Anxiety, Depression, Overthinking & Unwanted Habits: How Clinical Hypnotherapy & Strategic Psychotherapy Can Help !

Have you ever known exactly what you should do, but still found yourself doing the opposite? You know replaying a conversation over and over isn't helping, but your mind won't let it go.

You know worrying about every possible outcome isn't going to change what happens, but you can't seem to switch it off. Maybe you've promised yourself you'll stop procrastinating, set better boundaries, worry less, stop reaching for that habit, or finally make a change you've been thinking about for months.

You understand what you're doing. You may even understand why you're doing it.

So why can it still be so hard to change? This is something I see often in people experiencing anxiety, depression and low mood, overthinking and unwanted habits.

Understanding a problem is important, but understanding and changing are not always the same thing.

Sometimes we need to look at what our mind has learned to do automatically and what keeps that response going.

We Get Good at What We Practise

Think about learning to drive. In the beginning, you had to consciously think about everything. Mirrors, indicators, steering, braking and other cars. After a while, much of it became automatic.

Our emotional responses and behaviours can become automatic too.

Maybe you've learned to avoid conflict because keeping the peace feels safer. Perhaps you overthink decisions because you're worried about making the wrong one. You might say yes when you really want to say no because disappointing someone feels uncomfortable.

Some people seek reassurance whenever they feel uncertain. Others withdraw, procrastinate, stay constantly busy or try to control everything around them.

These responses don't usually appear for no reason. At some point they may have helped.

The difficulty comes when a response becomes so familiar that we continue using it even when it is no longer getting us the result we want. This is why advice such as "stop worrying", "think positively" or "just don't do it" often isn't particularly helpful.

If it were that simple, you probably would have done it already.

Looking at What Keeps the Problem Going

This is one of the reasons I use Strategic Psychotherapy in my work.

Your past matters. It can help us understand where beliefs, behaviours and emotional responses began. But we don't spend all session analysing everything that has ever happened to you.

What's helpful in creating change is understanding what is happening now.

How are you responding to the problem today? What happens when you feel anxious, uncertain or overwhelmed? Where does your mind go? What do you avoid? What do you do to make yourself feel better in the moment? And could some of those strategies actually be keeping the problem going?

Take anxiety, for example.

You might feel anxious about something and immediately seek reassurance. The reassurance works. You feel better.

But your mind may also learn that you needed reassurance in order to feel safe.

The next time uncertainty appears, you seek reassurance again.

Avoidance can work in a similar way. If avoiding something makes the anxiety disappear, avoiding it becomes very tempting next time.

The strategy makes sense. It just may not be helping in the way you hoped.

Strategic Psychotherapy helps us identify these patterns and start developing different ways of responding.

Where Clinical Hypnotherapy Comes In

Once we understand the pattern, Clinical Hypnotherapy gives us another way to work with responses that have become automatic.

There are still plenty of misconceptions about hypnosis.

You don't become unconscious. You don't lose control. You don't suddenly reveal your deepest secrets. And no, I can't make you behave like a chicken.

Clinical hypnosis involves focused attention. We can use imagery, suggestion and mental rehearsal therapeutically while you're in a more absorbed state of attention.

Most of us experience absorbed states quite naturally.

You might become so involved in a movie that you temporarily forget what's happening around you. You might drive a familiar route without consciously thinking about every turn. You can become completely absorbed in a book or piece of music.

Clinical Hypnotherapy uses focused attention deliberately.

For me, the combination works well because Strategic Psychotherapy helps us understand what someone is doing and what may be keeping the problem going.

Hypnotherapy then gives us another opportunity to practise and reinforce different responses. We aren't trying to erase your past or turn you into a different person.

We're helping your mind discover that there may be more than one way to respond.

Anxiety, Overthinking and the Need for Certainty

Overthinking can look helpful on the surface.

It feels as though if you think about something for long enough, you'll eventually find certainty. So you analyse the conversation again. You consider every possible outcome.

You try to predict what someone else is thinking. You prepare for everything that could go wrong.

The problem is that life doesn't offer certainty about everything.

The more we rely on overthinking to create certainty, the less comfortable uncertainty can become. Part of therapy may involve learning that you don't need to solve every thought that enters your mind.

Sometimes the skill isn't finding the perfect answer. It's becoming more confident in your ability to cope without one.

Depression and Low Mood Need a Thoughtful Approach

Depression and persistent low mood are more complex than simply having negative thoughts. There can be biological, psychological, social and situational factors involved. Appropriate medical or psychological support can be important, particularly when symptoms are persistent or severe.

I don't promote hypnotherapy as a stand-alone cure for depression.

Where Strategic Psychotherapy and Clinical Hypnotherapy may have a role is in looking at some of the patterns surrounding the way a person is feeling.

Someone may have gradually withdrawn from activities they once enjoyed. They may have become highly self-critical, disconnected from other people, stuck in avoidance or caught in patterns of thinking that leave them feeling increasingly defeated.

We can become curious about those patterns without suggesting that someone has caused their own depression.

What has changed?

What has become harder?

What are you no longer doing?

What would you like to be doing again?

Where might we begin creating small changes?

Research into hypnosis for depression continues to develop. I believe this is an area where responsible, individualised care matters.

Unwanted Habits Aren't Always About Willpower

We often assume we should simply have enough willpower to stop an unwanted habit.

But habits can become associated with particular situations, emotions and cues.

Maybe you reach for something when you're stressed. Perhaps you procrastinate when you're worried you won't do something well enough. You might scroll your phone when you feel uncomfortable, bored or overwhelmed.

Simply removing the behaviour doesn't always address what is happening around it.

I want to understand the habit.

When does it happen?

What tends to happen just before it?

What does it give you in that moment?

What makes the urge stronger?

What have you already tried?

That gives us much more useful information than deciding you simply need more discipline.

Emotional Fitness

This is where my philosophy around Emotional Fitness comes into my work.

We understand that physical fitness requires skills and practice, yet we often expect ourselves to somehow know how to handle every emotion and situation life throws at us.

Who taught you how to calm your nervous system when you're overwhelmed?

Who taught you how to tolerate uncertainty?

How to recognise catastrophising before you get pulled into it?

How to set a boundary without spending the next three days feeling guilty?

How to sit with an uncomfortable emotion without immediately trying to get rid of it?

How to recognise when something is possible but not necessarily probable?

Many people were never taught these things.

We learned by watching the people around us and by discovering what helped us get through whatever was happening at the time.

Therapy can be an opportunity to develop some of the skills we may never have learned.

That is very different from assuming there is something fundamentally wrong with you.

What Can Clinical Hypnotherapy and Strategic Psychotherapy Help With?

In my practice, people seek support for a wide range of concerns, including:

• Anxiety and excessive worry

• Depression and low mood

• Overthinking and catastrophising

• Stress and burnout

• Confidence and self-esteem

• People-pleasing and difficulty setting boundaries

• Procrastination and avoidance

• Unwanted habits

• Fear of failure or rejection

• Difficulty coping with uncertainty

• Feeling emotionally stuck

• Repeating behaviours or relationship patterns

Two people can come to therapy describing exactly the same problem and still need very different approaches.

That's why I'm interested in the person rather than simply the label.

What Happens in a Session?

We start by talking. I want to understand what is happening for you, what you've already tried and what you would like to change. As we talk, we're also looking for patterns.

What triggers the problem? What happens next? What gives temporary relief? What might unintentionally be keeping it going? This gives us something practical to work with.

My sessions can combine Strategic Psychotherapy, Strategic Hypnotherapy and Clinical Hypnosis, along with education around Emotional Fitness, breathing and nervous system regulation.

Where Clinical Hypnotherapy is appropriate, we can then use focused attention, imagery, suggestion and mental rehearsal to work with the changes we've been discussing.

You're aware and involved throughout the process.

The aim isn't for me to tell you how to live your life.

It's to help you understand what's happening well enough that you have more choice in what you do next.

Common Questions About Clinical Hypnotherapy

Will I lose control?

No. Hypnosis isn't mind control. You remain aware and involved in what is happening.

What does hypnosis feel like?

Everyone experiences it differently. Some people feel very relaxed. Others simply notice they become deeply focused. There isn't a particular feeling you need to achieve for hypnotherapy to be useful.

Will I remember what happens?

Most people remain aware of the session and remember what occurred.

Can hypnotherapy help anxiety?

Research into hypnosis for anxiety is encouraging, and it may be useful as part of a broader therapeutic approach. Whether it is appropriate depends on the individual and what they are experiencing.

Can hypnotherapy help depression?

Hypnosis has been studied in relation to depressive symptoms, but the evidence is still developing. I don't promote hypnotherapy as a stand-alone treatment for depression. It may form part of a broader therapeutic approach where appropriate.

How many sessions will I need?

There isn't a set number that applies to everyone. It depends on what you're experiencing, what you want to change and the patterns involved.

Can I do Clinical Hypnotherapy online?

Yes. I offer Clinical Hypnotherapy and Strategic Psychotherapy from Breathe & Connect Wellness Studio in Little Mountain on the Sunshine Coast, as well as online sessions.

Where Do You Go From Here?

If you've spent a long time knowing what you "should" do but struggling to actually do it, perhaps the next question isn't: "Why can't I just get over this?"

A more useful question might be:

"What keeps this pattern going, and what could I learn to do differently?"

Your past can help explain how a pattern developed. It doesn't have to decide what happens next.

If anxiety, depression, overthinking or unwanted habits are affecting your life, you can learn more about Clinical Hypnotherapy and Strategic Psychotherapy at Breathe & Connect Wellness Studio.

Sessions are available with Cassy Dickerson in Little Mountain on the Sunshine Coast and online.

Book a Session

More From Breathe & Connect

Interested in understanding more about your mind, nervous system and emotional wellbeing?

Explore more articles from Breathe & Connect,

where I share information about Emotional Fitness, breathwork, nervous system regulation, Clinical Hypnotherapy and different approaches to supporting emotional wellbeing.