What anxiety isn’t…. a fault, a weakness, or something that means there is “something wrong” with you. It is a protective response of the nervous system that has become overactive.
For many people, anxiety begins with a genuine reason — stress, pressure, uncertainty, illness, loss, or prolonged responsibility. Over time, the brain learns to stay on high alert, even when the original threat has passed. This is where anxiety becomes exhausting, intrusive, and hard to switch off.
My work with anxiety focuses on helping the brain and nervous system relearn safety, rather than trying to fight, suppress, or control anxious thoughts.
How anxiety actually works
Anxiety is driven less by logic and more by automatic survival systems in the brain.
When the brain senses threat — real or imagined — it activates:
- Increased heart rate and breathing
- Muscle tension
- Heightened awareness of bodily sensations
- Racing or repetitive thoughts
- A strong urge to escape, avoid, or gain certainty
This response is useful in genuine danger. But when it becomes chronic, the brain starts reacting to sensations, thoughts, or situations as if they are threats — even when you consciously know they aren’t.
This is why reassurance, positive thinking, or “calming down” techniques often don’t work for long. Anxiety isn’t created by conscious thought — it’s maintained by learned patterns in the nervous system.
Common ways it shows up
Anxiety doesn’t look the same for everyone. You may recognise yourself in one or several of the following:
- Constant worrying or overthinking
- Feeling on edge, restless, or unable to relax
- Panic attacks or fear of panic returning
- Sensitivity to bodily sensations (heart rate, nausea, dizziness)
- Avoidance of certain places or situations
- Difficulty sleeping or switching off at night
- Feeling mentally tired but physically wired
Some people experience anxiety in very specific situations, while others feel it as a general background state that never quite settles.
Types of anxiety I commonly help with
Rather than treating anxiety as a single condition, it’s more useful to understand how it has become wired into your system. Below are some of the most common patterns I work with.
General anxiety
A persistent sense of unease, anticipation, or worry that doesn’t seem to have a clear cause — often described as “always being on edge.”
Learn more about how anxiety patterns develop
Panic attacks
Sudden surges of intense fear accompanied by physical sensations such as breathlessness, chest tightness, dizziness, or nausea. Often, the fear becomes centred around the sensations themselves.
Read more about panic attacks and the panic cycle
Phobias and specific fears
Fear responses linked to particular situations, sensations, or experiences — including emetophobia (fear of vomiting), driving anxiety, public speaking, or medical-related fears.
Stress-related
Long-term stress can keep the nervous system permanently activated, eventually leading to anxiety symptoms even during rest.
Understand the link between chronic stress and anxiety
Why it persists (even when life improves)
One of the most frustrating aspects of anxiety is that it often continues even when circumstances improve.
This happens because the brain is a learning system. Once it has practised anxiety for long enough, it becomes efficient at producing it. The nervous system doesn’t update automatically — it updates through experience.
This is why anxiety often:
- Appears “out of the blue”
- Moves from one focus to another
- Returns after periods of calm
- Persists despite reassurance or lifestyle changes
The goal is not to remove anxiety completely, but to help the system stand down when there is no real threat.
How hypnotherapy helps
Hypnotherapy works with the same systems that anxiety operates through — attention, expectation, imagery, and physiological response.
Rather than analysing anxiety, hypnotherapy helps to:
- Reduce automatic threat responses
- Retrain how the brain responds to sensations and thoughts
- Restore a sense of internal safety
- Improve emotional regulation
- Reduce the fear of anxiety itself
This approach is particularly effective for people who:
- Feel stuck despite understanding their anxiety logically
- Have tried talking approaches with limited change
- Want practical, experience-based change rather than coping strategies
Read how hypnotherapy works for anxiety
What working with me is like
My approach is calm, practical, and grounded in how the brain actually works.
We begin with a thorough consultation to understand:
- How your anxiety developed
- What maintains it now
- How your nervous system responds under pressure
Sessions are structured, collaborative, and focused on change — not endless revisiting of the past. Many clients describe the experience as relieving, because it removes the sense that anxiety is mysterious or uncontrollable.
I work both in-person in Hayle, Cornwall, and online.
It doesn’t mean you are broken
Anxiety is a sign of a system that has learned to protect you too well.
With the right approach, the brain can relearn balance — often more quickly and gently than people expect.
If you’d like to explore whether hypnotherapy is suitable for your anxiety, you’re welcome to get in touch.