With a lot of stress and pressure around in our daily lives, some amount of anxiety is something that is quite common now. However, this can become intrusive and hindering for some people and may even go out of control. These people are often diagnosed with the disorder called anxiety.
Anxiety is becoming a big challenge for Indians. As per an article in Times of India ‘One of every four Indians affected by anxiety disorders, 10% are depressed’ . According to this article, about 25% of the Indian population is facing anxiety in such manner that it is affecting and stopping them live their day to day life normally. One of the key reasons of increased anxiety is the increased stress and modern lifestyle.
What is anxiety disorder?
Anxiety disorders are basically a group of mental disorders which have strong feelings of nervousness, anxiety and fear causing many physical symptoms including increased heart beat, sweating, shakiness, etc. There are many types of anxiety disorders including panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, phobic disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Social anxiety disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
Using Hypnotherapy to treat anxiety
While there are many treatments available for anxiety, most of them involve you popping up numerous pills to keep you going in your daily life. Often that may not be the best solution, especially if you have to carry on with those medicine all life long. Most often, the patients are given medicines to manage anxiety in day to day life but the challenge that the patients face is of getting off those medicines, which usually doesn’t happen and the patient is often dependent on them forever.
This is because the medicines only deal with the symptoms of anxiety and does not work with the cause. These medicines also have very strong side effects and thus continuing with them for long may not be the best idea.
So what can one do? Experts suggest that while one goes on medication for anxiety in the early stages, it is advised to take other therapy treatments to go to the cause of the anxiety and kill it from the source. There are various types of options available for a patient ranging for cognitive therapy, behavioural therapy, psychoanalytic therapy, etc.
However, hypnotherapy is emerging as one of the most effective tool for therapy in dealing with anxiety as it works with the sub conscious mind and thus goes directly to the real cause of anxiety and heals that, which in turn changes the symptoms of anxiety too. But before we go deep in understanding what tools can be used in hypnotherapy to heal anxiety disorders.
What is Hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy is basically a science of mind and so it it is very scientific and not mystic, unlike the popular belief. It is basically a form of psychotherapy, which uses the power of the sub-conscious mind to go to the source of problems, challenges and issues and find a solution to them. It also accesses the inner strength of an individual through the subconscious mind, which can really accelerate healing in the physical body. This is where its role in the medical domain comes into play.
Tools in Hypnotherapy to heal anxiety
There are various tools that a hypnotherapist can use to help a client deal with the issue of anxiety. Some of the key tools are mentioned here.
a. Desensitization
This is one of the popular tools that hypnotherapists can use especially for dealing with anxiety and fears. In this procedure, a hypnotherapists relaxes the client so they are in their sub conscious state and then using this technique, the sensitivity of the client to anxiety is brought down gradually.
In this process, the client first gives a score given to the level of anxiety he or she is experiencing at present. Then after discussion with the therapist, the client decides to what level does he or she wants to bring it down to. The therapist then at the sub conscious level, using the right methodology, brings that score down for the client gradually desensitizing them to that anxiety or fear. This decreases the clients response to anxiety and it brings down the occurrence of physical symptoms. Depending upon the clients condition, this process may be required to be done one or two times.
b. Uncovering the real cause behind anxiety
Once the anxiety is desensitized, the client is in a more open state to explore the reason of the anxiety. So, in further sessions a hypnotherapist can help the client access his or her sub conscious mind go to the first time he felt the anxiety set in and explore the real reasons behind it. Once the real reasons are uncovered, the therapist can then help the client absorb the situation effectively and see all aspects of it, leaving no room for it affecting the client in future.
c. Deep relaxation techniques
Further deep relaxation techniques like breathing techniques, progressive relaxation, self hypnosis, etc. can be given by the hypnotherapist to the client so that he or she can keep himself relaxed in stressed situation.
d. Using anchors and triggers
Anchors and triggers work very effectively in dealing with anxiety. In this process, the hypnotherapists (with the client’s permission) associates a small physical action like snapping a finger, or joining thumb and finger, etc. with a deep relaxed state. Once this association is established, the client can activate that anchor (the given physical action) to trigger the relaxed feeling anytime he or she wants.
e. Using Affirmations
Using positive suggestions at the deep sub conscious state of mind of the client is another way to help them manage and heal the anxiety.
A combination of the above mentioned tools can be used by the hypnotherapist to help you heal your anxiety from the source and lead a more effective and productive life. Once the real cause of the anxiety is removed, there will be no need to depend on the medicines. However, it is advised to continue the required medical treatment alongside hypnotherapy till, this therapy completely heals it from the source.