The holidays can be joyful, but they can also be quite stressful.
From the full calendar of festivities and events, never-ending to-do lists, and financial strain to the drive to create (or recreate) perfect memories and the void created by missed loved ones, many find the time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day draining and difficult.
This annual “season of stress” can be even more challenging if you’re dealing with a mental health condition like depression or anxiety.
Fortunately, it’s a lot easier to navigate holiday stressors and maintain your mental well-being with insight and the right tools — Dr. Ran D. Anbar and our team at Center Point Medicine can help. Here’s how hypnotherapy may hold the key to a more joyful (and less stressful) holiday season.
Mental health disorders persist even when no significant external pressure is present: Anxiety involves excessive worries and fears that don’t subside when stress levels are low, while depression involves intense feelings of sadness and hopelessness that remain even after causational factors have receded or changed.
But when stress levels climb — as they often do during the holiday season — mental health symptoms tend to worsen. That’s because, like anxiety and depression, stress is itself an emotional, mood-affecting response.
Stress can also share an overlapping set of symptoms with both anxiety and depression, such as:
High stress levels may leave you feeling burned out and unable to overcome life’s challenges, especially when you’re already coping with anxiety or depression.
Added stress is the last thing you need when you’re managing a mental health condition — especially during a time of year that’s supposed to bring happiness, togetherness, and joy.
That’s where hypnotherapy comes in. As part of a comprehensive treatment plan that includes evidence-based mental health care practices like medication, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), or counseling, hypnosis helps shift your consciousness so you can change your thinking patterns more easily. Let’s take a closer look:
Hypnosis begins with guided imagery, controlled breathing, and/or progressive muscle relaxation to lead you into deep relaxation. You’re not asleep in this state; you remain in complete control of your body and mind. You also feel calm, present, and “zoned in.”
A state of deep relaxation quiets your conscious mind and focuses your concentration. You become so focused that you can block out everyday distractions and tap into the part of your brain where your thoughts, memory, emotions, sensations, beliefs, and behaviors originate.
Once you’re relaxed, focused, and tapped into your core thoughts and emotions, your hypnotherapist uses imagery and carefully chosen language to suggest changes in perception, sensation, thought, memory, emotion, or behavior.
To gain control over something you struggle with — whether it’s how you react to seasonal stress, increased anxiety about social gatherings, feelings of loneliness, or something else — these suggestions help you identify triggers, learn positive ways to change, and give you the tools you need to disrupt your patterns, attach a better response, and notice the difference.
As part of the hypnotherapy process, you also learn self-relaxation techniques so you can enter a “zoned-in” state on your own at any time. This part of the practice gives you a way to actively connect with your subconscious and reinforce healthier thoughts, behaviors, and emotions between sessions.
Ready to find out how you can benefit from hypnotherapy? Call or click online to schedule a visit at Center Point Medicine in La Jolla, California, or Syracuse, New York, today.
