Hypnotherapy for Social Anxiety in London
Hello, I’m Susannah. I am a fully qualified clinical hypnotherapist and coach with over 22 years of experience helping people feel calmer and more confident in social situations.
I hold the Senior Qualification in Hypnotherapy Practice (SQHP) from the General Hypnotherapy Standards Council (GHSC), and the HPD from the National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH). If you’re looking for hypnotherapy for social anxiety, I’d be happy to help.
We will explore the thoughts and triggers behind your social anxiety, and I will create a bespoke social anxiety treatment plan to help you feel calm and confident.
I have a specialist interest in social anxiety hypnotherapy and understand that to find a sustainable solution, we need to address the limiting beliefs that you hold about yourself.
Social anxiety can make everyday situations feel overwhelming. Things that seem simple to others, like making small talk, speaking up in a meeting, or chatting in a group, can trigger intense self-consciousness, fear and dread.
You might find yourself overthinking what you’ve said, worrying you’ve embarrassed yourself, or avoiding social events altogether. This kind of anxiety is often misunderstood as shyness, but social anxiety can be far more distressing and limiting than that. It can affect your relationships, your confidence at work, and your ability to enjoy life.
Is social anxiety holding you back from achieving your full potential at a personal and professional level? Are you wondering how to get rid of social anxiety permanently?
I combine clinical hypnosis with NLP and coaching to address the root cause and help you become calmer, happier and more confident around other people.
If you would like to learn more about my social anxiety hypnotherapy programme, get in touch.
Common reasons to seek hypnotherapy for social anxiety:
- Worrying for days in advance about a social event
- Feeling self-conscious, judged, or not good enough
- Avoiding social situations
- Overanalysing conversations after they happen
- Struggling with eye contact, blushing or sweating
- Fear if public speaking or being the centre of attention
- Holding back your opinions or personality in case people don't like you
- Heart racing, nausea, or dry mouth in social settings
- Constant fear of saying or doing the "wrong" thing
Susannah Saunders
Hello, my name is Susannah. I am a clinical hypnotherapist and life coach in London with over 20 years of experience helping people to enjoy a happier, more fulfilling life. Get in touch to find out more or book an appointment in London today.
NLP, Coaching and Hypnotherapy for Social Anxiety
Social anxiety hypnotherapy works by changing the way your brain responds to social situations. When you’ve spent years feeling judged, awkward or not good enough, these feelings can become wired into your subconscious, creating a cycle of fear, avoidance, and overthinking.
Social anxiety hypnosis helps you change the limiting beliefs and expectations that have been causing your anxiety. Using positive imagery and mental rehearsal whilst in a deep state of hypnosis, your subconscious can embrace a new belief that social situations are safe and an opportunity for you to be your confident, authentic self.
In the first session, we will explore what social confidence would mean to you and how you would like to think and behave in these environments. I will then guide you into hypnosis, where I will help your subconscious release your fears and start rebuilding your confidence and self-belief.
Every social anxiety treatment plan is tailored to your needs and goals. I usually work with clients for around 3 to 4 sessions, and you can schedule these at a pace that suits you.
Social Anxiety hypnotherapy and coaching can help you:
- Get to the root cause of your anxiety
- Correct unhelpful, subconscious beliefs
- Feel more at ease in conversations
- Speak clearly and confidently in groups
- Look forward to social situations
- Stay calm when attention is on you
- Boost your self worth and confidence
- Speak up in meetings
- Feel more relaxed meeting new people
How Social Anxiety Hypnosis Works
When I work with someone suffering from social anxiety, I don’t just use hypnotherapy on its own. I combine it with NLP and coaching to help change the way your mind processes and responds to social situations. We’ll look at the specific thoughts, triggers and patterns that are triggering your symptoms, and start to gently rewire those responses.
NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) is useful for identifying and correcting negative self-talk. If you keep telling yourself that you’re not good enough, not interesting enough, that you’ll embarrass yourself or that people are judging you, you will continue to experience anxiety. Combining NLP with clinical hypnosis, we can change these negative thoughts at the subconscious level and create a more positive inner dialogue.
Coaching helps you explore how you would like things to be different and what steps you can take to move forward. All of my sessions are tailored to your personal experiences because confidence looks different to everyone.
If you would like to find out how I can help, let's talk
The Science Behind Hypnotherapy for Social Anxiety
If well-meaning friends or family have ever told you to just relax or stop overthinking, you will know that social anxiety doesn’t respond well to logic or pep talks. That’s because it’s not coming from the rational part of your brain. It’s coming from your subconscious, the part of your mind that wants to protect you from anything that it perceives to be a threat, whether that’s real or imagined.
Once that assessment has been made, it activates your stress response, putting you into fight-flight-freeze mode. So your heart rate will increase, and you might get sweaty, tense or experience butterflies. This is your brain’s way of preparing you to take immediate action: run away (flight), get snappy and irritable (fight), or make yourself small and hope that no one notices you (freeze).
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This primitive response was helpful for our ancestors when coming face-to-face with a bear or tiger, but it isn’t so helpful in the modern world. Our ancient survival instincts are not very good at detecting the difference between a real physical threat, and a stressful situation, like meeting new people or speaking up in a meeting. Your brain assesses situations based on how you’ve responded before, and if you’re used to getting anxious in social situations, your brain repeats that previous response. After all, you survived previous situations by reacting that way, so your brain believes it’s best to do it again.
Wondering how to get rid of social anxiety for good?
Our survival instincts will override logical thought, so we need to get to the heart of the problem: the belief that these situations are unsafe for you. Social anxiety hypnotherapy helps to rewire your threat response by neutralising the fear. Once your subconscious sees social situations as safe, you will naturally feel calmer and more confident.
Symptoms of Social Anxiety
Social anxiety can show up as physical symptoms like a racing heart, dry mouth, sweating, blushing, shaky hands, or feeling sick before or during social situations. You might freeze up, find it hard to speak, or feel your mind go completely blank.
There may be a constant fear of being judged, criticised, or laughed at. You might worry that you’ve said something wrong, or replay conversations afterwards, picking apart every word. You may find yourself avoiding social events, staying quiet in groups, or struggling to speak up at work, even when you have something to say.
Some people feel panicked about making phone calls, eating in front of others, or being the centre of attention. Others describe a deep sense of dread before meetings, presentations, or even going into shops. Social anxiety can also make it hard to make eye contact or join in conversations, in both group and one-to-one situations. For some, it only happens with people they don’t know. For others, it affects them even when around close friends or family. Social anxiety hypnotherapy can help bring relief from these symptoms to make life easier and more enjoyable.
What Causes Social Anxiety?
For some people, social anxiety can be traced back to a specific moment. Maybe being laughed at, criticised or humiliated. For others, it is built up over time. We don’t need to know when or why it started to get to the root of the fear, as the subconscious is able to correct these outdated responses whilst in a state of deep hypnosis.
Thanks to neuroplasticity, the brain is adaptable, and it can rewire the neural pathways responsible for the fear. We don’t need to dwell on the past to change the way you feel now. Social anxiety is not a fixed part of who you are. It’s a learned response. And with social anxiety hypnotherapy, it can be unlearned.
Is Social Anxiety Hypnosis a Quick Fix?
The subconscious mind can respond quickly to positive suggestions, especially when it’s ready for change. It is therefore common to feel better after just one session. But just like going to the gym, one visit won’t suddenly make you strong. Consistency is what builds strength and resilience. Social anxiety treatment and mental wellness are no different.
If you’ve been living with social anxiety for a long time, your beliefs and responses have had plenty of time to bed in. So while we can start to change them quickly, it usually takes repetition to fully let go of the fear and replace it with something more useful.
That’s where social anxiety hypnosis comes in. It gives your brain the chance to rehearse new ways of responding, over and over again, until they start to feel familiar. With the right support, these changes can become second nature.
Hypnotherapy for Social Anxiety in London & Online
My private London hypnotherapy practice was founded in 2003. I have been awarded the Senior Qualification of Hypnotherapy Practice (SQHP) from the General Hypnotherapy Standards Council (GHSC) and the HPD from the National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH).
For more information on how I use hypnotherapy, NLP and coaching to help you overcome your social anxiety in my London hypnotherapy clinic, get in touch. We can talk through your symptoms and I can explain how I can help.
What My Clients Say
Contact me today to book a session
FAQs
How many hypnotherapy sessions will I need for social anxiety?
Everyone is different, but I usually work with clients for around 3 to 8 sessions.
How does hypnosis help with social anxiety?
Social anxiety hypnosis helps calm the part of your brain that’s triggering the fear response. It gives your subconscious mind the chance to update old, unhelpful beliefs and feel safer in situations that used to cause anxiety.
What does a social anxiety hypnotherapy session involve?
Each session begins with a conversation where we explore how you’ve been feeling and how you’d like things to be different. I then guide you into a deeply relaxed state and use positive suggestions, mental rehearsal and other techniques to help your subconscious let go of the fear and create new responses.
Is online hypnotherapy as effective as in-person?
Yes. In fact, many clients find that they relax more easily in their own home. All you need is a quiet, comfortable space and a good internet connection. Social anxiety hypnosis works best when you feel safe and at ease, so being in your own familiar surroundings can really help.
Can hypnotherapy help me get rid of social anxiety completely?
Social anxiety is a learned response, and that means it can be unlearned. If you’ve been wondering how to get rid of social anxiety, the key is to work with the subconscious mind. Hypnotherapy for social anxiety helps you change those automatic reactions to feel calmer and more confident.
What if I don’t know where my social anxiety came from?
That’s completely fine. Some people can pinpoint a clear moment; others can’t. Either way, we don’t need to analyse the past to help you move forward.
Will I lose control during social anxiety hypnosis?
No. Hypnosis is simply a focused, relaxed state where your mind is more open to helpful suggestions. You’ll remain in full control throughout the session, and you can bring yourself out of it at any time if you want to. Most people describe it as a calming, peaceful daydream.
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