Anxiety
Anxiety and depression can show in many different ways. They might show in a person’s thoughts, words or behaviour or their opinions about the world.
Sometimes anxiety can stem from a specific event or trauma. This can create a phobic response and then become generalised into anxiety. I work with you to unpick where the anxiety stems from. It could have been a learnt fear, picked up from the family or culture we grew up in.
Agoraphobia
Agoraphobia is commonly thought of as a fear of public places or ‘wide open spaces’. However, it can also be thought of as a general fear of any unfamiliar or new event or place. This can be the result of an accumulation of events where the brain perceives a threat, or a one-off event. It can affect people to the point where every new option becomes a frightening prospect.
Symptoms of anxiety may include:
- Negative thinking
- Obsessive worrying
- Continually second-guessing what will happen next
- Physical symptoms – racing heart, sweaty palms, feeling faint
- Overwhelming sense of fear
- Feeling out of control
- Making a ‘mountain out of a molehill’
- Panic attacks
If you suffer from attacks of anxiety, in Cognitive Hypnotherapy terms you are going from your every-day state of mind into a ‘trance state’. This is where your mind takes you when you are experiencing those thoughts and feelings of the anxiety. It could include negative phrases or images in your mind, and is most likely accompanied by unpleasant physical symptoms. The longer you are in this trance state, the more distressing and debilitating the anxiety is likely to be, and in some cases can culminate in a panic attack.
The Triggers of Anxiety
By listening carefully to your experience of these anxieties, tracing back to the root of the problem and paying attention to the triggers I can help you to change the process which occurs when you feel these anxieties and fears, working on both a conscious and unconscious level. This work is done swiftly, to gain insights, clear negative memories and then to move on to the positives and the ‘what you want instead’, without dwelling on the negative state.
Most of our sessions will consist of conversational work, where we are working on a conscious level to understand what’s going on and why, and also at an unconscious level through the hypnosis recording I create for you to listen to. As each client has their own specific issue, I write and create recordings for each person on an individual basis.
Hypnotherapy for Anxiety
A Client with Anxiety
The hypnosis recording has provided me with a more positive mindset, instilling a more optimistic outlook into my unconscious and has also made me more focused. I like the way the recording is personalised towards me. The relaxation techniques Zeenat taught me brought me a sense of calm and I am now able to differentiate when I am actually experiencing the stress response, and how to counter it. Each appointment gave me a deeper insight into the anxiety and low mood, going deeper into the issue and thinking outside the box.
LM, Teacher