We have a lot to be anxious about at the moment, with the cost of living crisis, war in Ukraine, climate change, increasing political division, and all – but why do some people suffer more anxiety than others? And can hypnotherapy help treat general anxiety?
Firstly, let’s dispel the myth that some people don’t get anxiety. Everybody worries. Everybody has something in their life that concerns them, that causes worry or stress. A certain degree of worry or concern is absolutely normal – it’s a rare man or woman who sails through life with never a care. While we may be very aware of what we are feeling and worrying about, we cannot really know what everybody else is feeling. Some people just don’t talk about it.
However, that being said, it is accepted that some people are more prone to intense worrying – are more emotionally sensitive and tend to react more strongly to events, real or imagined – than others. This is often the result of a trauma in earlier life – perhaps as a child something happened that has resulted in heightened awareness and a tendency to assume things will definitely go wrong. Our brain chemistry can actually change after a traumatic experience, leaving us wired to avoid any similar situations at all costs – the fight or flight response we all have quite naturally is enhanced to the point where it’s not actually helpful, anymore.
Some psychologists believe that there are some of us who are born predisposed to worry more than others. Studies that have tracked children from birth right through to adulthood have seemed to show that babies who have strong reactions to new situations tend to grow up to be more anxious as adults. Fascinatingly, although the babies being followed had different upbringings and different challenges in life, the study showed that those who were most reactive as babies had a higher propensity to worry more as adults than the less reactive babies. Unless your parents have really excellent memories, and watched your reactions and compared them to the reactions of other babies to the same stimuli, this one will be hard to prove for any individual, of course.
For others, increased levels of anxiety can be the result of a prolonged period of stress. When we experience a stressful event, our body releases a hormone called cortisol. This can be helpful, as it provides a boost of energy and focus. However, a long period of stress with an ongoing production of cortisol can be unhelpful, some scientists say, as it can lead to a poorly regulated stress response that can result in the onset of ongoing general anxiety. Perhaps you have spent your winter worrying about paying the fuel bills. Were it just one fuel bill, you would most likely have a burst of stress, work out a solution and move on. A whole winter of stress, and uncertainty about what will happen next and the associated overload of cortisol can result in a stress response to every single, even very little, worry that raises its head. Suddenly you’re dealing with general anxiety about absolutely everything, and no idea how to address it.
In short, yes, hypnotherapy can successfully treat general anxiety.
Every individual is different, and as such every treatment solution is different. At the heart of it all, however, sits support in helping you take control of negative thoughts, helping you stop yourself from catastrophising and living with the constant need to plan for ‘WHEN something goes wrong’ to moving to a more relaxing approach of ‘crossing that bridge IF something goes wrong.’
I will help you learn how to calm yourself when you start to feel overwhelmed, to find perspective and power and self-belief.
I use a mix of treatments, including BrainWorking Recursive Therapy, NLP and Tapping to give you control over your anxiety, whatever has triggered it.
If you want to learn a little more, I offer a free 20 minute consultation where I can learn about you and what you’re living with, and let you know how I can help.
Call me on 0161 374 0227 or, if you prefer, email me at sally@mindsolutions.co.uk
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