Anxiety, What Is It?
Are you someone who experiences anxiety? Do you feel like your mind is constantly racing, your heart is always pounding, and your body is always on high alert? If so, then you’re not alone. Anxiety is a common experience that many people deal with daily, and it can be incredibly debilitating.
But what exactly is anxiety, and how can we overcome it? In this blog, we’ll explore the “Gordian Pillars of anxiety” (Courtesy of the Institute Of Applied Psychology), discuss how anxiety is a collection of behaviours people run themselves, and explore how clinical hypnotherapy and strategic psychotherapy can help people overcome anxiety.
Let’s start by defining anxiety. It is a feeling of unease, such as worry or fear, that can be mild or severe. It’s a natural stress response, but when it becomes overwhelming and interferes with daily life, it becomes a problem. It can take many forms, such as social unease, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and more.
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The Pillars of anxiety
You can’t catch it. I’ll repeat that, you can’t catch anxiety! It is a collection of behaviours that people run. Because you run them, with a bit of help, you can change your behaviours and lead a more fulfilling life. Here are the “Gordian Pillars” illustrating the behaviours that make up anxiety.
Stable Attribution Style
Put simply, the belief that things can never change.
External Locus Of Control
A situation where somebody is constantly affected by people or events that occur around them. Not realising that they can choose their state of being.
Global Thinking
Lack of distinction and/or process. The feeling that “this always happens”, for example.
Internal Orientation
A believed in imagination. Assuming that just because you think something, it’s true.
Ineffective Compartmentalisation
Excessive rumination, living in an emotional frame. Allowing an adverse event in one aspect of your life to affect other parts of your life.
Low Tolerance for Ambiguity
Poor risk assessment. Assuming a situation may be negative simply because you don’t know how it will turn out.
Future Orientation
Negative expectancy. Constantly thinking about the future and assuming it will be negative since you can’t know 100% what will occur.
Avoidant Coping Style
Constantly avoiding difficult situations. In doing so, all you will achieve is raise your level of anxiety.
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Breaking Free With Strategic Psychotherapy and Hypnotherapy
So, how can you break free from anxiety? The answer again lies in recognising that anxiety is a collection of behaviours you run yourself. This means that you have the power to change your behaviours and break free.
Clinical hypnotherapy and strategic psychotherapy are two powerful tools I use that help people overcome limiting behaviour. Clinical hypnotherapy uses hypnosis to help people access their subconscious minds and make positive changes at a deep level. Strategic psychotherapy, on the other hand, focuses on identifying and changing negative patterns of behaviour and thought. The combination is powerful.
Both of these approaches can be incredibly effective. Clinical hypnotherapy can help you reprogram your mind to think positively and feel more calm and relaxed. Strategic psychotherapy can help you identify the negative thoughts and behaviours contributing to your anxiety and replace them with more positive ones.
If you’re struggling with anxiety, there are several things you can do to start overcoming it. First, try to identify the negative thoughts and behaviours that are contributing to your problem. Are there certain situations that trigger you? Do you engage in behaviours that perpetuate your anxiety, such as avoidance or rumination?
Once you’ve identified the negative patterns, you can start working on changing them. This might involve challenging your negative thoughts and replacing them with more positive ones or gradually exposing yourself to situations that make you anxious so that you can learn to cope with them more effectively.
In Conclusion
What I mentioned in the previous two paragraphs is very hard to do by yourself. Clinical hypnotherapy and strategic psychotherapy can be incredibly helpful for this process. If you feel it’s time for change, I can help you identify the root causes of your anxiety and develop a personalized treatment plan to help you overcome it. Please reach out!
