Does hypnosis work for anger management?

There is a lot of buzz around ‘mindfulness’ and how it can help stop difficult feelings becoming dark thoughts that lead to destructive actions. This can be useful, but what if the red mist of anger descends before you’ve got time to work through those steps? Hypnosis may be the answer.

Feelings of anger are a part of life. But when that anger careers out of control it can lead to health problems, both mental and physical. And unfortunately, it can also have detrimental effects on all aspects of life; your relationships may break down and your work may suffer.

The first step is acknowledging that you have a problem. The second is finding the cause of your anger. The third is finding a way to stop the switch that flicks to anger.

Hypnosis can help with steps two and three. 

Discovering the cause of your anger

The jump straight to anger is a learned reaction which stems from past experience. This experience will have shaped your behaviour over time. So, while the present focus of your anger may be a person, situation or event, the cause will be something from your past that you have internalised. The reality is that you project anger on to the present stimuli. Once the root cause is known and understood, with the help of hypnosis, you can start working on how to change how you react to outside triggers.

Identifying your triggers

Hypnosis works at both the conscious and unconscious levels to help you understand and change negative thought patterns that lead to destructive actions. Hypnosis will begin by bringing you to a relaxed state. In this state, you will feel safe and able to begin to open up to suggestions of how to identify your triggers. 

Finding reserves of calm

The aim is to stop the red mist descending so that instead of projecting feelings of anger you reach inside yourself and find reserves of calm. In this focused and relaxed state, you will then be able to step back and observe the situation. 

When you are relaxed and feeling safe your hypnotherapist will guide you to reflect on your triggers. One by one you will be asked to identify the physical sensations associated with your triggers. You will be asked to examine the feelings, not to chase them away but to ‘watch them’ and then let them dissolve one by one. In this way, you will become to understand that these feelings need not take over.

Once you feel comfortable about dealing with each sensation your hypnotherapist may invite you to rehearse some scenarios that have triggered anger in your past. In this way, you will be able to try out some techniques for dealing with your anger while you are in a safe, relaxed and controlled environment. 

It is important to remember that anger management is an ongoing process. However, as has been demonstrated, hypnosis is a proven tool to deal with anger management. 

Ready to contact a hypnotherapist? Use our search tool to find the right hypnotherapist for you.