Does hypnotherapy work for anger management?

Nearly everyone is affected by high levels of stress currently. These high-stress levels will cause emotions to run high and sometimes out of control. Anger, sadness, grief, fear are all emotions that can get out of hand during times of high stress. In order to get back into balance, we need to get these emotions under control. So does hypnotherapy work to get these emotions under control and does hypnotherapy work for anger management?

What is hypnotherapy?

Hypnotherapy is therapy in the state of hypnosis. (Read that again!)

Hypnosis is an extremely relaxed state of mind and it’s our true state of mind (our subconscious) when our rational mind isn’t trying to control everything!

Hypnotherapy is a powerful tool for most mental health issues because it accesses and works directly with the subconscious mind which is where most of our problems stem from.

If you want to get to the root of any behavioural issue, you need to work with the subconscious mind.

What’s involved in a hypnotherapy session?

It involves about 30-40 mins of talk therapy (counselling) then 30-40 mins of deep meditation with headphones on (if you’re in the clinic). The therapist will guide you through whatever is most appropriate to work on as discussed in the counselling part of the session. In the session you should experience a feeling of being deeply relaxed and calm but also in control.

How can you fix anger issues with hypnotherapy?

There are many different methods that we can use within hypnotherapy. Feeling the emotions of anger in the body and learning to control them at a subconscious level. Removing old beliefs about yourself that are triggering the anger and creating new more positive beliefs. For example- Changing “I’m not good at anything” and replacing it with, “there are many things that I am good at and I am learning more every day!” And sometimes just talking about something that had made you very sad when you were younger and you weren’t allowed to express at the time can have a powerful healing effect on the mind and body.

EMDR for anger management

I have the added benefit of utilising EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) which is powerful for healing trauma stuck in the mind and body. EMDR won’t be used in all anger management cases, but sometimes EMDR is beneficial if trauma is the cause of the anger. EMDR will process the trauma properly which should alleviate the anger.

Hypnotherapy for anger management success story.

As a clinical hypnotherapist on the Gold Coast, I’ve worked with many people with anger issues. Most of the time anger is just bottled up emotions that haven’t been allowed to be expressed including sadness and grief.

Jack* (*not his actual name) came to see me in 2020 for anger issues. Jack was 33 years old, married with kids, he was a successful tradesmen and a business owner. He sought the services of a clinical hypnotherapist as his anger was getting out of control and it needed to be managed. Whenever someone asked him to do something or if people didn’t understand him and he had to explain himself constantly he would “fly off the handle”. Jack said it was an intense emotion that took over his body in those moments and he couldn’t control it. After the incident, he would eventually settle down and apologize but it was getting worse as he was getting older. It was mostly loved ones and work mates that he would react to and Jack didn’t want to be that angry person anymore.

What we did.

Jack had 4 sessions of hypnotherapy. In the first session we dove straight into his early life. Who his parents were and what he learned to believe about himself when he was younger. Jack said his father very angry and controlling. He remembered his father always yelling when he got home from work. His mother was very loving but fearful.

Over the four sessions we did some regression back to his childhood. Jack was able to access these old emotions and beliefs that he had when he was little. He was scared most of the time and very afraid of his father. He was angry at himself because he could not protect his mother and this made him sad. A lot of other emotions and feelings came up which Jack knew he had been repressing for a long time.

We also worked on creating new beliefs and feelings. He had a belief that he couldn’t protect those he loved. So we removed that belief and created new ones including, “I am strong now and am able to protect those I love” and “I am in control” which his inner child needed to know.

The results

After the very first session Jack started to feel calmer and more in control. Jack said he felt like he knew himself better and felt more connected. By the time we were done, he had the skills to use to stay calm and in control in the situations that used to trigger him.

Ready to give hypnotherapy for anger management a go?

For hypnotherapy on the Gold coast, you can visit my clinic at Southport or Chirn Park or if you’re somewhere else in the world, zoom sessions are available.