Hypnotherapy for stress

by | Jul 20, 2026 | hypnotherapy, stress

hypnotherapy for stress

When considering  hypnotherapy for stress most people have a few things they want to know before they move forward. Typically, these include:

But ultimately most people want to know; does it work?

Hypnotherapy for stress – Does it work?

Hypnotherapy is demonstrably effective for treating stress.  A 2017 review of existing studies into hypnotherapy for stress found that most people showed improvements although it concluded that more research was needed (Fisch, Brinkhaus, Teut). Since then, numerous studies have been conducted. These have covered a wide range of specific populations and types of hypnotherapy, including:

  • Integrating hypnotherapy with mindfulness, which was found to be effective at reducing stress (Olendzki Elkins, Slonena, Hung & Rhodes 2020).
  • Hypnotherapy was found to be helpful at reducing stress in a wide variety of clinical patient groups. This included people with; mental health disorders (Ruswadi, Wennie, Susiani & Masliha2025), HIV ( Setyadi, & Yunita 2018), pregnant women (Kundarti, Pramono and Suwondo 2021), during post operative recovery (Vahedi Ardakani, Kooshki, Oraki,& Kazemi, 2024) and people with multiple sclerosis, both individually (Namarpour Naghani, Dnesh, Asadi Khansari, Fathi, & Mohammadyfar, 2019) and when delivered to groups (Habibi, Naderi, Bakhtiarpour & Seraj 2024).
  • For Academic environments. Hypnotherapy has been particularly well demonstrated to be beneficial at reducing student stress (Arfandita & Busmayaril 2025) but has also been seen to help the teachers with their stress (Wagh’s 2024).
  • Rangka, Refnadi, Bariyyah, Churnia, Zola, Erwinda, et al (2018), who found hypnotherapy to have an immediate effect on stress levels in study participants.

Overall, it can bee seen that the beneficial effects of hypnotherapy in reducing stress are consistent over varied settings and for different reasons. But what would a hypnotherapist actually do?

How does a hypnotherapist treat stress?

There are many approaches that a hypnotherapist may adopt to help someone who has stress or stress related symptoms. Typically, they would choose the approaches which best suit the presentation of the problem and work for the patient’s outlook on life.

Approaches will often blend hypnotherapy with both psychotherapy and lifestyle changes. Interventions for stress are typically multifaceted with strategies and techniques being layered upon each other to build a swift change which can be maintained over time.

This is likely to include:

  • Relaxation work – Both guided relaxation and meditation exercises to give the body a chance to recover.
  • lifestyle changes – To give the body and mind more of what helps to counteract the effects of stress, like exercise, music and time outside.
  • Reconstructing the psychological frame works which engenders stress – Through discussion the hypnotherapist will look to identify the patterns and beliefs which can cause and maintain stress. Then using hypnotic techniques to help change these.
  • Addressing specific symptoms – Where specific symptoms like functional gastrointestinal disorders, flared up skin conditions, and tension headaches are present hypnotic techniques can be used to help reduce these.
  • Supplying tools for the maintenance of lower stress living – This can be self-hypnosis exercises, including such things as; relaxation exercises, favourite place and mental organisation exercises.

Hypnotherapy for stress – How many sessions will I need?

This can vary enormously for stress. As a starting point I would usually advise thinking in terms of six sessions and then see where we are at.

If there is a specific symptom present this may require several sessions to manage in itself.

Taking the first step

If you want to take charge of your stress or stress related symptoms why not take the first step and get in touch to book a free consultation. Sessions can be in-person or online.

Matt is a hypnotherapist with over 25 years experience working both online and in-person at his Birmingham (UK) office. He is a doctor of health science whose Doctoral work was into IBS, a condition with a substantial stress element, which is where his deeper interest in stress began.
References

Arfandita, C. A., & Busmayaril, B. (2025). The Effectiveness of Guidance and Counselling Services through Hypnotherapy in Overcoming Student Academic Stress: A Systematic Literature Review. Electronic Journal of Education, Social Economics and Technology, 6(1), 501-517.

Fisch S, Brinkhaus B, Teut M. Hypnosis in patients with perceived stress – a systematic review. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2017 Jun 19;17(1):323. doi: 10.1186/s12906-017-1806-0. PMID: 28629342; PMCID: PMC5477290.

Habibi, K. E., Naderi, F., Bakhtiarpour, S., & Seraj, K. N. (2024). Effectiveness of Group Hypnotherapy on Stress and Metacognitive Beliefs in Individuals with Multiple Sclerosis.

Namarpour Naghani, Y., Dnesh, E., Asadi Khansari, B., Fathi, M., & Mohammadyfar, M. A. (2019). The effectiveness of cognitive hypnotherapy on reduction of perceived stress of patients with multiple sclerosis. Journal of Psychological Science, 18(80), 957-970.

Olendzki, N., Elkins, G. R., Slonena, E., Hung, J., & Rhodes, J. R. (2020). Mindful hypnotherapy to reduce stress and increase mindfulness: A randomized controlled pilot study. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 68(2), 151-166.

Rangka, I. B., Refnadi, R., Bariyyah, K., Churnia, E., Zola, N., Erwinda, L., Fadli, R. P., Ifdil, I., & Alizamar, A. (2018). The Effectiveness of Hypnotherapy in Reducing Stress Levels. Addictive Disorders & Their Treatment, 17(4), 191–195. https://doi.org/10.1097/ADT.0000000000000140

Ruswadi, I., Wennie, J., Susiani, A., & Masliha, M. (2025). The effectiveness of hypnotherapy in reducing stress among individuals with mental health disorders: A quasi-experimental study with a control group. Jurnal Berita Ilmu Keperawatan, 18(2), 161-172.

Setyadi, A. W., & Yunita, A. (2018, September). The Effect of Hypnotherapy to the Changes of Stress Level to Odha (person who has been diagnosed HIV/AIDS) in the KDS Friendship Plus Kediri. In The 2nd Joint International Conferences (Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 11-18).

Vahedi Ardakani, S. H., Kooshki, S., Oraki, M., & Kazemi, A. (2024). The Impact of Hypnotherapy on Wound Healing and Perceived Stress in Patients Suffering from Abdominal Surgery. Journal of Applied Psychological Research, 14(4), 167-184.

Wagh, P. D. (2024). Effect of Hypnotherapy on the Occupational Stress Among Teachers. Educational Administration: Theory and Practice, 30(8), 869-878.