Anxiety is a normal emotion which usually occurs in response to a predicted future threat or negative event. Typically, people in an anxious state may describe themselves as worried, apprehensive or uneasy. When anxious people may find that they experience;
Symptoms of anxiety
- Persisitent worry.
- Impaired concentration.
- Irritability.
- Restlessness.
- Tiredness.
- Sleep disturbance.
- Physical symptoms like muscular pains, digestive problems, skin conditions and panic..
Anxiety exists to tell us that we have noticed something about the future that we need to make a special effort to address, and when we are able to treat it this way we tend to just experience concern. However, for a number of reasons we sometimes experience this response to a level which actually prevents us from being able to address the future problem. some reasons for this might be ;
- We have past experience of bad failure at the future problem.
- We have cannot see a way in which we can deal with the future problem.
- The future problem involves a specific trigger for us.
- We have lost confidence of our ability to cope, often due to long term stress and burnout.
- We have an exaggerated idea of the consequences of not addressing the future problem well.
- We are overwhelmed in our lives by work, family etc and cannot find time to address the future problem.
- Catastrophic ‘what if?’ thinking, which leads us to predict worst case scenarios.
When is anxiety a problem?
The simple answer is …when you feel that it is? Although there are strict definitions of specific anxiety conditions, these are primarily for use in scientific research and for medical diagnosis. If you feel you are overly anxious then you are suffering with anxiety. That being said, there are some specific presentations which you may find it helpful to be aware of.
Anxiety can present in many specific form such as
- Phobias – a ‘Flight-flight’ response produced by a specific object or situation, which results in avoidance of the trigger situation or object.
- Generalised Anxiety disorder (GAD) – a condition where excessive worry is experienced most days for over six months
- Panic disorder – a condition in which the sufferer experiences something like a phobia for elements within their own body. This could be noticing that they are; breathing hard, have a raised heart rate, are sweating, are light headedness or disorientation or any number of other reactions. Having noticed a change in their body their ‘Fight-flight response’ is triggered, which heightens these, resulting in further tension, which set up an escalation of symptoms, often ending in panic. Typically sufferers develop a pattern of avoidance of situations associated which heightened bodily response (such as exercise) and any situation where panic has previously occurred.
Hypnotherapy
Just as there are many presentations of anxiety there are many hypnotheraputic approaches to treating anxiety. A good hypnotherapist will listen to your personal experience of anxiety and bring together a set of techniques, approaches and tool designed to help you personally. However, there are certain approaches which are more common than others, these include;
- Systematic desensitisation for anxiety provoking situations
- EMDR for anxiety triggers or past trauma which set up triggers
- Parts therapy to help understand the anxiety
- Various NLP techniques to help re-write the anxiety
- Hypnotically enhanced mindful approaches to help reduce anticipation
For more on hypnotherapy for anxiety
Dr Matt Krouwel PhD, BSCH, NCH
If you would like to book a free consultation with me for in-person or online therapy for anxiety, please contact me on 0778 909 7741 or email mattkrouwel@gmail.com