Hypnotherapy for Anxiety

What is Anxiety? When to get help?

1. Anxiety is a natural emotion that happens occasionally to all of us when we have an important decision to make, a stressful situation at home or at work, or a public performance or audition.
2. If constant and overwhelming, it is considered an anxiety disorder (DSM-5) . A person affected by this mental disorder will experience difficulties going through their daily life and may avoid work, relationships, and social situations.

Here is a list of anxiety disorders as described by the DSM-5

• General Anxiety Disorder
• Panic Disorder
• Social Anxiety Disorder
• Phobias
• Medication Induced Anxiety Disorder
• PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)
• Agoraphobia
• Separation Anxiety Disorder
• Selective Mutism
• Anxiety Disorder due to another medical condition

Talk with your Doctor if you feel chronically anxious, it might be a symptom of a medical condition that needs to be addressed by a licensed physician. It is essential to rule out any hormonal, infectious or psychiatric causes.

Is Hypnotherapy recommended for anxiety?

Alternative Medicines and techniques cannot replace the treatment recommended by your Doctor or Licensed Physician but they may be a great help and accelerator to the medical treatment. Hypnotherapy, Yoga, and Meditation, have all been approved by the medical community as a complementary treatment to help with excessive worry and fear.

Here is how WebMD presents the use of Hypnotherapy to help with anxiety: “Hypnotherapy — or hypnosis — is a type of nonstandard or “complementary and alternative medicine” treatment that uses guided relaxation, intense concentration, and focused attention to achieve a heightened state of awareness that is sometimes called a trance. The person’s attention is so focused while in this state that anything going on around the person is temporarily blocked out or ignored. In this naturally occurring state, a person may focus his or her attention — with the help of a trained therapist — on specific thoughts or tasks. Hypnotherapy is usually considered an aid to certain forms of psychotherapy (counseling), rather than a treatment in itself. It can sometimes help with psychotherapy because the hypnotic state allows people to explore painful thoughts, feelings, and memories they might have hidden from their conscious minds. In addition, hypnosis enables people to perceive some things differently, such as blocking an awareness of pain.”

In my practice of Hypnotherapy, I use a wide range of tools such as NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), visualization, deep relaxation, and anchors to transform a client’s relationship with stress and worry. As soon as you understand how your mind and body process information, you have the ability to deal with your emotions and life challenges in a more constructive and positive way.