Hypnotherapy to treat anxiety is where a therapist helps a client achieve deep relaxation and focused awareness that allows them to make positive changes. A certified and trained hypnotherapist can use clinical hypnosis to treat anxiety. It involves relaxing techniques, helping people reframe anxiety and situations while in hypnotic relaxation.

It is not the same thing as stage hypnosis. In this case, an entertainer invites people willing to be hypnotized in front of a crowd. The process of reaching a trance state is the same, but therapeutic hypnosis has a different purpose. It’s not meant to be performance art.

What is Hypnotherapy Anyway?

The relationship between the conscious brain and the subconscious mind is what 1 emphasizes. Sometimes, negative beliefs or counter-productive habits are “stuck” within the subconscious. This can lead to anxiety, phobias, sleep disorders, and other negative conditions like addictions.

In hypnosis, the subconscious mind can be more active and reachable. The hypnotherapist is there to help people resolve problems. With guided imagery, positive, positive hypnotic suggestions, relaxation, and other methods, unwanted behaviors or beliefs can be changed.

How Does Hypnotherapy Work For Anxiety?

A course of hypnosis therapy for anxiety would typically include an initial assessment, several hypnosis sessions, and some support and follow-up.

Preparation for the Session

Many therapists now offer pre-session training in hypnosis. This might be in the form of a written script that can be read aloud or recordings of inductions that you can listen to before the session. It can be very useful to look at hypnosis from this perspective as a skill you can learn rather than something you need to be taught.

Initial Assessment

During the initial assessment, individuals may be asked questions about their past and current symptoms and other experiences. Since this is a serious medical or mental issue, a therapist might ask about any past or ongoing treatment for you to help coordinate with other providers.

You might also want to look at the following areas before starting treatment:

Identifying What Triggers Anxiety and Panic

It is important that you pay attention to any symptoms of anxiety, whether they are physical or psychological. These include mental images or inner dialog, looping thoughts, or physical sensations.

Clarifying the client’s desired outcome. For example, feeling at ease and relaxed in situations that were previously triggering anxiety.

All this information is used to assist the therapist in creating hypnotic ideas and a plan for treatment that will support anxiety relief.

Hypnosis Sessions

The actual hypnosis sessions are next. The therapist will induce a hypnotic Trance and guide the client to a state that promotes deep relaxation and focused awareness. Along with the techniques mentioned, therapists can also employ different techniques to relieve anxiety and treat the underlying causes.

Post Hypnotic Suggestions

Hypnosis can help people be more open to positive suggestions. These suggestions are most effective when presented in the present. This is the key to posthypnotic. They are both credible and offer desirable alternatives to anxiety.

Anchoring

Anchoring is a technique to teach people how to create positive triggers in order to get better results. One will be guided into a trance where one can feel calm, safe, and at ease. Then, the person will be instructed to anchor these feelings. This could be a phrase, a specific location, or a physical gesture (e.g., pressing the thumb and forefinger together). Through mental and physical association, they are then able to achieve the desired state whenever the chosen Anchor is activated in the near future.