Are you suffering from General Anxiety, Social anxiety, Health anxiety? What do they mean and how can you help yourself?
Anxiety and anxiety related issues are the most common reasons that people come to see me for and it is an area in which Hypnotherapy is very effective.
Most people have suffered from anxiety, perhaps when we have a job interview or a special event, that we want to go well. Maybe there are worries about work or your relationships. As we worry, overthink and build up more and more negative thoughts, this builds up and causes anxiety.
Of course anxiety is important as it helps you to assess situations, way up risks and make choices that are right for you. However, if you find that you feel anxious a lot of the time and it is effecting your everyday life then it is time to get some help. Getting support and making changes to help yourself is an important step.
General Anxiety
You may find yourself worrying about all sorts of things and situations, or you may feel anxious even when there seems nothing to worry about. There are many symptoms but the most pervading one is a sense of fear and being unable to help yourself. This constant state of fear, triggers the stress response and keeps you on a constant hyper alert. However, there are actions you can take and skills to learn which can help!
Social Anxiety
You can feel anxious about how people see you and fear being judged in a negative way. The most common social phobias, are fear of public speaking, being in a large group and eating in public. In all of these situations, there is a negative focus and often rumination, which build up and trigger the stress response. However, there are actions you can take and skills to learn which can help!
Health Anxiety
Health anxiety is very common. You can constantly find yourself worrying about your health and can convince yourself that something is seriously wrong, often resulting in needing reassurance from other people. Hypnotherapy can help you to change your perspective, teach tools and techniques to lower your stress levels and focus your mind on the positive aspects of your life. Hypnotherapy is not a cure but can provide support and helpful tools to help you live with and manage health anxiety better. Please see the link to the article at the end of this blog for more information.
How can you help yourself with anxiety?
Recognising that your anxiety is effecting your day-to-day life and deciding to get support is the first important step. There are many actions you can take to calm your self down and up your self-care, which can make a difference.
- Start with using a Breathing Technique on a regualr basis, to calm down the stress response and calm your mind. Please see this link https://thewellbeingthesis.org.uk/foundations-for-success/stress/711-breathing/ for a you tube animation on how to do the 7/11 breathing technique and information on the stress response.
- The importance of Exercise - this is a good way of getting rid of tensio and reducing the stress hormones of adrenaline and cortisol, which make you feel calmer.
- Making time to do things you enjoy - when you do an acitivity (yoga or sport), or a hobby (painting, knitting etc), it allows the mind to go into a state where it can process events and emotions. It also gives us the hormone of seratonin, which raises mood and makes us feel better able to cope.
How Hypnotherapy can help you with anxiety
Hypnosis is effective in reducing stress levels and the sessions teach you skills and tools you can use yourself to lower stress levels, helping you to regain control.
When you are anxious you can get stuck in negative patterns of thinking, which raises stress levels and keeps this negative spiral occuring. Hypnotherapy can help you break this cycle, lower stress levels and get you focusing in on the postives. Over a number of sessions, with the support of the therapist and the use of a hypnosis mp3, you can learn to change the way your mind works, feel more positive and gain back control.
Hypnotherapy reduces your anxiety, calms the mind of negative thoughts to get the ‘real you’ back. Clients also often report improvements in their sleep, confidence and self-esteem.
An excellent book to read is, How to master anxiety, by Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrell.
Please also see this article for more information on anxiety, https://www.hypnotherapy-directory.org.uk/articles/anxiety.html#whatisanxiety