Anxiety disorder: hypnosis to overcome anxiety
An anxiety disorder is super annoying, but what can you do about it? An anxiety disorder can be resolved with hypnosis if you prefer not to take medication in order to suffer less from your anxiety. This will allow you to get on with your life again without worry, or at least only with worries that are real because you are no longer preoccupied with unimportant fears
After all, anxiety is very normal and useful. It is a system of your body, an emotion to warn you of danger. For example, it makes perfect sense that a truck would make you anxious when you are trying to cross the road.
But if you suffer from anxiety too often and for reasons that don't make sense, you may be suffering from an anxiety disorder.
What is an anxiety disorder?
An anxiety disorder is a disorder most common when people suffer from a mental problem[1]. 1 to 5 percent of people suffer from an anxiety disorder.
There are several anxiety disorders you can suffer from. For convenience, we will assume generalized anxiety disorder in this article.
You then experience a lot of anxiety that doesn't make sense. You also anticipate anxious moments[2], this means you think a lot about moments that "may" happen rather than moments that have happened.
When you have an anxiety disorder, you feel anxious or preoccupied with your anxiety all day long.
Generalized anxiety disorder is often accompanied by more specific fears, obsessive behavior, or panic attacks.
You can develop an anxiety disorder as a child, as well as later in life as an adult.
In addition, you may also have a specific anxiety disorder, such as a fear of certain social situations, post-traumatic stress disorder, separation anxiety, a fear of driving, or a fear of animals, spiders, or other objects.
Symptoms of anxiety disorder
If you suffer from an anxiety disorder, it can be identified by the following mental symptoms:
- You constantly worry about things that aren’t worth worrying about when you consider the consequences if your fears come true.
- You think too much about solutions and making plans in case the worst outcome becomes a reality.
- You find situations or events threatening, even when they are not.
- You find it difficult to deal with uncertainty.
- You are indecisive and afraid of making the wrong choice.
- You can't let go of a concern or put it aside for a while.
- Unable to relax, you feel stressed or worked up all the time.
- You have trouble concentrating or feel like your mind is wandering.
Physically, there are also a number of things you can tell you are suffering from an anxiety disorder:
- Fatigue;
- Trouble sleeping;
- Muscle pain;
- Tense muscles;
- Trilly;
- Nervous;
- Easy to scare;
- Sweat;
- Nausea;
- You are easily irritated
Worries don't always have to be about the same issue. Sometimes they are about your family, then they are about your job, then they are about safety. It can be anything.
Children with an anxiety disorder may have many concerns about being on time, their school, sports performance, the safety of family members and natural disasters. In the Netherlands, for example, this might be the fear of the dikes breaking, but on vacation in a country where there are earthquakes or volcanoes, this in turn can become a major concern.
Effects of an anxiety disorder
As you can imagine, when you suffer from these symptoms, it's not always convenient and you don't always do the right thing. For example, you can no longer do your job well because you have trouble concentrating.
In addition, it can be incredibly exhausting. This then means, for example, that you can't concentrate well at work either, which in turn makes you uncomfortable at home. You are simply too tired by the worries of the day to be a fun partner or parent at home.
The effects of an anxiety disorder can also lead to depression and other mental health issues. It can also cause you to abuse medication or drugs.
You may suffer from irritable bowel syndrome, nausea and other bowel problems.
Constant worry can lead to headaches or other chronic pain.
You may start isolating yourself socially or people may start avoiding you because it is exhausting to deal with your anxiety.
Your well-being will be lowered because of it.
It can go as far as becoming suicidal[3].
When are you more likely to have an anxiety disorder?
You can suffer from an anxiety disorder at any point in your life. However, there are factors that make you more susceptible to getting too much anxiety than is good for you.
If one of your family members has an anxiety disorder, you are more likely to have one too.
Sometimes something may have developed incorrectly in your brain with regard to processing fear and emotions.
Events in your life, such as child abuse, the death of a loved one, being attacked, or witnessing violence, can cause you to develop an anxiety disorder.
Certain diseases or physical conditions, such as problems with your heart, lungs or thyroid can also make you more anxious.
If you were shy as a child, you are more likely to suffer from an anxiety disorder as an adult.
Low self-esteem can also cause anxiety disorder[4].
Anxiety disorder treatment
An anxiety disorder is often treated with medication. For example, you may be given antidepressants or benzodiazepines to help you suffer less from your anxiety. The problem, though, is that you become dependent on these medications and when you stop taking them, the anxiety comes back twice as hard, because the medication often actually makes you more sensitive to the anxiety (but as long as you are on medication you don't notice this)[5].
Fortunately, you can also address anxiety disorders with psychotherapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy, for example, is one form that can help you suffer less from anxious thoughts.
Thereby, this therapy can be well combined with hypnosis[6][7].
Hypnosis Against Anxiety Disorder
Hypnotherapy is a form of alternative psychotherapy that helps people overcome fears, for example, while in hypnosis.
The beauty of hypnotherapy is that it can vary by individual. An anxiety disorder can also vary from one individual to another, which is precisely why hypnotherapy can be a great way to help someone with an anxiety disorder [8].
Hypnosis to treat an anxiety disorder can help heal the wounded child. For example, through hypnosis, you can process a traumatic event you experienced as a child. This is because hypnosis allows you to access unconscious issues more effectively than cognitive behavioral therapy without hypnosis. You can then reexamine and change unconscious beliefs about your experiences.
In hypnosis for anxiety disorders, it is important for the hypnotherapist to get the following things clear before getting started with techniques to rid people of anxiety.
- Know what the trigger is for anxiety.
- Find out if the trigger causes feelings of shame, humiliation or feelings of losing control.
- Find out if the trigger is opening up old hurts.
- Find out what meaning the client gives to the trigger [9].
This ensures that the hypnotherapist can create a personalized plan of action for your specific anxiety disorder and then help you overcome it. This is in line with how Ericksson, a key developer of hypnotherapy, viewed psychotherapy.
Hypnosis can then help you manage your symptoms. This is achieved by strengthening your ego, making you more aware of how you handle situations, through self-hypnosis exercises, and with suggestions that continue to influence you after the hypnosis session.
In addition - while in hypnosis - you can also confront your fear with a guided visualization. During that visualization, you also learn how to remain calm while experiencing something that makes you anxious.
Subsequently, then, you can also be given homework in the form of self-hypnosis. For example, you can then listen to a recording of a guided visualization or repeat certain affirmations that will help you become more confident and suffer less from anxiety. These are determined per person by the hypnotherapist.
These may include suggestions such as:
"I am strong."
"The first decision is usually the best decision."
"My brain wants to take good care of me."
"I am courageous."
These are just examples, depending on your anxiety disorder, triggers and the like, you may be given other suggestions or affirmations to use as homework.
Want to learn more about hypnotherapy? Then come to a free online master class.
Do you want to help people with hypnosis? You can, whether you’re a coach or a psychologist (or aspire to be one). Sign up for one of our training programs.
Also pin this handy infographic:
[1] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/410326
[2] https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1986-14571-001
[3] https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/anxiety/symptoms-causes/syc-20350961
[4] https://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/guide/anxiety-disorders#2
[5] https://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/guide/anxiety-disorders#3
[6] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00029157.2011.650333
[7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6876801/
[8] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00029157.2016.1163662
[9] https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Assen_Alladin3/publication/303394875_Cognitive_Hypnotherapy_for_Accessing_and_Healing_Emotional_Injuries_for_Anxiety_Disorders/links/59e1252daca2724cbfdb71f6/Cognitive-Hypnotherapy-for-Accessing-and-Healing-Emotional-Injuries-for-Anxiety-Disorders.pdf