How Does Hypnosis Relieve Stress?

By April Lyons MA, LPC

We live in a fast-paced world filled with constant triggers each and every day. Our cell phones ping nonstop with notifications. Inboxes get flooded with emails needing our attention. Deadlines and responsibilities hover in the distance.

Often, accompanying each of these things is unwanted and unavoidable stress. While some stress isn’t considered horrible, too much stress can cause chaos in your life. Finding effective ways to manage it is important to prevent future issues.

While there are many traditional therapy techniques and coping methods, they may not be the best strategy for you and your personal experience. If you’re looking for something different or something to be used in conjunction with your current game plan, hypnosis is an interesting avenue to explore.

Triggers a Relaxation Response

One of the big misunderstandings surrounding hypnosis is that the person performing the hypnosis puts you to sleep. During the process, you actually remain in a fully awake state.

What really happens, is that the therapist guides your mind and body into a deep state of relaxation. As you reach this point, your parasympathetic nervous system activates and you’re able to focus your energy on the rest and digest functions. This serves to counteract any sympathetic system stress responses.

Not only are you de-stressing by achieving greater relaxation, but you’re also recruiting the body’s system that is made to help reduce tension to do it for you.

Increases Suggestibility

The art of hypnosis allows you to reach a state of relaxation in which your brain is less active. As your brain starts to calm down from stress, you open yourself up to being more susceptible to ideas and suggestions.

It’s during this time that your therapist can offer constructive feedback about how you manage your stress and how you approach challenging situations. When something similar arises in the future, you can take the therapist’s practical suggestions and incorporate them appropriately.

Challenge Negative Thinking

Stress typically will not make us think happy, positive thoughts. Our brains tend to start spiraling in a negative direction in the face of stressful situations.

Hypnosis can be a great way to challenge your mindset and the perspective you hold towards stress. If you identify a particular trigger for stress, undergoing hypnosis can help you target your thought patterns towards that specific item. Replacing negative thinking with a more positive perception can lead to less stress.

This type of cognitive restructuring allows for better balance where challenges are concerned.

Allows Access to Your Subconscious

It can often be difficult to pinpoint the the root cause of your stress. You may know what situation caused it to flare up, but you might not be able tell why that was the reaction.

Hypnosis will grant you access to your subconscious mind, allowing for a deeper connection with yourself. Working on a deeper level, you can learn to identify your stress reactions and adapt them as necessary. You may learn a thing or two about yourself that you weren’t previously aware of.

Improve Self-Regulation

While working with a trained professional, you can learn stress reduction strategies and potential hypnosis techniques that you can implement on your own time. The method may differ, but it can be an additional tool in the toolbox for stress management in the outside world.

Through these practices, you’ll be able to voluntarily enter a relaxed state and process your emotional responses more effectively over time. If you’re interested in managing your stress and anxiety with hypnosis and would like professional help, please reach out for a free consultation today.