Hypnotherapy For Anxiety: Examples, How It Works, And Effectiveness

The therapist guides the client into deep relaxation and focused awareness to bring about change. Hypnotherapists are specially trained and certified to use clinical hypnosis for anxiety treatment. They can help people with anxiety reframe their situation or anxiety using relaxation techniques.

What Is Hypnotherapy?

Hypnotherapy focuses on the interplay between the subconscious and conscious minds, and how they both create and solve problems. Sometimes, the subconscious can become stuck with counterproductive beliefs or habits. This can lead to anxiety, phobias, and sleep disorders as well as addictions.

Hypnosis For Anxiety Techniques

These are some of the anxiety hypnotherapy Sydney methods:

Relaxation

The therapist will help a person to relax enough to enter a hypnotic state. A person can release stress and tension through mindfulness, focused awareness, soothing suggestions, and meditation. Mental relaxation becomes easier once physical relaxation has been achieved.

Right-Sizing

Anxiety can be caused or exacerbated often by worrying about the future. These thoughts can manifest as catastrophizing and filtering information. The therapist will help the person to right-size their fears and concerns to reflect the reality of their situation while they are in a trance state.

Reframing

The technique uses imagination and guided imagery. A person can conceive of themselves in hypnosis as experiencing the situations that cause anxiety. The person can then bring new perspectives and attitudes to these situations, which allows them to develop healthier responses.

Self-Management

Many hypnotherapists will recommend self-management tools that can be used to manage anxiety in the future. These could include self-hypnosis instructions, deep breathing exercises, or guided relaxation meditations.

What Does Hypnotherapy For Anxiety Do?

An anxiety treatment using hypnosis will typically include an initial assessment, several sessions of hypnosis, and some support.

Pre-Session Preparation

Today’s therapists will offer pre-session hypnosis training. This could be in the form either of written scripts or audio recordings of hypnotic inducements that can be listened to before the session. It can be helpful to think of hypnosis in this way: a skill you can learn, not a treatment you receive.

Initial Assessment

A person might be asked about their anxiety history and current experiences during the initial assessment. This can be a serious mental and medical issue. A therapist will ask about past or current treatment to coordinate with other providers.

Hypnosis Session

The actual hypnosis sessions are next. Each person will require a different number of sessions. Some people feel satisfied after only a few sessions, while others see the benefits of a longer treatment program.

Post Hypnotic Suggestions

Hypnosis is a more open-minded approach to positive suggestions. These suggestions are most effective when they are delivered in the present tense. You can say, for example, that “Whenever I sit in an airplane, I remember how to breathe and relax.” Post hypnotic suggestions are credible and provide a way to overcome anxiety.

Anchoring

Anchoring is a technique that teaches people how to create positive triggers that lead to more desirable outcomes. A person will feel at ease, secure, and relaxed while in trance. The person will be asked to make an “anchor” for those feelings. It can be a phrase or a place. Or a physical gesture like pressing your thumb and forefinger together.

Memory Regression

Many times, anxiety and fear are rooted in past events. Hypnosis can help you to revisit these past events with more resources. A person may recall being bitten by a dog as a child, and this could be a reason for anxiety or fear. They can experience the incident again in a trance state with the full knowledge they survived and are more capable of protecting themself as adults.