Understanding stress and anxiety – and how Solution‑Focused Hypnotherapy can help
Stress and anxiety are part of being human. In healthy doses they keep us alert, focused and responsive. When either state becomes excessive or persistent, however, they shape how we think, feel and function day to day—eventually colouring our whole lives and, over time, affecting us physically as well as mentally.
Many clients who come to Solution‑Focused Hypnotherapy (SFH) describe the unnerving sense that their inner alarm system is jammed in the “on” position.
This post explores why that happens, what it means physiologically and psychologically, and how a solution‑focused approach—blending positive‑psychology–based psychotherapy with gentle hypnotic trance—can help you regain calm, clarity and control so you can live with greater confidence and happiness.
What's the Difference Between Stress and Anxiety
Although the terms are often used interchangeably, stress and anxiety are distinct:
Stress is typically a short‑term response to external pressure - an impending deadline, a difficult conversation, a house move. Once the situation resolves, physical stress symptoms usually subside.
Anxiety tends to linger. It can arise even when no immediate threat is present and often involves persistent worry, restlessness or a diffuse sense that something is wrong.
Whether you’re dealing with stress, anxiety or both, the body’s reaction is broadly the same - and so are many of the ways we can address it.
How the Body Responds to Stress and Anxiety
Our nervous system is built to keep us safe. When it detects danger—real or imagined—it activates the sympathetic branch (the “fight‑or‑flight” response) and releases adrenaline. Heart rate rises, muscles tense, breathing quickens: the body is primed for action.
Modern living keeps many of us in this heightened state day after day—sometimes a notification ping is all it takes to nudge the system towards alarm.
In SFH sessions we call this the emotional brain (the limbic system). When we are working from this area logical decision‑making is far harder. The primary aim of SFH is to help people move from emotional thinking to rational thinking.
When the brain perceives threat it prompts the adrenal glands to release two key hormones:
Adrenaline and Cortisol – your body’s emergency response team
When we’re stressed or scared, our body fires up its natural alarm system. Adrenaline kicks things off – it makes your heart race, boosts blood pressure and gives you a quick burst of energy.
Cortisol, the main stress hormone, keeps the response going. It raises blood sugar to fuel your brain and body, helps with tissue repair, and reduces non-essential functions like digestion, growth and reproduction. It also plays a big role in how we feel – influencing mood, motivation and fear.
It’s a clever system – designed to help us survive short-term danger. But when stress sticks around, it can start to take its toll.
What are the common symptoms of anxiety?
Common symptoms include:
Persistent worry or fear
Racing thoughts
Sleep disturbances or insomnia
Fatigue or low energy
Digestive issues (e.g. nausea, IBS)
Increased heart rate or palpitations
Sweating or trembling
Muscle tension
Difficulty concentrating or feeling “foggy”
Avoidance behaviours or social withdrawal
In a healthy system, the body returns to balance once danger passes. When stressors are constant, this switch stays stuck on, and chronic cortisol exposure disrupts almost every process in the body.
What is the long‑term impact of chronic stress and anxiety?
Living with persistently raised cortisol suppresses immunity and leaves us prone to infections. It contributes to what many call “adrenal fatigue” (a useful shorthand for the exhaustion, nausea and brain fog chronic stress can bring).
Conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), ME and fibromyalgia are **often—but not always—**linked to longstanding stress. During my years as a practice nurse I saw the fallout daily: persistent tiredness, headaches, migraines, high blood pressure, low mood and digestive issues like IBS. Stress also exacerbates other health and autoimmune conditions.
This professional interest is personal, too: a CFS diagnosis forced me to confront the stress underpinning my own health. I was juggling parenting a child with complex needs, a baby, a job and a stressful relationship while—unknown to me then—also managing undiagnosed ADHD.
I was pouring more into my “stress bucket” than I could empty—until I crashed. Recovery was slow and uneven, but the strategies I learned are the tools I now share with clients. They help keep me well, happy and motivated today.
Can Solution‑Focused Hypnotherapy help with GAD, OCD, Panic Disorder and Health Anxiety?
SFH helps with a broad range of anxiety‑related conditions. For people living with generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), panic attacks, health anxiety or OCD, life can be tough and exhausting. Even minor events - or fleeting thoughts - may trigger full‑blown physiological arousal.
Stress and anxiety can be driven by actual events and by thoughts - especially thoughts about worrying itself. People with health anxiety, OCD or GAD often worry about things that may never happen, yet the body still mounts a stress response as if the threat were real.
SFH is blended with aspects of CBT, and for health anxiety or OCD specific CBT techniques are woven carefully into sessions.
The Neuroscience behind Solution‑Focused Hypnotherapy
Solution‑Focused Hypnotherapy is designed to restore cognitive flexibility and physiological calm. It draws on contemporary neuroscience, including findings on the anterior cingulate cortex, vagal tone and the vital role of REM sleep in emotional processing.
Evidence Base: What the Studies Show
Recent research supports SFH’s effectiveness for anxiety and low mood:
Police Personnel Pilot Study (Barney et al., 2024) – After an average of ten online SFH sessions, 78 % of 42 police officers and staff who began with clinically significant anxiety and/or depression scored below clinical thresholds post‑treatment; 97 % met the study’s “wellness” criteria. Read the peer‑reviewed article.
Northumbria Police Feasibility Project (Treby et al., 2022) – In this workplace study, 100 % of participants improved and 78 % were symptom‑free after completing SFH. Project summary.
Monkey Mind vs Monk Mind: Reclaiming Rational Thinking
Jay Shetty’s Think Like a Monk contrasts the restless “monkey mind” with the calm, rational “monk mind.” This idea—that we have two different mental operating systems, and that calming our busy, emotional, or primitive brain allows access to our rational, thoughtful self - is a fundamental part of Solution Focused Hypnotherapy (SFH).
In SFH, we believe that by reducing the residual stress people carry day to day, we help them make clearer choices and live with greater ease. We also explore habits and lifestyle factors that might be adding more into their “stress bucket” - a metaphor we often use to explain how stress accumulates. Helping people to empty their stress bucket is a core part of the process.
This metaphor is explored in greater detail in Stress Bucket Solutions by Gin Lalli and echoes other well-known models, such as Professor Steve Peters’ Chimp Paradox. Peters describes the emotional brain as a chimp and the logical brain as a human -emphasising the importance of befriending, not battling, our emotional mind.
These ideas also align with the principles of mindfulness and Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC), developed by Dr. Kristin Neff and Dr. Christopher Germer. Like SFH, MSC encourages a gentler, more compassionate relationship with ourselves. As it’s something I practise personally, I’m passionate about bringing at least an understanding of it into my sessions.
Mindfulness runs throughout Solution Focused Brief Therapy too, helping clients become more aware of the present moment and more connected to their inner resources. There are also well-researched physiological benefits to mindfulness - by slowing everything down, being present, and simply breathing in and out, we activate the parasympathetic nervous system and help reduce stress and tension.
Ultimately, SFH supports the same inner shift: quieting the monkey mind and accessing the calm, clear mind that’s always within us.
What to Expect in a Solution‑Focused Hypnotherapy Session
SFH blends elements of Solution‑Focused Brief Therapy, CBT and clinical hypnosis. Rather than excavating past trauma, we concentrate on the life you want to build—and use trance to embed that vision at a subconscious level.
A typical session involves:
1. What’s been good? We start by identifying recent positives—the solid ground on which to build.
2. Preferred future – We sketch how life looks when anxiety is no longer running the show.
3. Relaxation & visualisation – You enter a calm, trance‑like state (a little like the limbo before sleep) where positive suggestion strengthens new neural pathways.
4. Action step & audio – You leave with a bespoke relaxation track and one small, achievable action to move you closer to the future you’ve outlined.
I often remind clients: Change doesn’t happen without change. The client is not passive in the process, they will need to make some changes to their life, SFH can help them work out what changes they need to make and give them the tools to put this into action.
“Solution Focused Therapy is a safe and empowering way of working that helps people make significant, positive changes in a relatively short amount of time.”
Supporting all life stages and Neurodiverse clients
Anxiety doesn’t discriminate—it simply shows up differently across life stages. I work with people of all ages, including:
Children & teens – school stress, friendships, exams, identity.
Neurodivergent clients (ADHD, autism) – sensory overload, social fatigue, routine changes.
Highly Sensitive People (HSPs) – burnout, relationship strain, overwhelm.
Perimenopausal & menopausal women – hormonal shifts, disrupted sleep, reignited anxiety.
Men – work pressure, relationships, anger, body image, phobias, identity.
LGBTQ+ individuals – navigating gender, identity, relationships and belonging.
Older adults – loneliness, financial concerns, health worries, confidence loss.
Stopping the thought spiral: Grounding Techniques
If you’ve ever Googled “how to stop anxious thoughts” at 3 a.m, you’re not alone. Grounding techniques are paramount in stress management techniques for anxiety as they interrupt worry loops by returning attention to the here and now.
The 5‑4‑3‑2‑1 Method
Name:
5 things you can see
4 things you can touch
3 things you can hear
2 things you can smell
1 thing you can taste
This simple sensory exercise re‑engages the rational brain by bringing your busy brain into the present and bringing down your stress levels and grounding you.
Breathing exercises to activate your calming system
Another tried and tested stress management technique to reduce anxiety quickly:
Inhale slowly through your nose for a count of 4.
Exhale through pursed lips (as if blowing out a candle) for a count of 6.
Repeat three times.
Feel your shoulders soften and your chest loosen. This pattern stimulates the vagus nerve, helping your body switch from fight‑or‑flight into rest‑and‑digest.
Mindfulness for Anxiety, Visualisation for Anxiety
Mindful breathing and guided visualisation feature in many sessions. The goal isn’t to “empty your mind” but to notice thoughts without judgement and gently refocus on what matters. Visualising calm responses while in trance is powerful mental rehearsal - your brain processes it as if it really happened.
Do I practise what I preach? Absolutely. Daily meditations, grounding tools and sleep stories are key to my own mental health. These small habits—ten minutes here, two minutes there - build nervous‑system resilience over time.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Description text goes hereTry a grounding or breathing technique - see the exercises above.
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Check the AfSFH therapist directory or work with an online practitioner from anywhere in the world.
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Grounding (5‑4‑3‑2‑1), gentle distraction and mindfulness all help.
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Sit, breathe, ground yourself—place both feet on the floor and name objects around you.
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Therapy, lifestyle changes, quality sleep, social support and - in some cases - medication.
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Research indicates SFH can significantly reduce anxiety; many clients experience lasting relief. See the studies linked above.