Can Hypnotherapy Help With Overthinking?

Modern life asks a great deal of our thinking minds.

We use them to navigate an enormous number of choices, manage busy schedules, keep on top of messages and process a constant stream of information. Even our entertainment keeps this part of us “on” even though it feels like rest.

And there is rarely a clear signal that the day is finished.

Work may have ended, but the emails are still there. The shops may be closed, but we can continue browsing and buying. We can be contacted, and consume information at almost any hour of the day or night.

It is easy to see why so many people feel as though their minds never completely switch off.

But that is only half the story.

We haven’t just gained more mental stimulation

We have also lost many of the everyday opportunities that once allowed deliberate thinking to pause.

Previously, ordinary life contained periods in which there was nothing new to process. We waited for people without looking at a phone. We travelled without constant entertainment. We stood in queues, folded washing, prepared food or completed repetitive tasks without simultaneously consuming information.

These moments might not have looked important. But they gave the mind somewhere else to go.

Today, we often fill them with productivity, entertainment or attempts to get ahead. The moment a little space appears, we reach for the phone, check the list or find something useful to do.

The thinking mind remains on duty.

The activities that absorbed us: everyday trance-like states

We naturally move in and out of absorbed, trance-like states during everyday life. Many traditional activities encouraged this through gentle, repetitive movements: sewing, gardening, kneading dough, cooking, woodworking, knitting and other forms of making.

When we become absorbed in an activity like this, our attention can narrow naturally. We remain awake and aware, but may become less conscious of time and less caught up in deliberate analysis. Thinking takes a back seat.

We can experience something similar while reading an engrossing book, listening to music, driving a familiar route or looking into a fire.

These are not necessarily the same as formal hypnosis. However, they demonstrate something important: focused, absorbed states are a normal part of human experience.

Hypnosis works with this natural capacity for absorption and focused attention. It does not involve losing consciousness or surrendering control.

We have also moved away from nature

Natural environments can hold our attention, without requiring us to analyse, decide or work anything out. Aka reducing the demand on thinking.

Researchers sometimes describe this as “soft fascination”: nature gives the mind something to notice, while allowing effortful attention an opportunity to recover (aka a break from thinking). Research has also associated time in natural environments with reductions in rumination and mental fatigue. In one study, a 90-minute walk in nature reduced participants’ self-reported rumination, while an equivalent urban walk did not produce the same result. (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

Yet many of us now spend much of the day indoors, moving between tasks, screens and built environments.

The problem may not simply be that we think too much. It may be that the other parts of our minds are receiving too little of the space they need to process, restore and do their work.

Where hypnotherapy fits

Hypnotherapy provides a structured opportunity to enter a state of focused attention and absorption.

Contrary to popular belief, hypnosis does not require being unconscious or completely unaware of your surroundings. It can happen with your eyes open or closed. You remain able to hear what is being said, think about it and choose how you respond.

During hypnotherapy, attention is guided away from its usual analytical loops and towards the type of communication understood by the less analytical parts of the mind. Research suggests that hypnosis involves changes in brain networks associated with attention, cognitive control and self-referential thinking, although scientists are still developing their understanding of precisely how it works. (Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews)

This state can then be used therapeutically to support the goal you want to move towards.

For someone who overthinks, that goal might be:

• Feeling calmer when making decisions
• Replaying conversations less often
• Feeling more relaxed around other people
• Responding differently to uncertainty
• Sleeping without analysing the entire day
• Trusting themselves without checking everything repeatedly

Hypnotherapy is not simply an instruction to “stop thinking.” Nor is it about emptying the mind.

It is an opportunity to work with patterns that may operate automatically, beneath the level where repeatedly reasoning with yourself hasn't been effective.

Giving another part of you a turn

For many overthinkers, the thinking mind has become responsible for almost everything.

It tries to predict problems, prevent mistakes, understand every feeling and find the perfect answer before allowing action. Often, it is trying very hard to help.

But thinking is only one of the ways we process experience.

We also use imagination, emotion, intuition, memory, physical sensation and automatic learning. When the analytical mind dominates constantly, information from these other systems can become harder to notice.

Hypnotherapy allows the analytical part of the mind to take a break for a while. This can create space for new associations, perspectives and responses to emerge.

Clients also commonly describe the experience itself as deeply relaxing. That relaxation is not the entire purpose of hypnotherapy, but for someone whose mind rarely feels off duty, it can be a meaningful part of the process.

So, can hypnotherapy help with overthinking?

In my work, I have helped many people experiencing overthinking, anxiety and stressful situations feel better and begin changing the automatic patterns that keep worry, checking and mental rehearsal going.

Results vary, and hypnotherapy is not a universal solution or a replacement for appropriate medical or psychological care. Its usefulness depends on the person, the nature of the difficulty and the way hypnotherapy is incorporated into treatment.

But it offers something many overthinkers have been missing: a way of working with the mind that does not rely exclusively on more analysis.

Sometimes the answer is not finding one more thing to think about.

It is allowing the rest of your mind to have its turn.

Curious about hypnotherapy?

I provide hypnotherapy in Camberwell, Melbourne, and online worldwide for people experiencing stress, anxiety and overthinking.

You can learn more about Hypnotherapy or How I work or book a free 15-minute conversation to explore whether it may be suitable for you.

Ready to explore this in a session? Book a session

Or find out specifically how it can help you? Book a discovery call 

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