The Effectiveness of Hypnotherapy as a Treatment For Anxiety

Anyone who has browsed through the articles on my website will soon pick up that helping people to overcome anxiety is one of my main passions.

Having been there and struggled with anxiety in the past, I know the all encompassing nature of those unwanted thoughts and feelings that seem to grow more and more out of control. I also know from my own personal experience, from the feedback of my anxiety hypnotherapy clients and from research, that hypnotherapy can be very effective as a treatment for anxiety.

Anxiety problems and anxiety disorders are some of the most impairing and limiting mental health conditions that you can struggle with. They are also one of the most common mental health issues that impact upon people at some point in their lives.  All of which means that having effective treatments for anxiety available is more important than ever, both for you as an individual and much more widely too.

Hypnosis has been scientifically demonstrated to offer very effective help with a whole range of issues and conditions. However, whilst more and more controlled studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of hypnosis in alleviating anxiety in areas such as general anxiety, dental anxiety, medical anxiety and performance anxiety, there has never been a meta-analysis quantifying the overall effectiveness of hypnosis as a treatment for anxiety.

Pretty hot of the presses (the research was published in July 2019), we now have that analysis. A recent thorough study has now quantified the effectiveness of hypnosis for reducing anxiety by conducting a meta-analysis of all controlled studies of hypnotherapy for anxiety and has published the results.

 

The Efficacy of Hypnosis For Anxiety

The purpose of the research I’m talking about here (The Efficacy of Hypnosis As A Treatment For Anxiety: A Meta-Analysis (2019), full reference below) was to quantify the effectiveness of hypnosis in treating anxiety. In the absence of any previous meta-analysis quantifying the overall effectiveness of hypnosis as a treatment for anxiety, the researchers brought together the results of all controlled studies of hypnosis for anxiety.

 

 

There is no doubting that anxiety can have a massive impact upon you, whether it’s in relation to something specific like dental anxiety, driving anxiety or fears over public speaking, or whether it is much more general and pervades into every aspect of your daily life.

There are all the physical symptoms of anxiety to contend with such as feeling hot, shaky, restless and where your breathing and heart rate can accelerate. There are all the anxious thoughts that race through your mind about worst case scenarios, overthinking and worrying about how you’ll cope or whether you even can. And it can lead to changes in how you live your life so that you try and avoid things or limit yourself so that you don’t have to battle and struggle with the anxiety, dread and worry.

Recently I was working with Dave who had found that his anxiety and stress built up to the point where he had a panic attack while swimming in a triathlon. When you have had anxiety or a panic attack in a situation you naturally start feeling on edge and worried about it happening again in that type of situation.

Here’s what Dave had to say after his sessions,

“I found Dan very easy to talk to which I think that’s important. My son died at 18 in 2010. I got into triathlon to help me block out the way I felt. I thought I was doing fine until I started a race 5 May 2019, I had a panic attack in the water at the start of this race. My life was going down hill. I also did Ironman in 2016 so I had been in the water lots of time.

With Dan’s help I did my race on 7 July 2019. I could have easily walked away so I highly recommended Dan. I find his Anxiety No More hypnosis download is fantastic . I’m still seeing Dan . I also found Father’s Day hard and my son’s birthday since seeing Dan. For the first time in 9 years instead of sitting around and feeling sorry for myself I really enjoyed those days this year still thinking about my son but in really good way. Thank you Dan” (July, 2019).

 

 

Of course, every individual helped to overcome anxiety is a huge plus and there are several dozen positive reviews from the many people I have worked with on my website. Yet we also want to be able to demonstrate the effectiveness of hypnosis for anxiety with robust evidence and research, which is what this latest study gives us.

 

Hypnotherapy as a Treatment for Anxiety

Looking at the overall effectiveness of hypnosis as a treatment for anxiety, the study found that hypnosis is a highly effective intervention for anxiety.

From the evidence they concluded that:

“The findings of this meta-analysis show that hypnosis is a highly effective intervention for anxiety. Our results indicate the average participant treated with hypnosis achieved more anxiety reduction than about 79% of control participants at the end of active treatment and about 84% of controls at the longest follow-up“.

That is a pretty staggering effectiveness and shows just how valuable hypnotherapy can be as a treatment for anxiety.

 

 

The evidence also showed that hypnosis for anxiety was as effective as a treatment as cognitive behavioural therapy (the NHS anxiety treatment of choice), progressive muscle relaxation and psychodynamic psychotherapy and suggest hypnosis is more effective than mindfulness (mindfulness involves learning how to become fully engaged in your experience and to handle painful thoughts and feelings).

Cognitive behavioural therapy, for example, focuses on overcoming anxiety through cognitive and behavioural changes and includes techniques such as exposure (where you confront feared or avoided situations or stimuli) and cognitive restructuring (understanding and identifying faults in thinking and developing more realistic and helpful thoughts).

All of these research backed cognitive behavioural therapy approaches are often incorporated within the type of cognitive behavioural hypnotherapy I employ with anxiety clients. Indeed, I’ve written before about the research that demonstrates that hypnosis can significantly improve the results achieved when combined with cognitive behavioural therapy. In fact, the current research found that hypnosis produced more anxiety reduction when combined with treatments such as cognitive behavioural therapy.

This study is a really valuable addition to the evidence of hypnosis as a treatment for anxiety. And as the evidence demonstrated, hypnosis is a highly effective intervention for anxiety and could certainly benefit you if you are currently struggling with anxiety or an anxiety disorder.

To your success,

Dan Regan

Anxiety Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket

 

You can read more about hypnosis as a treatment for anxiety in these articles: Anxiety Articles

Seeking help to overcome your anxiety? Book your Complimentary Hypnotherapy Strategy Session with Dan now: Appointments

You can discover what other people have said after their anxiety hypnotherapy sessions with Dan: Testimonials

And check out these powerful anxiety hypnosis downloads that can start helping you right away: Anxiety Hypnosis Downloads

 

Reference: Valentine, K.E., Milling, L.S., Clark, L.J. and Moriarty, C.L., 2019. The Efficacy of Hypnosis as a Treatment for Anxiety: A Meta-analysis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 67(3), pp.336-363.