How Hypnosis Is Being Used to Resolve Anxiety Disorders
- Peter McLaughlin
- Jan 30
- 3 min read
Anxiety has become an all-too-common for many people in today’s overloaded world.
Whether it’s a racing heart, a sense of dread, or a general feeling of being overwhelmed, anxiety can take over without warning.
But have you ever wondered why this happens?
Why, in a moment of calm, does your body suddenly react as if there’s danger present?
The answer lies deep within the workings of your subconscious mind—and hypnosis is a powerful tool to help resolve this issue.
Simplifying the Problem: Understanding Anxiety and the Nervous System
To get a better grasp on anxiety, we first need to simplify the problem. Our bodies operate through two main modes of the autonomic (automatic) nervous system:
Sympathetic mode – The “fight or flight” response.
Parasympathetic mode – The “rest and digest” state.
Anxiety is a manifestation of the sympathetic (fight or flight) mode of the nervous system. When anxiety strikes, your body reacts as if there is a threat, even though there may in fact be no immediate danger—like being chased by a lion or mugged on the street.
This is where things get interesting.
Why Does Anxiety Happen When You’re Safe?
If you’re safe in your home, sitting comfortably, and there’s no real external threat, why would your body go into "fight or flight" mode?
To understand this, we need to take a closer look at the subconscious mind—the part of you that’s responsible for automatic processes like breathing, heartbeat, digestion, and, importantly, your fight-or-flight response.
The subconscious mind is incredibly powerful, making up over 90% of your mental processes. While you may consciously think through hundreds or thousands of thoughts a day, most of your mental activity happens without your awareness.
This is because your subconscious runs the show behind the scenes, controlling many of your automatic responses, including your emotional reactions.
Now, here’s where things get tricky: the subconscious mind is designed to protect you, but it has no sense of time.
This means that past experiences, even events that occurred decades ago, are still engaged with as if they are happening right now.
An old trauma or emotional wound can be triggered by seemingly insignificant things—like a specific sound, a tone of voice, a smell, or even a color.
These things can send a signal to your subconscious mind, which then activates the fight-or-flight response, convincing your body that you’re in danger—even when you’re perfectly safe!
This “hijacking” of your nervous system is what we experience as anxiety.
The Key to Resolving Anxiety: Rewiring the Subconscious Mind
So, how can we resolve this situation?
The first step is recognizing that anxiety is often a response to old, unresolved trauma—and that your body’s alarm system has been “mistakenly” triggered.
The goal then is to convince your subconscious mind that the old threat no longer exists, and therefore is no longer a danger.
The solution comes in two steps:
1. Identify the Root Trauma
Before we can calm the body’s overactive fight-or-flight response, we need to determine the underlying source of the anxiety. This might be an event from childhood, a past relationship, or an experience that left an emotional scar.
The tricky part is that these memories are often deeply buried in the subconscious. You might not even be consciously aware of the trauma, but it’s still there, influencing your nervous system.
2. Neutralize the Trauma Through Hypnosis or Havening Techniques
Once we’ve pinpointed the trauma, the next step is to neutralize it.
Hypnosis and other tools have proven to be highly effective in helping individuals access the subconscious mind, identify the root cause of the anxiety and heal/reframe the way their mind responds to old triggers.
Havening is another powerful tool that rapidly helps "defuse" the emotional bomb created by the trauma. This process allows the body to relax and the anxiety to subside, helping you move forward without the constant fear of old triggers.
The Power of Reprogramming Your Mind
What makes hypnosis and Havening so effective is their ability to target the root cause of anxiety and reprogram your subconscious mind.
Once the emotional intensity around a traumatic memory is eliminated, your body can safely return to a state of relaxation. The fight-or-flight response is no longer triggered unnecessarily, and the anxiety diminishes or outright vanishes.
Conclusion: A New Path to Healing
If you’re struggling with anxiety, it might be time to explore how hypnosis or Havening can help you to reset your body’s automatic response to stress, allowing you to regain control and find peace once more.
I have content on my YouTube channel (blueskyhypnosis) to help you employ hypnosis or Havening on your behalf.
If you’d like more information about this topic or about working with me, please feel free to reach out by clicking the button below.
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