“You never know how strong you are, until being strong is the only choice you have.” - Kirsten Proby

What is Anxiety anyway?

If you were to look up the term in the Oxford Dictionary it would look something like this.

1. A feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain income. (Example) "he felt a surge of anxiety"

2. Strong desire or concern to do something or for something to happen. (Example) "the housekeeper's eager anxiety to please"

Anxiety is a broad term that comes with different symptoms, so not everyone suffers from anxiety the same way. Some people overly worry about things, whereas others may have full-blown panic attacks. Some have anxiety due to trauma, others learn how to become anxious by learning from a young age.

Let's talk about me for a moment

Hi, my name is Darren Johnson, I am a qualified hypnotherapist who specialises in helping corporate professionals recover from work-related anxiety. I am no stranger to how anxiety works after experiencing both personal and work-related anxiety in my life.

It was because of these, and being able to overcome them, that I decided to train as a therapist and coach to help others get their lives back on track, quickly and effortlessly with the help of hypnosis.

I want to start by telling you first off before even answering your question, that what you may be going through is completely normal. At some point in everyone's lifetime, they will experience some form of anxiety no matter if mild or severe.

It's really important when using hypnosis to help relieve your anxiety, to find out the cause first. Think of it like peeling off the layers of an onion we have to get to the core of the problem. For some people they think they already know what this is, but only with therapy sessions can they start to uncover the problems that may be inhibiting them.

Let me give you an example

Meet John, he has been suffering anxiety for the past 8 months due to constant pressure at work from his boss to meet specific deadlines. John is a sales manager for an advertising company, he is good at his job and he knows his work inside out, when he is left to work he performs at his best.

His employers have won a new contract with a big firm to carry out their advertising, they have a huge campaign to launch worldwide, which means his employers have to hit a deadline in six months. John has been nominated to work on the project, but this means he has a lot more responsibility than he is used to, as he usually has smaller clients. He never got a say in whether he wanted the responsibility, it was simply put on him.

Now John has the pressure of getting the job done, but he has the added pressure of reporting to his boss and meeting his deadlines so the project can be done on time. John is finding he is not responding well, he is losing sleep, and is worrying about being able to get the project finished. Everyone is counting on him and the responsibility is overwhelming to the point, he now feels he cannot cope. His anxiety levels are peaking and he walks around with the constant worry of being able to do his job.

John doesn't want others to see that he is struggling, he doesn't want to feel he is letting his team down so he needs to find help and fast. Regular therapy does not appeal to him because it's too long and he doesn't talk to others because he feels they will not relate to what he is going through.

A friend suggests hypnosis, and John is desperate so he decides to give it a try. During a session the Hypnotherapist asks a lot of questions and there is active discussion. It is only in the last 30 minutes John goes under hypnosis.

While under hypnosis John recalls a memory he never recalled for a long time, where as a child he remembered handing in a project at school. He had worked hard on the project and felt proud when he presented it. But the teacher did not seem to appreciate John and mocked his work in front of the whole class, the teacher told him he would never be good at anything.

Without realising it John had such a bad reaction from that incident that he buried the memory deep in is subconscious to the point where he forgot all about it. What he didn't realise though is the emotional trauma he experience he had carried it ever since. Due to his current circumstances, the same feelings came to the surface and worsened.

It was then that the therapist was able to take the necessary steps to help John get back on track. After two sessions, John was able to give closure on his past, knowing he was not at fault. Then he found his confidence was growing and that he was no longer thinking about the worry and his focus was more on the job in hand and reaching his deadline.

John was able to meet his deadline, the client was extremely pleased with the campaign and the results. The company were so happy with Johns work he was promoted to Senior Advertising Manager.

So can Hypnosis Help with Anxiety?

If we look at the example above you can see how Hypnosis helped, it helped John recall a memory from a trauma he experienced years before. Think of it another way I like to use this analogy a lot. Think of your subconscious as a bunch of switches all turning off and on all the time, when you experience things in life, whether good or bad, happy or sad.

Sometimes a Trauma, will cause a switch to flick on, but instead of being able to turn it off we learn to carry on even though we are experiencing all these signals to tell us something is wrong. Sometimes they can go on for years, and that switch is still on. Hypnosis can help to uncover what the problem is and be able to turn off that switch, so at the end of it your anxiety symptoms are decreased greatly.

Hypnosis absolutely can help with Anxiety, and not only can it help, compared to traditional therapy it can help be resolved at a much faster pace. The sound of going to counselling can seem daunting and expensive, sometimes sessions going on for months. Where with Hypnotherapy it quickly targets the issues that are causing the way you feel, and then those issues are dealt with so you don't have to continue suffering.

6 symptoms to indicate you may be suffering from anxiety.

1. Sleeplessness

 If you found you normally have a good sleeping patter, but thats not the case lately it could be something underlying. Do you find you cannot switch off your mind at night, you may have a lot going on and its stopping you from switching off. This could be caused by your anxiety.

2. Social Withdrawal

You start to find you prefer your own company, over the company of others. You may fear judgement of others and feel self conscious about yourself infront of others.

3. Phobias

Anxiety can also be triggered by specific phobias, such as flying or spiders. These can cause problems in day to day living depending on the severity of the phobia.

4. Trembling/Shaking/Sweating

Anxiety can cause you to shake or tremble and sweat, which can become embarrasing and cause problems in day to day living.

5. Panic Attacks

The big one, these can feel as bad as a heart attack, they disrupt breathing coming in waves of fear which last for a few minutes. Often people who have experienced explain feelings of nausea, dizziness and chest pains.

6. Issues with Digestion

Anxiety does not mix well with digestion of food, you can suffer with things such as vomiting, nausea, stomach cramps and diarrhea.

What to do if you feel you have anxiety?

If you feel you are suffering one or more of the issues above, its important to talk to someone. Your local GP can help however they may offer alternative courses of therapy. You may be offered medication to alleviate the symptoms of your anxiety, however this does not cure the anxiety but controls the symptoms.

If you are considering Hypnotherapy, talk to your GP to make sure there are no other issues, if they believe you would be a good candidate reach out to a qualified therapist, who will hold a session with you. Sessions are completely confidential, and last anything up to 90 minutes. The therapist will explain in a pre consultation what would happen in a session and be able to answer any questions or concerns you may have.

If you're not sure yet start by relaxing

My 12 minute guided meditation is a great start to getting you to start to relax, it free and designed to use daily so that you can regain some control. Although this is not a cure aid but something I do offer my clients to continue using even after therapy to keep them on the right path.

Sign up here for my free meditation

Ready to take the next step?

If you are looking for help to relieve your anxiety symptoms, my free 20 minute no-obligation chat is available. Click here to book an appointment to see me, and get you back on the right path.