Your Anxiety Is Not Random. What If It Had a Deeper Meaning?
Panic attacks and anxiety are not enemies to be eliminated. They are signals—messages from your body and unconscious mind trying to get your attention. But we often perceive them as intruders, something to silence or fight against.
👉 What if, instead of trying to suppress them, we learned to listen and understand them?
What if your fears and worries were telling a much bigger story than you realized?
In this article, we will break down the invisible mechanisms behind anxiety, explore why stress manifests in your life, how it connects to deeper systemic patterns, and most importantly, discover concrete techniques to regain lasting emotional balance.
Why Do You Feel So Stressed? The Bigger Picture of Anxiety
Many people believe their stress is purely due to external factors—work pressure, daily responsibilities, or personal challenges. But in reality, our stress responses are deeply shaped by unconscious patterns, generational influences, and even societal structures.
🧩 A systemic approach helps us see that we are part of a much larger dynamic:
Chronic work stress might reflect a subconscious loyalty to a family belief that equates self-worth with overachievement.
An unexplained fear of abandonment could stem from generational trauma passed down through family dynamics.
A feeling of suffocation in your responsibilities may be linked to cultural expectations you’ve unconsciously absorbed.
💡 Taking a step back from these mechanisms allows us to "decolonize" our minds—meaning we can question and reshape the narratives that have shaped our anxieties.
Why Am I Afraid for No Reason? Your Brain as a Predictive Machine
Your brain is not just reacting to reality—it is constantly predicting what will happen based on past experiences.This means that:
If you have experienced past trauma, your brain remains on high alert, scanning for anything similar.
If you grew up in an unpredictable environment, you might have developed hyper-vigilance, amplifying your fears.
If anxiety was a constant presence in your family, you are more likely to interpret neutral situations as threatening.
👉 The result? You feel fear and panic even when there is no immediate danger. This is not a flaw—it’s an outdated survival program that can be updated.
How to Stop a Panic Attack Naturally?
The key is not to fight the panic attack but to navigate through it differently.
Here are three essential steps:
1️⃣ Reconnect with Your Body
Anxiety is not just in the mind; it is deeply physical. Your body holds onto tension long before you consciously register it.
✔ Diaphragmatic breathing: Inhale deeply into your belly (4 seconds), hold (2 seconds), then exhale slowly (6 seconds).
✔ Hypnotic body scan: Focus on each part of your body and simply observe what you feel—without trying to change anything.
✔ Grounding technique (5-4-3-2-1): Identify 5 things you see, 4 you touch, 3 you hear, 2 you smell, and 1 you taste.
2️⃣ Change Your Perception of Anxiety
Instead of seeing anxiety as the enemy, shift your mindset:
"My anxiety is a signal, not a curse."
"It’s trying to show me something important."
"It is energy that, if redirected, can become a strength."
💡 Hypnotic Reframing Trick: Mentally tell yourself, “I’m curious about what this anxiety wants to show me.” Simply welcoming the feeling in a different way can reduce its intensity.
3️⃣ Use Hypnosis to Shift Your Focus
Hypnosis is a powerful tool for exploring emotional responses and reshaping how you experience stress.
Here are a few accessible techniques:
Express Self-Hypnosis: Close your eyes, visualize a calming place, and fully immerse yourself in its details—temperature, sounds, and scents.
Emotional Dissociation: Picture your stress as an object in front of you. Change its size, color, and texture. Notice how it alters your emotional state.
Sensory Anchoring: Associate a specific physical touch (e.g., pressing two fingers together) with a relaxed state, repeating it until your body naturally responds with calm.
I Feel Like I’m Losing Control of My Emotions—What Can I Do?
Loss of control is often an illusion. What we perceive as "losing control" is actually a sudden emotional shift that feels overwhelming because we are not used to navigating it.
Example:If an emotion erupts strongly, it’s usually because it has been ignored or suppressed for too long.
Solution: 1️⃣ Name the emotion precisely: Instead of saying "I feel bad," try "I feel frustrated because I don’t feel understood."
2️⃣ Allow time to process it: The more you try to suppress an emotion, the longer it lingers.
3️⃣ Create a ritual for transformation: A simple gesture or keyword to help you regain stability.
Conclusion: Anxiety as a Gateway to Greater Awareness
Rather than seeing stress and anxiety as problems, consider them powerful signals:
They highlight hidden tensions within you.
They reveal which unconscious patterns are still active.
They offer an opportunity for deep transformation.
💡 Hypnosis and introspection are powerful allies in exploring these mechanisms and rewriting them—helping you transition from passively reacting to consciously choosing your responses.
Sources:
1️⃣ Pattern Interruption and Cognitive Reframing
Beevers, C. G., et al. (2011). Cognitive Control and Ruminative Responses to Emotional Stimuli. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 42(1), 12–22.→ This study explores how surprising or disruptive events engage the prefrontal cortex, influencing cognitive flexibility and emotional regulation.
Egner, T., & Raz, A. (2007). Cognitive Control Processes and Hypnosis. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11(4), 170–178.→ Discusses how cognitive control mechanisms make individuals more receptive to hypnosis and pattern interruptions.
2️⃣ The Neuroscientific Perspective: Brain Activity in Hypnosis and Anxiety
Menon, V., & Uddin, L. Q. (2010). Saliency, Switching, Attention, and Control: A Network Model of Insula Function. Brain Structure and Function, 214(5-6), 655-667.→ Examines the role of the brain’s salience network in detecting threats, uncertainty, and stress responses.
McGeown, W. J., et al. (2009). Hypnotic Induction Decreases Anterior Default Mode Network Activity. Consciousness and Cognition, 18(4), 848-855.→ Shows that hypnosis alters brain connectivity, helping individuals break repetitive thought cycles linked to anxiety.
3️⃣ Cognitive Biases in Anxiety and Hypnosis
Milgram, S. (1974). Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View. Harper & Row.→ Explains how perceived authority influences compliance, relevant to the hypnotic process and reconditioning of anxious responses.
Burger, J. M. (1999). The Foot-in-the-Door Compliance Procedure: A Multiple-Process Analysis and Review. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3(4), 303-325.→ Describes how small commitments lead to greater behavioral changes, applicable to self-regulation and anxiety management.
The author
⫸Mourad - Ericksonian hypnosis practitioner, trainer and founder of @morpheose
⫸ What I offer
1:1 sessions, in Geneva (17 rue Charles-Giron) and Online
trainings in hypnosis
workshops and introspection retreats, for individuals and corporations
⫸ former physicist and political scientist, former BCG consultant, sportsman and living being fascinated by consciousness.
⫸ founder of morpheose, for individuals, leaders and organizations in fast-paced and demanding environments.