Lockdown Anxiety

As our time in lockdown and living with restrictions continues across the globe anxiety levels are on the rise. Over the years I’ve seen many clients who suffer anxiety and I know there are lots of different triggers that can set us off. The global pandemic and our current lockdown – a period of change and uncertainty – is absolutely one of those triggers.

Thankfully, mental health related conditions such as anxiety no longer have the stigma attached, they once held.  One search of the web and you can find a load of information and personal stories about other people’s experiences, suffering, treatments, solutions and general support and resources.  Sadly, what you don’t find is information or stories about how quick, effective and powerful hypnotherapy is as a treatment for anxiety and anxiety related conditions.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the unconscious mind often has a LOT to answer for – more importantly, it also holds the KEY to personal change and improvement. Let me start by sharing one of the first things I say to my clients who seek help to overcome anxiety, that is:

Programming is your unconscious mind learning what patterns, behaviours and reactions it believes keeps you safe.  These programs come from life experiences that can be big, small, huge or almost imperceptible – the unconscious mind is so much more powerful than the conscious mind and every action or reaction it makes occurs only to protect you.

Anxiety is often programmed on an unconscious level from childhood.  Up to the age of 7 your unconscious mind is wide open; until that age you are in a trance state so everything is downloaded directly into your unconscious – quite literally!   How your parents talked to you up unto the age of 7 was quite critical.  They may have been well-meaning but if they talked in a negative way such as you can’t do this and you can’t do that then your unconscious mind would have taken that directly onboard.  Similarly, if you had an anxious parent their anxiety could have literally been downloaded into your unconscious (anxiety can be passed on from generation to generation).

Anxiety may have been caused by any number of things or situations where you felt fearful, in danger, scared, afraid or even by something like your parents having a fight when you were a child and it gave you a fright – whenever you felt a sense of dread and fear. This is your unconscious mind warning you and trying to protect you from a perceived danger.  The next time you experienced a similar situation, your unconscious mind reacted to protect you again and thus the pattern begun to form.  Now every time you have a similar experience you have that old reaction.

Over time you become very good at reacting to certain situations in that old familiar way, which is basically practising and strengthening that program – like going to the gym and strengthening your muscles through practise and repetition, you strengthen that program and become very good at being anxious.  For some people, due to life events it can begin to manifest and become extreme.To use a current example, if you are suffering from anxiety caused by lockdown or COVID generally it may well be the cause of your over-eating, binge-drinking, impulse online shopping, increased smoking or any other habit that has crept in to your life since the pandemic began. Our unconscious mind doesn’t know what is healthy or unhealthy but it does know what makes us FEEL happy and it will trigger that craving (the program) in order to get rid of any anxiety (some food for thought here, if you were wondering about any new unhealthy habits (programs) you’ve formed!).

The problem is that programs are in your unconscious mind.  The problem with that is:

1. Most people usually have very little or no control of what is going on in their unconscious mind and;
2. Your unconscious mind is rigid and once things are programmed it is very hard to shift them.

The good news …there is a MUCH BETTER WAY to deal with anxiety, even during lockdown.

Reprogramming the Program – Breaking The Old Pattern

With hypnosis, there is no need to manage or mask anxiety symptoms any longer because you can change your reactions to old situations which caused you to be anxious. You can change the way you react to anxiety and program healthier ways to deal with it.

Hypnotherapy works directly with the unconscious mind. Hypnotherapy works to change the old programs, to update them to programs you actually WANT in your mental toolbox.

The conscious mind is approximately 5% to 10% of your mind’s capacity – what you are consciously aware of happening in the here and now.

The unconscious mind is 90% to 95% of the mind and millions of times more powerful – it is the powerhouse and storehouse of everything we have ever learned, every memory we have ever made, every feeling we have ever felt, every habit we have ever formed – all our morals and values are programmed here.

We are programming things into the unconscious mind from the day we are born. What’s good, bad, happy, sad, right, wrong, safe, dangerous etc. is recorded as an experience and once that is programmed in the unconscious mind it is challenging to consciously change it.  Although you might want to change it you will fight the triggers, reactions or cravings and the internal battle simply rages on until you either give up the fight or eventually manage to reprogram your unconscious mind.

What If You Could Reprogram Your Mind Without Pain & Discomfort?