Hypnotherapy – How hypnosis can help against anxiety – Knowledge

Anxiety and phobias are increasingly a problem in society – the corona pandemic has exacerbated this. Fear hinders and paralyzes, those affected are severely impaired in everyday life. Hypnosis is a means of dealing with such fears in a different way.

The psychologist Barbara Schmidt has been scientifically dealing with the topic of fear for years and is researching possibilities in the field of hypnosis.

Barbara Schmidt

hypnosis researcher


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dr Barbara Schmidt is a research associate at the Institute for Psychosocial Medicine, Psychotherapy and Psycho-Oncology at the Jena University Hospital. Her research focuses on the effects of positive suggestion and hypnosis on anxiety and stress in the brain and body. She also uses hypnosis herself. Your recently published book on the subject is entitled: «Angst? Just ask! Clear first-hand answers.», published by Verlag UTB.

SRF knowledge: Mrs. Schmidt, you treat fears with hypnosis. Why did you choose this method?

Barbara Schmidt: Ideas that can trigger fears are particularly accessible under hypnosis. This is because ideas play out at a subconscious level, as if automatically. And we hardly get to this level in the waking state.

Under hypnosis, one is then very receptive to targeted suggestions and changes, provided of course that there is a relationship of trust between the hypnotist and the hypnotized person.

How do you go about dealing with anxiety in hypnotherapy?

First I find out in the conversation how the fear expresses itself. Only then do I switch to hypnosis. In the hypnosis intervention against anxiety, I rely on a method that I call “the safe place”. Everyone has a place where they feel safe and secure. And you have to imagine this. The subconscious knows exactly what or where that place is.

This security forms the basis for everything that happens afterwards: those who feel so secure can become courageous, face their fears and overcome them.

What could hypnosis do here?

Anxiety and stress affect pain; and this can have far-reaching effects on our health. Now, if I’m able to reduce stress, and even through a measure that’s within myself, it has tremendous potential. I am very sure that this will give us a better understanding of many clinical pictures.

In a current project you are also investigating how hypnosis can help with test anxiety?

Exactly. Based on my experiences, I created a script that I think anyone can use to get hypnotized.

My research team and I are now testing such scripts on schoolchildren with exam anxiety here in Thuringia: the intervention can be listened to as an audio file. We then check whether and how test results and stress levels of the subjects change before and after an intervention. This research is still ongoing.

Hypnosis effects in the intensive care unit


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Barbara Schmidt collected clear evidence in intensive care units. People there are in a scary situation per se, often between life and death.
Artificial respiration often poses a problem: people have a mask pressed onto their face, which is very tight and forces air into their lungs.

Anyone who tries to breathe against this mask has no chance – it can feel like suffocation. People who have had bad experiences with it can develop a fear of this mask. However, it is necessary to increase the oxygen content in the blood.

Schmidt accompanied such patients with the “safe place” technique: If the patients could imagine the safe place during ventilation, they would have demonstrably relaxed more quickly and were able to accept the ventilation much better, according to the German researcher.

She sees another area of ​​application for hypnosis in the fact that general anesthesia is used in fewer cases in children. Because Schmidt is bothered by the fact that some children are still put under general anesthesia for an MRI. That is very stressful for the body.

Instead, you can take away the fear of the tube thanks to hypnosis: for example, suggesting to the children that they are going on a space mission in a rocket and the whole procedure would be an adventure. You can activate a lot of resources – especially in children, who respond very well to suggestions – and thus make anesthesia superfluous, says Schmidt.

Is there even a fear of hypnosis?

Yes, this can happen: the feeling of not being in control creates a fear of the hypnosis session. I then explain that hypnosis is not about relinquishing control. On the contrary: Thanks to hypnosis, you can regain control. Because in the state of fear you have no control over your behavior to deal with the fear – we can change that with resources that lie within ourselves. What could more control mean?

For me, hypnosis shows impressively what we ourselves are capable of.

Long-term effectiveness of hypnosis


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Barbara Schmidt also works with so-called “post-hypnotic suggestions” – i.e. suggestions that can be called up after hypnosis – and uses them to test the long-term effectiveness of hypnosis.

The method: During hypnosis, she asks patients to write an “S” for safety on a piece of paper when the person feels safe. Later, when the person looks at the note again, they will immediately have the same feeling.

Even weeks after the hypnosis, patients would feel the same security just by looking at the note. According to Schmidt, this shows the sustainable and long-term effects that hypnotherapy can have. Such effects need to be researched further.

Christian Bachmann conducted the interview.

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