Chronic stress: Hypnosis to break through it
When I conducted keyword research on this term, I discovered that since 2019, searches for “chronic stress” have actually been increasing every year. And for good reason: the pandemic, inflation, and a government that’s becoming increasingly strict. There are plenty of reasons to feel stressed in today’s society.
But what exactly is chronic stress, and what can you do about it? How does hypnosis help? You can read more about that in this blog post.
Unconscious stress symptoms
If you suffer from chronic stress, you may have been suffering from it for so long that you don't even really realize it anymore. That's why this list is useful for you to check if you suffer from chronic stress.
Vague complaints, such as:
This is often due to stress[1].
In addition, you may also experience mood swings and find it difficult to keep up with social activities[2].
And you may find it more difficult to think flexibly due to prolonged stress[3].
There is also a link between insomnia and chronic stress[4]. Both can cause each other, so sometimes it’s unclear whether the stress is caused by poor sleep, or whether the poor sleep is caused by prolonged stress.
Most extreme effects of stress
Prolonged stress can literally make you physically ill. Such as by having a heart attack or stroke because your blood pressure is too high for a long time[5].
In addition, you may develop mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression. If these persist over the long term, they can in turn lead to conditions such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome and fibromyalgia. This is especially true if your chronic stress stems from a difficult childhood and a subsequent difficult adult life[6].
It can also lead to PTSD and rheumatic symptoms [7].
In the 1990s, it was even as known that part of your brain hippocampus can die off due to stress (atrophy)[8]. This can make you so forgetful and find it difficult to think under prolonged stress.
Treating chronic stress
So plenty of reason to do something about stress if you suffer from it, and hypnosis can certainly make a significant contribution to that.
To resolve long-term stress, cognitive behavioral therapy combined with hypnosis is recommended[9].
In fact, beliefs that cause you to find it difficult to set boundaries (something that is often a problem when you have chronic stress) can be more easily changed with hypnosis included.
This enables you to set your boundaries more quickly and better address the source of chronic stress.
Hypnosis techniques against stress
There are a variety of techniques that a hypnotherapist can use to reduce your stress.
Regression for the cause
Stress is a reaction to situations and your feelings about them. This feeling is caused by certain `judgments' you have about how something ´should´ be. Beliefs you have determine those judgments and `how things should be' feelings.
If you are getting stressed by work, or your partner, something is not going the way it ´should´ be, or you are having trouble living up to how it ´should´ be.
But those thoughts or beliefs, how logical are they really?
This can be assessed using the regression technique . A therapist then suggests returning to the very first moment in a person’s life when a particular stressful feeling arose.
This is often when a belief that is now causing stress was created.
The client then looks at that situation with the therapist. What happened at the time? Who were there? What was the context?
Sometimes, simply looking back on that moment with the knowledge you have as an adult is enough to eliminate limiting beliefs that cause stress.
In other cases, an additional technique may be needed to remove the impeding belief.
Such as engaging in a conversation with your inner child. Many limiting beliefs, in fact, originate in childhood.
Sometimes it's helpful to have a conversation in your mind with people who were there, now to empathize with their situation and how they saw it all.
And sometimes the very thing you need is to make it clear to your subconscious that that situation is over. That it is no longer necessary to use certain coping mechanisms because the "danger" is long gone.
All this helps to remove and even repair a limiting belief to one that makes you less stressed[10].
Safe anchor for stressful situations
Do you simply lead a busy life full of stressful situations? If so, an “anchor” of feelings of safety can also help you cope with them better[11].
Relaxation plays an important role during hypnotherapy. This is often achieved through visualization of a safe place. You are then given the suggestion to imagine a pleasant place and to feel completely at ease there.
To enjoy the sun, grass, sand or whatever you feel in that place.
This feeling can then be linked to a particular small movement with an NLP anchor. For example, by briefly touching your wrist or placing your hand on your thigh.
Then you can use that movement in a stressful situation to generate the calm safe feeling, which keeps you from being completely consumed by the situation. Instead, you can stay calm and make better decisions as a result.
Boosting self-confidence
Uncertainty often plays a role in stress as well. Questioning whether you are good enough, or have the qualities needed to resolve the stress can create more stress.
That is why building a person’s self-confidence is also very important in hypnotherapy. This is something that often helps reduce stress as well, especially when combined with improving self-compassion[12].
This can be done, for example, by shifting the focus from the problem to the internal resources a person has. Such as experiences the person has already endured in life and problems that have been overcome before.
Self-hypnosis can even play a role in this[13].
Finally, you've also survived all the days up to and including today. How cool is that!
In hypnosis, for example, you can recall memories of how you have dealt with stressful situations before.
Or list everything you can already do.
Calming visualization
The calming visualization also aims to soothe your nervous system[14]. This is especially important when a client with chronic stress visits a therapist—not only to deepen the hypnosis but also to relieve the stress present in the nervous system at that moment.
This can be combined with progressive muscle relaxation.
Such visualization, especially if guided, can also be used with self-hypnosis. A therapist can then also provide an mp3 recording (audio recording) with the client so they can listen to it regularly at home for a self-hypnosis session to reduce stress.
Self-hypnosis
So you can take away self-hypnosis as homework against stress, but for good reason. Research on family caregivers[15] and other research on people in management positions[16] shows that self-hypnosis helps against stress.
The survey of male executives found that it helped against stress, to fall asleep earlier and to refresh themselves mentally.
There are a variety of self-hypnosis techniques, such as relaxing with breathing, visualizations and repeating suggestions, such as:
"I can do anything."
"I'm good enough."
"I get to choose for myself."
"I get to ask for help."
These are just examples. Depending on the causes of stress and beliefs a person has, a hypnotherapist may bring different suggestions.
This is also practiced first, before someone performs it independently at home so that it is effective.
Learn Hypnosis
Do you want to help yourself or others deal with stress? Then knowledge of hypnosis is indispensable. It is not only good if you want to become a hypnotherapist. It can also support your psychology practice and make your coaching even more efficient.
Come check out the free masterclass to get started.
Request the mp3 for an introduction to self-hypnosis.
Or register directly for one of our events or trainings.
Click here for our training courses.
Do you have a question about our training programs? Schedule a one-on-one consultation here.
Pin also this handy inforgaphic as a reminder:
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