Hypnotherapy for Anxiety and Panic Attacks in Sydney

There are many forms of anxiety. Anxiety, including the strongest form of anxiety causing panic attacks is one of the most common reasons clients seek my help.

 

Some forms of anxiety are very specific, like phobias, when a very strong, irrational fear is connected with specific situations, like approaching a spider, driving in traffic, riding in an elevator, fear of flying etc. A phobia can be very strong, it can easily lead to panic attacks, even to losing consciousness in extreme cases. Phobias are very common and hypnotherapy is absolutely the best way to completely free yourself from the phobia, even if you were suffering from it through your whole life. Please read more on my page on treating phobias with hypnotherapy.
 

In my busy Sydney city practise I often see clients seeking help with their fear of public speaking or the fear of flying, and the results of hypnotherapy are usually spectacular.

When the phobia is untreated, it may spread to different areas. For example, an original fear of heights can lead to a fear of flying, a panic attack during a flight can lead to a fear of panic attacks, and so on. This kind of anxiety is a bit more difficult to treat, because it disappears completely only when all the underlying phobias are treated. When treated with hypnotherapy, it just means a few more sessions.

Sometimes clients feel anxious or have panic attacks in nonspecific situations, like early in the mornings, or when going to bed, and they do not even know what causes those fears. There is agitation and often strong physical sensations in the body. This form of anxiety is called general anxiety. General anxiety is very often connected with social anxiety. There could be mild social anxiety, which arises only when the person is performing in front of a big group of people, or when dealing with authority, or when meeting new people etc. Sometimes it is rather a social phobia, very strong social anxiety, when any encounter with other people leads to panic attacks. It may be so paralysing that people stay imprisoned in their house, unable to leave.

 

Very often anxiety is caused by some traumatic event ( like war, accident, disasters or assault). It may be a single event or even repeating trauma. There are reccurring dreams or flashbacks of the event, constant tension, overwhelming anxiety in any situations related to the original trauma.

This is called a PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). PTSD responds very well to hypnotherapy, but it is important to see an experienced and qualified hypnotherapist.

The anxiety is usually associated with other mental issues, especially with depression and low self-confidence. This becomes a vicious circle, because when you feel "not good enough" and anxious, it makes you feel sad and not loved, so you are more depressed, the fears get stronger, they bring a lot of negative, obsessive thinking and it just goes out of control. Depression and anxiety are very often connected with sleep disorders and eating disorders.

 

The constant anxiety is very difficult to bear, so some coping mechanisms are created. Everything is better than the feeling of dread; some people become obsessive, they may develop OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder). They may be washing their hands for hours, or keep checking if the door is locked, or they may develop obsession with health or food. The original fear is usually deeply buried underneath the obsessive thoughts, and the anxious feeling is dealt with by unreasonable activity. Other ways to cope are eating large amounts of food quickly (binge eating), drinking, smoking, or other addictions. For milder anxiety it may be nail biting or other unwanted habits.

Anxiety very often shows physical symptoms, the same as prolonged stress (some clients call their anxiety stress; milder anxiety and stress are very similar). Please remembered to check any physical symptoms with your doctor to exclude medical reasons.