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All people experience anxiety in one way or another at some point in their lives. It makes them uneasy and instills a certain fear in them, often during a difficult or tense situation. Anxiety is one of the most common mental illnesses in the United States, and it affects roughly 40 million men and women every year.
Sadly, this number doesnt seem to decrease any sooner, which is why its highly important to do something to fix it. You may have tried everything in your power but to no avail. However, theres something that may help: hypnosis. Today, well discuss the benefits and effects of using hypnosis as a treatment for anxiety.
After reading the word ‘hypnosis,’ you’re possibly having second thoughts about reading this article. Let us assure you that it’s a well-researched method for treating anxiety, stress, sleep, weight loss, OCD, ADHD, and other conditions. So, lets dive in.
Hypnosis doesnt involve putting people into a trance with a swinging object and controlling them through your voice. That only happens in the movies. Using hypnosis for anxiety allows the client to relax and focus on positive things. Its a sleep-like state, but youre focused and open to positive suggestions.
Hypnosis allows you to stay connected to your subconscious mind, which contains all of our behavioral traits and characteristics. Its also the center of your psychological issues, so you can focus more on them.
Clients with anxiety can be hypnotized for several purposes, such as resurfacing repressed memories and reprogramming the brain to put away anxious thoughts and behavior.
A therapist guides you through the entire process and puts you at ease. They wont control your mind or make you do anything you dont want to, so theres no cause for alarm.
Hypnosis is considered an alternative treatment to medicine and other methods, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy or exposure therapy. Research suggests that it has been quite effective in treating anxiety in people. Moreover, it can also be used in tandem with the methods mentioned above.
You might have heard the terms ‘hypnosis’ and ‘hypnotherapy’ used interchangeably. While they may seem like the same things, they’re not. There is a slight difference between the two.
When a hypnotist brings you to a trance-like state, its called hypnosis. In this state, youre relaxed and focused, and the therapist offers positive suggestions to you. On the contrary, hypnotherapy involves reaching a trance-like state to change a person’s behavior. These changes may include getting rid of bad habits, losing weight, treating OCD and ADHD, or reducing anxiety.
Hypnosis refers to a trance-like state of mind, whereas hypnotherapy is using hypnosis for therapeutic purposes. For this blog, we’ll use the word ‘hypnosis.’ However, there are also hypnotherapy cases for anxiety, so we can’t simply disregard that concept.
Traditionally, hypnosis wasn’t a widely used or recognized treatment for treating anxiety. Yet, scientists are coming around to its effectiveness and impact on anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression.
Researchers also monitored the brain activity of some clients during their hypnosis sessions. They reported that during hypnosis, the patients became more attentive and less self-conscious. Moreover, they seemed to have greater control over themselves and their emotions.
When clients are in a hypnotic state, theyre more relaxed and open to discussion and sharing. It allows them to work through all the problems that occur as a consequence of anxiety. These include phobias, sleep disorders, stress, grief, pain control, and many others.
Here are some notable benefits of using hypnosis to treat clients with anxiety:
People with anxiety know how unsettling it can be and how it fills you with fear. Now you don’t have to undergo those terrible experiences because hypnosis is proving to be effective. Moreover, hypnosis also brings about a significant reduction in anxiety and similar troubling feelings that people have.
Typically, there is no treatment for anxiety except for administering several medications to the patient. However, these medicines are known to be quite strong and can induce many side effects. Also, these medicines dont cure the problem but alleviate it temporarily.
On the other hand, hypnosis is a non-invasive procedure that has no side effects at all. Plus, it has a lasting effect on your mind, so you don’t have to regularly keep going to the hypnotist. In some cases, a couple of sessions may be advised.
One of the best benefits of hypnosis is that it soothes your mind and calms you down, alleviating your stress and fear. Its very important for the client undergoing hypnosis for anxiety to be in a relaxed state of mind. They also need to have relaxed breathing and a normal pulse. Even if you are worked up due to your anxiety, the hypnotist helps calm you down as you enter into the hypnotic state.
One of the most common problems with anxiety clients is that they tend to develop negative thoughts with time, and it becomes a part of them. Theyre prone to bouts of anxiety and become defensive. It also becomes difficult for them to connect with people. Through hypnosis, these negative feelings can be curbed.
During the session, your mind is more open to suggestions, and that’s when the hypnotist or therapist relays positive thoughts to you. This can also be called rewiring your brain, as youre guided away from negative thoughts and steered towards positivity.
Often, anxiety and stress lead to several other physical and mental conditions, such as depression, insomnia, migraine, nausea, headache, and many others. You dont have to seek any treatment for these problems if youre already undergoing hypnosis for anxiety.
This is why people are opening up to the idea of using hypnosis for weight loss and some other treatments. Through hypnosis, therapists target the specific problem, address it, and then nip it in the bud. This leads to a change in mindset for you, which results in the alleviation of your co-occurring conditions.
Before performing a hypnosis session, the therapist talks to the client in an intake and finds out all about their mental health conditions. This information is later used to help the client focus on the issues that need to be resolved.
The session involves the therapist or hypnotist guiding the patient to a relaxed state, enough to keep them alert at the same time. Then, the therapist turns their focus towards the issues theyre facing. This is also accompanied by positive reinforcement and encouragement, such as asking them to relax, breathe, and let out the stress.
After giving the client positive affirmations, the hypnotist slowly brings the client back to their original state. Next, they discuss the experience and also observe any changes that the person may have experienced. This session can last anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour and a half.
Once you discuss your problems with the hypnotist in detail, they will be able to offer positive suggestions to you in your post-hypnotic state. For instance, if you have a certain fear or phobia, they can suggest to you how you can do it without fear. Since youre in a relaxed state of mind, you dont experience anxiety-related symptoms, such as increased heart rate, nervous stomach, shortness of breath, etc.
Another method used by therapists, which is called hypno-projectives. This involves reliving past moments of your life in which you felt the most anxious and uncomfortable. The difference is that you visualize the scene the way you want to see it. Then, you can imagine a similar future scenario, minus the anxiety and mental issues.
There has been a lot of research on whether hypnosis for anxiety is effective, and the results have been quite promising. Hypnosis becomes even more effective if you combine it with other alternative treatments, such as acupuncture, crystal bed therapy, or Ajna Light therapy.
A 2008 study also researched the use of hypnosis to treat anxiety due to surgical procedures, such as bypass surgery, gastric surgery, etc. It was said that patients who were about to undergo these procedures felt more at ease once they were subjected to hypnosis. Other than this, hypnosis was also successfully used to reduce anxiety in post-menopausal women.
In another study, hypnosis was used to treat anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder in pregnant women. They were given a session right before giving birth, and they reported experiencing positive feelings and thoughts during the delivery. Finally, a recent study tells us that people who have tried hypnosis to treat anxiety have noticed an 84% decrease in their symptoms.
All these positive studies say a lot about hypnosis as an effective and pain-free procedure to treat patients’ anxiety. It’s natural to be apprehensive or skeptical, however, there are no side effects or discomfort associated with hypnosis. So yes, it’s an effective method to cure anxiety.
While we may have used the words ‘hypnotist’ and ‘therapist’ interchangeably throughout the blog, they’re quite different from each other. If you’re already seeing a therapist for your anxiety treatment, the chances are that they’re untrained in hypnosis or hypnotherapy. This means you will have to search for an experienced, certified hypnotherapist that can help treat your anxiety once and for all.
So, how do you find the right hypnotist? Rapport is important. Therefore, it’s always best to do your research and opt for a certified hypnotherapist with experience in treating anxiety. It’s also advisable that you check their credentials through the national certifying bodies.
One way is to search for hypnotists near you on Google. You can put your area or city in the search terms to get better results. For instance, you can search for “Hypnosis in Sudbury, Massachusetts or Hypnotherapy in Sudbury, Massachusetts if you live here. Otherwise, simply replace the name of the city and state with your location.
You can also put your mind at ease to check for the hypnotist’s reviews or testimonials on their website or social media. This will help you gather as much information you need to ensure that the person is not only qualified but can also be trusted.
Ideally, you can also ask around in your circle if anyone knows a trusted hypnotist. However, it’s understandable if you don’t want to do this since you might not be comfortable disclosing your condition to other people.
Anxiety is a troublesome and burdening mental health condition that can take away a lot from you, such as your social connections, favorite experiences, peace, and confidence. But if you’re determined to break free of your chains, there’s no better way to get yourself treated than by hypnosis. Not only is it safe and painless, but it also makes you a better person with positive thoughts. Don’t hesitate to reach out for help since the road to restoration starts from here.
