Hypnosis for Anxiety
Hello again,
First, a very quick and gentle reminder that if you send email to info@mikemandelhypnosis.com it does not go to Dr. Mike Mandel. Check the contact page again and you’ll notice his email is also specifically listed, and you should contact him directly for any inquiries into stage hypnosis or keynotes.
Now, I’m writing this post because I got an email tonight from a woman inquiring about the use of hypnosis for anxiety. Her son suffers from anxiety and she loves him enough to look for a solution, which i really admire. I know I’d go to the end of the world to help my two kids.
The question basically asked, “Can hypnosis help with anxiety”.
My answer is as follows: Hypnosis CAN help enormously, and often even eliminate anxiety. Hypnosis itself is simply a trance state. But what really matters is what the hypnotist does to help guide the patient WITHIN that trance state to solve his or her problem unconsciously. If you use self-hypnosis, then your own unconscious mind can actually play the role of hypnotist to help you solve your own problems. This is the ultimate accomplishment for a lot of people because they realize they can trust their unconscious to do the right thing.
Imagine that you suffer from anxiety and somebody tells you, “that’s silly, just ignore it … you are stronger than that” … will that help? Of course not. It will frustrate you like crazy perhaps even causing more anxiety. That is because you cannot usually solve an UNCONSCIOUS problem with a CONSCIOUS solution.
Anxiety, like many other problems, is an unconscious process. Something happens (a trigger) and you unconsciously respond by feeling anxious. The trigger was probably created by a specific event in your past that caused some sort of emotional trauma. Any time that trigger is re-played, the trauma and anxiety returns.
The solution also has to be unconscious. Hypnosis accomplishes unconscious change! That is why it works so well for so may people. One solution that a hypnotist would use is to bring you back in time to before you noticed the first instance of anxiety. You would imagine you were watching yourself go through the trauma from a safe distance. You would do a bunch of things, while in trance, that would serve to alter how that event affected your life. By changing what that event meant to you, you can completely alter its effect on you for the rest of your life. This is OFTEN used to overcome phobias (heights, water, airplanes), and anxieties (public speaking, for example).
For readers who understand NLP (neuro-linguistic programming), you may have recognized that I was describing the classic NLP “phobia cure” above. This is correct! And often a good hypnotist trained in Ericksonian hypnosis will use NLP tools within a deep hypnotic trance!
If you suffer from anxiety or know someone who does, then I think it makes a lot of sense to check out NLP and hypnosis tools. Mike’s CDs do teach NLP (the Peak Performance CD) and I would also say that the Stress Relief CD also has benefits to offer (particularly the lesson in self hypnosis, that can be applied to the anxiety).
If you are dead-set against the CDs for some reason, check out the sidebar for information on learning hypnosis. There are great book recommendations there.
Whatever you do, keep working on a solution. In my view, it’s better than what the medical industry will do to you with various prescriptions.
Live healthy.