Hypnotherapy and Agoraphobia

In my meditation this morning I was contemplating how lucky we are in Australia and to be able to stay at home during this pandemic and have access to food, water and shelter. It’s these comfortable conditions that make home a safe place to reside.

At the shops, it’s a different story. In town, people have been wearing masks and gloves at the supermarket. There are sanitizer wipes at the front of the store to clean down the trolley and signs everywhere telling you to stay 1.5M away from people. Some shops are closed and lots of shelves in the stores that are open, are empty. If you already have a little bit of anxiety about being out in public, this could escalate that fear.

I knew someone a while ago, who was experiencing difficulty being outdoors due to several factors in her life. This feeling of anxiety kept building up and growing stronger every time she went outside. She was constantly reinforcing to herself how “bad” life was outside of her home until she eventually just didn’t go outside. This made her feel safe and comfortable, but it truly wasn’t very beneficial as a long term solution!

Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder, where the person feels that their environment is unsafe. Our subconscious mind is always looking to protect us and therefore, it may simply assume, that in order to protect us, it would be wise to just stay at home… permanently.

Our subconscious has the majority of control over our habits, and actions, and it’s here that we need to “reprogram” the faulty reasoning. This is what makes hypnotherapy so powerful. Combined with CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy), hypnotherapy can access the subconscious mind and help to re-frame the way the outside world is seen.

This will allow the person experiencing high levels of anxiety to take control of their unconscious behaviours and feel safe whenever they are out and about. It can truly turn someone’s life around on many different levels. It is that powerful!