probably need a few sessions before your friends and family start to notice any changes. After around 8 sessions, you should see a consistent change in symptoms, feeling calmer and more relaxed. You will probably notice a reduction in overthinking and have fewer headaches or tension-related aches and pains. By this point, you should be experiencing fewer panic attacks, or even none at all.
As hypnotherapy is considered to be a complementary therapy in the UK, we are not allowed to publish success rates for anxiety. Your commitment to the hypnotherapy process is very important. If you engage with your hypnotherapist and follow their advice, such as listening to an MP3 download everynight, then your treatment will be more effective than if you don’t. However, a meta-analysis carried out in 2018 found that participants in receipt of hypnosis for anxiety improved more than 84% when compared to the control groups who had no hypnotherapy.
The amount of sessions you will need for an anxiety-related condition will vary from person to person. The questions your hypnotherapist will ask to help them calculate the number of sessions you need might include, “How long have you had the condition or symptoms?” or “How severe are the symptoms?” Another factor to consider is the level of your commitment. You will see results much more quickly if you do the things your hypnotherapist suggests. You might be expected to listen to an MP3 download every night or to perform some other task in between sessions.
The cost of hypnotherapy for anxiety can vary from one therapist to another. This will depend on your location and the qualifications and experience your hypnotherapist has. To give you a rough guide prices can vary from £40- £150 per hour.
Unfortunately, you will probably be unable to access hypnotherapy for anxiety through the NHS. This is despite the British Medical Association’s assertion, in their submission of evidence in 2000 to the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology, that ‘Hypnotherapy and Counselling may be considered as orthodox treatments’. Your GP or dentist might suggest hypnotherapy as an option for anxiety, but it will be up to you to source and fund your treatment.
Self-hypnosis can help with anxiety as all hypnosis is technically self-hypnosis. This is because it is your brain doing the work, with the hypnotherapist as the facilitator. However, it can be difficult to achieve on your own and therefore finding a qualified hypnotherapist to help you initially is the best solution. Once you have experienced going into a trance state a few times with their help you will find it much easier to go into that same state on your own. The counselling or psychotherapy element of the hypnotherapy session would be missing from any self-help approach and research has suggested that hypnosis is more effective alongside it.
Hypnotherapy is able to help children with their anxiety. In fact children often find it much easier to go into a trance state than their adult counterparts. This is thought to be because children are more open about trying new things than many adults. The science to support this continues to grow.
Start out with the basics, Search for “hypnotherapy for anxiety near me” in Google or Bing. The results will contain a map with local hypnotherapy businesses. Start looking through their reviews either in the search engine or on their social (Facebook) page.
The best hypnotherapists will be registered with a professional association and with organisations that are accredited by the professional standards authority. There are only two in the UK and they are the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) and the National Hypnotherapy Society.
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