Understanding Anxiety: A Cognitive Hypnotherapist's Guide to the Most Frequently Asked Questions.

Title: Understanding Anxiety:

If you're overwhelmed by anxious thoughts, sleepless nights, and constant worry, you're not alone, millions of people search for help with anxiety every single day. In fact, some of the most commonly Googled questions about anxiety are ones I hear daily.

So if you're wondering whether what you're feeling is normal, how to stop panic attacks, what are the causes and symptoms, or how to help someone else who's experiencing anxiety you’re in the right place. In this post, I’ll answer the top questions people ask about anxiety and share how cognitive hypnotherapy can offer natural anxiety relief.

1. What is anxiety?

Anxiety is your body's natural alarm system, an automatic response to stress or perceived danger. It’s normal to feel anxious before a big presentation, an exam or job interview because anxiety is your system’s safety process trying to protect you. Often the unconscious mind can struggle to tell the difference between real danger and imagined or perceived threats

2. Is anxiety a mental illness?

Rather than thinking of anxiety as a mental illness, it can be helpful to understand it as your unconscious mind trying to protect you. It's like a dog barking at the postman, it's doing it's best to keep you safe, even if sometimes it goes off when there's no real danger. Your unconscious mind may have learned, from past experiences, that staying on high alert helps avoid pain or risk. So in a way, anxiety is your system trying to help. In therapy, we can explore where that hyper vigilance comes from and help it feel safer, so it doesn’t have to work so hard all the time.

3. Do I have anxiety?

If you're often asking yourself this, you might be experiencing:

• Racing thoughts or overthinking

• Muscle tension or jaw clenching

• Trouble sleeping

• A constant sense of dread or fear

  
  

  A cognitive hypnotherapy session can help identify your anxiety triggers and begin calming your nervous system.

4. How do I stop anxiety?

While there's no instant cure, cognitive hypnotherapy for anxiety helps retrain your subconscious mind to respond more calmly to stress. Techniques I use with clients include:

Deep trance relaxation

Psycho-somatic therapy

AMDR therapy

Timeline reframing therapy

Positive suggestion therapy

Guided imagery

Coaching techniques to manage symptoms.

This creates natural anxiety relief and positive change from within.

5. How do I stop a panic attack?

Panic attacks can feel overwhelming, but with the right tools, you can take back control. Try:

Breathing techniques such as box breathing: Imagine a box in your minds eye and follow the outline as you breathe in for the count of 4, hold for the count of 4, breathe out out for the count of 4, hold for the count of 4 and repeat.

Movement

Visualisation techniques (like imagining a calm, safe place)

Anchoring methods used in cognitive hypnotherapy

These tools are part of every hypnosis for panic attacks plan which I tailor for each individual client.

6. Can anxiety cause physical symptoms?

Absolutely it can! Anxiety is a mind and body experience. Common physical symptoms include:

Urges to get away

Uneven breathing

Tight chest or rapid heartbeat

Digestive issues

Sweating or trembling

Chronic fatigue

Through hypnosis, we can target the root cause and train your mind to relax the body naturally.

7. What causes anxiety?

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. Anxiety can be triggered by:

Childhood experiences

Triggers from past experiences

Trauma

Long-term stress

Cognitive Hypnotherapy helps uncover and gently reframe experiences that may be influencing your present fears and triggering your current anxiety.

8. What are the symptoms of anxiety?

Some people experience anxiety as restlessness and racing thoughts, others as insomnia or chest/stomach problems. In cognitive hypnotherapy, we look at both emotional and physical symptoms so you can find balance and peace again.

9. What is Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)?

GAD is a form of chronic anxiety where people worry excessively about everyday things - health, money, relationships, work. It can be exhausting. Cognitive Hypnotherapy offers long-term anxiety management by calming your fight-or-flight response and installing tools to help your mind feel safe again.

10. How can I help someone with anxiety?

Supporting someone with anxiety starts with empathy.

Encourage them to talk openly while you listen without judgment.

Encourage them to seek help from their GP and natural anxiety treatments like Cogntive Hypnotherapy

Avoid overstimulation (like caffeine or excessive screen time)

If someone you care about is struggling, I offer 1-2-1cognitive hypnotherapy sessions—either in-person or online to gently guide them toward healing.

Final Thoughts from a Cognitive Hypnotherapist

If you're reading this, chances are you're searching for answers and hope. Cognitive Hypnotherapy is a gentle, effective way to get to the root of your anxiety and help you feel calm, confident, and in control again.

If you’re ready to explore how cognitive hypnotherapy for anxiety can help, I invite you to book a free discovery call with me.