How can listening to a hypnosis CD or MP3 help?
Very simply put, the hypnotic state encourages a state of intense focus and clarity on what you want to achieve. Some people experience this as a light day-dreamy state and sometimes with practice you can drift deeper if you choose to.
Either way you become more open and eager to accept suggestions that will help you to feel more confident, calm and at ease with others and more creative in finding strategies and solutions that suit your own particular situation. You choose in your own imagination how to fit the positive suggestions that you hear into your own particular situation whether that might be answering the phone, joining in conversations, eating or speaking in front of other people, feeling judged by them or something completely different.
Also of course, as we know, practice makes perfect so regular listening is the key to success!
I’m going to have a look at what can cause social anxiety next but, if you just want advice on the best titles that can help you, skip to the end paragraph straightaway!
What are the causes of Social anxiety?
Various anxiety disorders tend to run in families so it’s true that we are more likely to develop social anxiety if people in our immediate family suffer from it. And while that leads us to think that anxiety traits are genetically inherited it’s not the end of the story. Or let’s say it’s not the only story!
Nature versus Nurture?
We learn our behaviour from our first role models and for the vast majority of people that will be our parents and siblings. If we grow up in a family where our parents are clearly anxious about mixing with people, we learn that behaviour by observing them. So is it our genes or is it learned behaviour? It’s more likely to be a combination of both …in fact it’s that old nature versus nurture debate all over again.
And it isn’t only that children directly model their parents’ anxious behaviour. Children can also learn to fear people and their social environment because they are over-protected and controlled by their parents. While parents may be doing this with the best of intentions children can grow up learning to be afraid or uncomfortable once they are out of the comfort zone of the family.
Bullying can be another cause of social anxiety
It’s not only our immediate family experience of course. Children who experience teasing, bullying, rejection, ridicule, humiliation or social embarrassment of some kind may later be more prone to developing social anxiety disorder. They can have lower self-esteem because, wrongly, they can come to believe that they deserve this unkind taunting in some way and then learn that the best way to avoid it is to avoid social contact as much as they can.
Could it be because of ‘an over-active amygdala’?
The amygdala (to be accurate we have two of these, one in each hemisphere) is a part of the brain that is involved in recognising our emotions and in forming our responses to those emotions. In very simplistic terms it’s particularly sensitive to fear because fear is an intrinsic part of our survival ‘kit’. The amygdala recognises fear and prepares us for how to respond appropriately to danger, which of course is a good thing. For example it’s sensible not to trust every stranger we meet but it’s way out of proportion to be terrified every time we are introduced to someone new!
Some experts think that it’s possible to have ‘an ‘overactive amygdala’ … a heightened fear response that could be at least partially responsible for social anxiety. It’s almost as though for some reason the amygdala has gone into ‘overdrive mode’. A person who has this heightened fear response doesn’t necessarily need to have been involved in a traumatic event of some kind, although of course this might be what sparked it off. On the other hand it could perhaps just be a biological response they were born with. To be honest there is as yet no single consensus between experts.
Hypnosis downloads can help you cope with social anxiety
Whatever the cause however, social anxiety can definitely negatively affect a person’s everyday life …the impact may be mild to middling or massive and disabling.
If your anxiety falls into the mild to middling range, I suggest you have a listen to the sample of my self-help hypnosis audio, Relieve social anxiety. Lots and lots of people have been helped through regular listening to this.
Other downloads which could be very helpful are Let go of obsessive thoughts the mindfulness way and Overcome panic attack the mindfulness way
Or, you can consider one-to-one hypnotherapy
If your anxiety falls more into the middling to disabling end of the spectrum then it’s probably best to consider some one-to-one hypnotherapy. My therapy sessions always include a tailor made audio for regular home listening to give you on-going support.
