by Charlotte Jane Grimaldi Phillips Dip.Hyp NLP Pract. HPD
Anxiety disorders affect millions worldwide, impacting daily life and overall well-being. Fortunately, innovative approaches like hypnotherapy and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) offer powerful tools to manage and overcome anxiety. Drawing on the expertise of renowned professionals like Dr. Tara Swart, Adam Eason, and Milton Erickson, we’ll explore how these techniques work and their scientific basis.
Understanding Anxiety and the Mind-Body Connection. Anxiety is more than just worry; it’s a complex interplay of thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations. Dr. Tara Swart, a neuroscientist and executive coach, emphasises the importance of understanding the brain’s role in anxiety. The amygdala, our brain’s fear centre, can become overactive in anxiety disorders, leading to a constant state of hypervigilance.
The Science Behind Hypnotherapy for Anxiety
Hypnotherapy works by accessing the subconscious mind, where many of our deep-seated beliefs and patterns reside. During a hypnotic state, the conscious mind becomes more relaxed, allowing for greater suggestibility and openness to change.
Neuroplasticity and Hypnosis
Research has shown that hypnosis can actually change brain activity. A study published in the journal Cerebral Cortex found that hypnosis altered activity in brain regions associated with attention and self-awareness. This neuroplasticity is key to rewiring anxious thought patterns.
The Role of Hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy is a state of focused attention and heightened suggestibility, like the relaxed feeling you experience just before falling asleep, it is like daydreaming. During a hypnotherapy session, I guide you into a deeply relaxed state where your mind is more open to suggestion. By working with your subconscious, we can identify and address the underlying causes of your anxiety, and or negative thought patterns.
Hypnotherapy can help you:
- Relax your body and mind: Hypnosis promotes deep relaxation, allowing your body to release tension and relax.
- Change negative thought patterns: We can help you to reprogram your thoughts to replace any negative thoughts about anxiety and anxious situations with positive, calming affirmations.
- Improve sleep hygiene to help with anxiety: Hypnotherapy can reinforce healthy sleep habits, such as establishing a regular bedtime routine.
- Identify and address underlying issues: Sometimes, stress or anxiety are symptoms of an underlying problem, such as insomnia. Hypnotherapy can help you uncover and address these issues.
Hypnotherapy can help people achieve a to manage anxiety and feel less anxious. Through suggestion to the part of the brain that creates habits. Using language which resonates with you. You are able to focus on what you desire to achieve. Your mind isn’t interrupted with the thoughts that distract or worry you. You learn that you are in control of your thoughts. You can create what it feels like to experience a peace, calm and switch off.
Worrying does not take away tomorrow’s troubles, it takes away today’s peace.
“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another”– William James.
Do you have a saying like “I’m feel anxious” or “I’m always like this”? Think about what we are saying as this won’t be true for every moment in your life. We tend to make things sound worse than they are when we are tired and had a bad experience a couple of times.
Case Study: Ellie, a 32-year-old marketing executive, had been struggling with panic attacks and generalised anxiety for years. Traditional therapy had provided some relief, but she still felt controlled by her anxiety. It had got worse and was holding her back from driving on motorways and visiting family and friends.
After six sessions of combined hypnotherapy and NLP:
- Ellie learned to use self-hypnosis to quickly induce a state of calm.
- Through NLP reframing, she began to view challenging situations as opportunities for growth rather than threats. Looking at her values and beliefs.
- Anchoring techniques allowed her to access confident states in formerly anxiety-provoking situations.
- Change her relationship with watching TV and going on social media to limit and be more mindful of the content she accessed. For example to watch more comedy TV and less drama.
Within three months, Ellie reported a 70% reduction in anxiety symptoms and had not experienced a panic attack since beginning treatment.
Practical Techniques for Anxiety Management
- Progressive Muscle Relaxation
This technique involves tensing and relaxing different muscle groups, promoting physical relaxation and mental calmness.
- Visualisation
Guided imagery can help create a mental safe space, providing a retreat from anxious thoughts.
- Thought Stopping
This NLP technique involves consciously interrupting anxious thought patterns and replacing them with more positive, empowering thoughts.
- Timeline Therapy
By mentally revisiting and reframing past events, individuals can release negative emotions associated with anxiety-provoking memories.
As our understanding of the brain and mind-body connection grows, so does the potential for hypnotherapy and NLP in treating anxiety disorders. Dr. Tara Swart’s work on neuroplasticity suggests that these techniques can create lasting changes in neural pathways, offering hope for long-term anxiety management.
Hypnotherapy and NLP offer powerful, scientifically-supported tools for managing anxiety. By harnessing the power of the subconscious mind and reprogramming our mental responses, these techniques provide a path to lasting relief from anxiety’s grip. As with any treatment approach, it’s essential to work with qualified practitioners and to integrate these methods into a comprehensive mental health plan.
Remember, the journey to overcoming anxiety is unique for each individual. With patience, practice, and the right techniques, it’s possible to transform anxiety from a debilitating force into a manageable aspect of life.
Top Ten Tips For How To Manage Anxiety
- Breathing exercises. Focus on your breathing in for the count of 4, hold for count of 4 and breath out for the count of 4.
- As you breath in say I am and on the breathing out say calm. I am calm with your hands placed on your chest and stomach, focused on saying I am calm.
- Laughing – watching or reading something funny in the evening helps release endorphins to help relax.
- Cut down on looking at social media and using mobiles at night time in bed and when you wake up.
- Retrain your brain by smiling even when you don’t feel like it as it sends signals to the brain that you are happy. The brain then releases dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, and oxytocin.
- Get a good night’s sleep.
- If you find yourself lying in bed wide away not going to sleep, worrying, after 20 minutes get up and go to another room, read or get fresh air, stretch out and go back when you are tired.
- Look at any situation and track what the anxiety trigger could be. Notice the food you eat and the thoughts you have. Change how you react to the trigger and change your food to take control.
- It is retraining your brain to notice and control your thoughts. When a negative thought catches up with you, accept it and let it go. Think of a happy place and allow these happy-place thoughts to develop.
- Use the Willingness and acceptance for the thoughts you have. Acceptance allows a shift in your perspective and your reaction towards any unpleasant experiences, thoughts or emotions.
At What Is Your Story Hypnotherapy, Charlotte Phillips is committed to helping you manage your anxiety. Through her innovative use of hypnotherapy and NLP techniques, you can embark on a journey towards taking control of your anxiety.
If you’re ready to learn to manage your anxiety and be in control, contact What Is Your Story Hypnotherapy today. Together with Charlotte Phillips, you can begin to rewrite your story to one that serves you.
Email Charlotte@whatisyourstoryhypnotherapy.co.uk ☺