The Secondary Benefits of Anxiety Hypnosis
When you witness the effects and symptoms of living with anxiety from a therapeutic perspective, as I do in my practice, you can clearly see the full spectrum of its impact.
The primary symptoms of anxiety are known to us all and therefore relatively easy to self-diagnose – persistent worry, sense of unease, constant negative thought etc. (The full array of the different manifestations of anxiety are well-documented elsewhere and are well-known to those it effects.) Some of the symptoms are less known to the sufferer but clearly apparent to those around them because they are to do with their outward behaviour – irritability, facial clues, erratic decision-making, seemingly illogical behaviour etc.
When a client comes to me for help with anxiety the first signs of improvement will be in the overt symptoms of which they are already well aware, but what happens next, and continues to develop, offers an interesting insight into what anxiety really does to those it effects.
When evaluating our progress after just one or two sessions it is very typical for clients to begin to report profound and unexpected positive change in a variety of seemingly unrelated areas. For instance, a client who had not reported, complained of or even mentioned chronic back pain might state that their back is feeling much looser and free from discomfort since they have reduced their anxiety. Less surprisingly clients will often report that they are finding sleep quicker and easier to achieve and that it is deeper and more energising than ever before even if they considered their sleep patterns to be normal at the commencement of therapy.
Other improvements are less intuitive but just as typical – some realise that prior to therapy they had lived with an ongoing sensation of low-level nausea that they had only noticed now it has abated with the reduction of anxiety. Others report a noticeable improvement in gut-function now their anxiety has reduced and how much more comfortable they are now, having never mentioned problems in this area before (hypnosis is an excellent means for managing IBS and is recommended as a valuable complement to any medical treatment used for its management).
When evaluating the improvements achieved through a course of hypnotherapy with a client the total impact that anxiety had been having on their life has only become clear once it has been fully addressed. Unchecked, anxiety has the power to covertly reduce resilience, beset the sufferer with obstacles and bring them down to their weakest all without them even knowing it. By tackling anxiety with hypnosis we can take down all of its symptoms, both the ones we are aware of and those we are not.
© Tim Grimwade 2016
Tim Grimwade, Cognitive Hypnotherapist, practices from three locations in central London and is also available for sessions via Skype. Tim's practice locations are in Mayfair (nearest stations Bond Street, Oxford Circus and Green Park), Bishopsgate (near Liverpool Street Station) and Clapham (near Clapham South station). Tim uses Cognitive hypnotherapy to help his clients replace anxiety with assertiveness skills and behavioural freedom. Find out more here.