What Is Anxiety Disorder? - Anxiety Is Self-Hypnosis.

Don’t Become The Message

They say don't shoot the messenger – but with emotions a more appropriate turn of phrase would be don't become the messenger. Every emotion is a message from you to you. When you experience anxiety as a negative emotion, you perceive it to be threatening. If you perceive it to be threatening then it becomes something to fear. Anxiety then perpetuates anxiety. When this happens you become the message – you become the anxiety. This is a form of self hypnosis where your focus has become so narrowed on the perceived threat that it becomes your reality.

I do not like the term anxiety disorder – there is probably nothing wrong with you if you are experiencing anxiety you are just responding to your imagination as if it is your reality.

You probably know anxiety as a fight or flight response, which is correct, but in today's world fighting and running away is rarely an appropriate solution. The trouble is, if you understand anxiety as fight or flight, the minute you start feeling anxious your mind scans for something to fight or run away from and quite possibly finds it – work stress, an unforgiving boss, debt, traumatic past etc. From the moment that you are focussed on the anxious narrative you are responding to the narrative instead of actual events.

What if anxiety is about happiness and well-being though? What if anxiety was just a message from you to you saying that something is threatening your happiness and well-being? If you receive the message as simply a message, you can focus on the doing what needs to be done to minimise or eliminate the threat, and then there's no need for that anxious alarm to keep going off. That sounds much easier doesn't it?

In session, I can help you see that what you know as anxiety is actually just a physiological sensation with a powerful narrative attached. Once you can see the narrative as nothing more than words, it no longer looks like reality and therefore loses its power. The sensation then becomes far less uncomfortable or disappears completely leaving you able to think clearer, breathe easier, and enjoy your life.

Think about that. You know where I am if you would like to explore further.