How hypnotherapy can help with stress
Understanding stress and stress responses
Stress is not a diagnosis but rather a process we experience when there is an imbalance in the demands being placed on us and our ability to handle those demands. As a hypnotherapist, I often hear clients describe it as something being done to them such as 'I have a demanding job' or 'I have to come home to the kids'.
People often describe the emotional and physical signs that come with long-term exposure to stress. Typically, stress can cause a lack of patience and feeling irritated, angry or unhappy. On the physical side, stress can cause a racing heart, shallow breathing and fluctuations in weight.
However, the most prominent signs of stress are the behavioural symptoms, which include changes in eating habits such as overeating or loss of appetite, insomnia, and resorting to drinking, smoking or substance abuse to take the edge off.
How hypnosis therapy can help treat stress
Hypnotherapy can be a useful tool in stress management. Clinical hypnosis can treat stress in four to five sessions. During these hypnotherapy sessions, I help clients manage the thoughts and behaviours that maintain their stressful state by:
-
Triggering a new 'demand response' to keep you in control
-
Enabling a relaxation response to keep you grounded throughout the day
-
Overriding feelings of discomfort and uncertainty enabling you to deal with boundary setting, difficult conversations and conflict
-
Enabling you to automatically filter out thoughts and feelings you should be ignoring
-
Overcoming cravings for unhealthy habits
Unlike talk therapy, clinical hypnotherapy sessions encourage helpful cognitive, emotional or physical responses that your brain absorbs and will become your new autopilot whilst in a state of relaxation.
To understand more about hypnotherapy for stress, and common questions people have about hypnosis such as side effects, treatment options and what to expect from a hypnotherapist, visit the
FAQ page.
