Common Anxieties that can be treated effectively with Hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy is usually a very effective way of dealing with anxiety. It’s important first of all to understand the circumstances in which you are getting anxious. Hypnosis can target it directly by offering you a means of staying calm in those situations. You will learn many new ways to stay calm and change the way you think about the things that used to make you anxious. Once you start to change, you will find that you are back in control of the way you feel. Essentially hypnotherapy can assist you to reverse the fight or flight response and respond from a relaxation perspective.
Agoraphobia
Agoraphobia is usually explained as a ‘fear of open spaces’. In practice however, it usually manifests itself as fear and avoidance of going out or leaving the home.
Many agoraphobics fear being trapped, suffer from claustrophobia and are uncomfortable when they travel away from home. They may fear being in enclosed spaces such as the underground, having to wait in lines or being in crowded places.
GAD – Generalised anxiety disorder
GAD can be described as a non specific ‘free floating’ anxiety or chronic worrying. It is not directed at anything specific but is a pervasive form of anxiety that can attach to anything.
It may lead to problems sleeping, feeling tense and ‘on edge’, irritability, and create problems, for example, with work or relationships.
Social Phobia / Social Anxiety
This type of anxiety becomes apparent in social or public situations and is usually related to embarrassment, a fear of being the centre of attention, or of others noticing one’s anxious behaviour. It may be a specific social phobia, for example relating only to public speaking. Fear of behaving in an embarrassing way and drawing attention to oneself, being noticed by others, these can lead to withdrawal and avoidance of social situations.
Panic Attacks
It can be very distressing to experience a panic attack. These are characterised by feeling fine one minute but the next being overcome by acute intense anxiety with symptoms that may include:
- Breathing difficulty
- Fast heartbeat or palpitations
- Churning stomach
- Tingling or numbness in hands or feet
- Increased perspiration.
You may be aware of the circumstances that trigger the attack. However once experienced there is often the fear of it occurring again that either sets off an attack, or makes you actively avoid the circumstances in which it occurred. So it is common to start avoiding activities or places and being in fear of fear.
Hypnotherapy for Panic Attacks
I have found hypnotherapy to be a very effective treatment for panic attacks. The approach will be first to explore the circumstances that have led up to panic and understand why it is happening. I will aim to show you some strategies for dealing with your panic so you have more effective means of staying in control.
Hypnotherapy can enable you to practise control in those situations that you have been avoiding, until you feel completely confident in dealing with them.
Claustrophobia
Claustrophobia is the fear of being in an enclosed space. Many people dislike this type of experience to a greater of lesser degree, but it starts to cause a problem when it can be seen as an irrational fear and is leading you to severely curtail your life experiences by avoiding situations.
The places that can lead to a feeling of claustrophobia include lifts or elevators, underground trains, anywhere where you feel trapped (which could be standing in a queue or at the hairdresser).
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder OCD
Fear of Flying (or other forms of transport)
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD