Will I always be anxious?
When I was studying clinical hypnotherapy, I asked anyone and everyone if I could practice hypnosis with them. One friend in particular reached out and asked if we could do a session, and I was thrilled to put what I’d learned into practice.
I knew this friend regularly experienced anxiety, and during our session when we were talking through what she’d like to focus on, she said something that really stuck with me.
“I know I’ll have anxiety for the rest of my life, I just need to figure out how to manage it.”
In the field of hypnotherapy, this is what’s known as stable attribution - meaning the client doesn’t believe their problem can change. My friend truly believed that anxiety was part of her, almost part of her identity, and that she would be stuck with it for life.
I gently asked her why she thought she’d always have this problem and she said “because I’ve always been anxious”.
For some people, it can feel like they’ve had their problems for as long as they can remember, and it can often feel impossible to imagine a life without it.
But the truth is that they’ve picked up patterns of thinking, beliefs, habits and responses throughout their lives that have led them to feel this way.
Yes, it might feel like you’ve been anxious forever, but I can assure you that’s not the case.
Think about when you’re eating, sleeping, watching a funny movie, or having a laugh with a friend. It’s not possible to be anxious all the time, therefore you do have the mechanism within you to turn it off.
Our thoughts aren’t facts
Often those who experience anxiety are too in touch with their thoughts and feelings. They might have come to believe that every thought and feeling they experience is real, and they rarely question if it’s accurate or if there’s evidence to support it.
Have you ever experienced this?
Perhaps you texted a friend and you haven’t heard back for a day or so. Suddenly you feel like something is wrong.
Perhaps your mind starts catastrophizing, playing out an imaginary argument in your head and wondering if the friendship is going to end altogether. You might start thinking things like:
“Are they mad at me?”
“Have I done something to annoy them?”
“Maybe they don’t want to be friends with me anymore.”
You might start to feel the physical symptoms too, you know the ones - sweaty palms, a racing heart, tension in your stomach or chest.
Of course, the reality is that your friend was probably busy, had a crazy day, or simply forgot to text back in the moment. But the anxiety loop can cause us to jump to the worst case scenario and ignore all rational thoughts.
How can hypnosis help?
The good news is that this can change! You don’t have to be stuck in the anxiety loop forever.
Through hypnosis, your thought patterns (the ones that lead to the feeling of anxiety) can be reprogrammed, and more positive ways of thinking can be installed.
Rather than automatically jumping to the worst case scenario, you can regain control of which thoughts and feelings you pay attention to and which ones you simply let go of.
Hypnosis can give you the tools to learn new ways of thinking and reacting.
The next time you notice yourself spiralling with an anxious thought, why not question it?
Ask yourself:
Is this thought real/accurate?
Where’s the evidence to support it?
What’s an alternative thought that is more helpful to me at this moment?
Remember, we can’t control the thousands of thoughts we have a day. But we can choose which thoughts we focus on, and which ones we simply let go.
