Hypnotherapy for Stress and Anxiety in Edinburgh

Hypnotherapy in Edinburgh for Stress & Anxiety in More Detail:

Brief Definition of Stress:

Stress comes from situations where we feel anxious, frustrated or angry. It’s caused by stressors in the here and now. Maybe pressure at work or unrealistic expectations from loved ones, debt and health too can be incredibly stressful.

Brief Definition of Anxiety:

Anxiety tends to be caused by unknown future possibilities, apprehension, fear. It can come with long-term stress and when we feel threatened. Anxiety can arrive and we may have no idea what we’re anxious about.

How does stress & anxiety play out?:

Stress and anxiety can heavily colour our lives and how our day to day living pans out. It can be incredibly debilitating. Panic attacks are an awful addition to an already difficult situation and those who have never had one can sometimes struggle to understand just how scary they can be. One of the problems is that once you have one, you’re worried about having another - which increases the likelihood of that happening, and the cycle goes around. These issues can encourage us to go down the path of avoidance. Avoid the things that are stressing us out, avoid the triggers for our anxiety and avoid the things that trigger panic attacks.

Stress and anxiety can affect our whole self. They affect our emotions, our physical health and our behaviour and they drain our mental health. The signs and symptoms of anxiety and stress can be very similar and they both come with worry and a wonder if they can ever be treated because they are both so all encompassing of how we see ourselves, our feelings about ourselves and how we see the situation we’re in. They can change the state of our nervous system and it can be a struggle to get our nervous system back to a stable base line.

Hypnotherapy and stress & anxiety:

As a hypnotherapist in Edinburgh I’ve seen increasing clients with stress and anxiety and the causes have been widely different but no less serious in how they feel and their physical symptoms. I personally believe that hypnotherapy for stress and anxiety is remarkably effective, especially if we can do thorough groundwork to try and find where the stress is coming from and what worries or fears may be fuelling the anxiety. Hypnotherapy is also very effective at helping to break the panic attack cycle and triggers for the attacks and anxiety.

Admittedly one of the great helpers is the way hypnosis is conducted, it’s very nature being to ease someone into a deep state of relaxation and that in itself can help to give the body and nervous system a bit of a break from constantly being wound up, tight and on high alert.

So how does hypnotherapy help with stress & anxiety?:

For treating anxiety, we look at what may be causing it. What are you afraid might happen? What are you apprehensive about? Has anything like that happened before? usually with anxiety it’s our mind and body feeling as though we are in a situation we need to either run from or fight in, that’s what causes the sensations of anxiety - our mind and body are physically preparing our self to run away from danger or to fight, so we’re flooded with adrenaline to give us the burst of energy to do either of those things. One way we can break this response is through suggestions in hypnosis to remind the subconscious that the situation we’re in now is very different to the situations we were in before, we are now safe and secure and aren’t under threat. This helps to reprogram the mind to see that the situation we’re anxious of doesn’t need the response we’re giving it.

Hypnotherapy for stress tends to involve a bit of a CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) approach, to help rationalise the stressful situations where possible, to help see them from a different perspective where possible. There may be good reason to make changes in your life to remove the stress, and this can come with anxiety that we can work with. Usually for stress there is a trigger, it may be public speaking, socialising or going to the dentist. We can work to soothe these triggers and to show the subconscious in these situations we’re safe and can relax and we can introduce suggestions for the mind and body to relax in certain ways with certain triggers.

For both stress and anxiety, working on self esteem and confidence alongside the ways above is immensely beneficial and kind of turbo-boosts the other work we do. It’s really great stuff.

Okay, let’s get started

Get in touch: book a free phone consultation in my calendar below, message me on WhatsApp or fill out the contact form. We can start in person in Edinburgh or online with an hour session where I gather information about what’s going on for you in a really informal way or we can do a ninety minute session which is the hour of talking everything through plus hypnosis. Your choice.

I look forward to hearing from you.