Oscar-winning actress Emma Stone has revealed she started therapy for anxiety when she was just seven years old and, she told The Late Show’s Stephen Colbert, she ‘benefited in a big way from therapy’.
Stone, Academy Award winner for her role in La La Land, said acting made her feel less anxious and said, as a child, she believed she would never be able to leave her native Arizona, but by age 15 she was able to move to Hollywood.
“I was a very, very anxious child and I had a lot of panic attacks. I benefited in a big way from therapy – I started it at seven
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“Acting and improvisation helped me so much,” she said adding that she managed her anxiety through ‘great therapists and great cognitive behavioural tools’.
Stone joins stars like actress Jennifer Lawrence and singers Adele and Taylor Swift in admitting to suffering from anxiety.
Adele has said of her fear of performing: “I have anxiety attacks, constant panicking on stage, my heart feels like it’s going to explode because I never feel like I’m going to deliver, ever.”
The National Council for Hypnotherapy, with more than 1,800 fully-trained therapists across the UK on its register, says treating anxiety issues is becoming more common and adds that over-anxiety can lead to stress, which can make a significant impact on the quality of life and wellbeing.
“Anxiety is a fear or concern that is exaggerated, and is out of proportion to the situation, although sometimes it may not feel like this,” says the NCH. “The symptoms of anxiety correlate with the stress response or ‘fight-or-flight’. This is primal response that protects you against threats in your environment. You may feel as if you are on high alert as well, unable to calm down or relax, your mind may race unable to focus or quieten down.”
While it is a normal part of the human protection system to experience this fight-or-flight response, says the NCH, this is only when there is real and present danger. To experience prolonged flight-or-flight creates feelings of anxiety.
“It is often rooted in a previous experience that triggered fear or in a general anxiety and worry about your situation at home or at work. There can also be anxiety without knowing what is causing it, a general feeling of anxiety known as ‘free floating’ anxiety.”
But, in sessions with a clinical hypnotherapist, the therapist can help assess the anxiety, identify its root and then work with the anxiety sufferer in setting and reaching a goal of how the person would like to be if free of anxiety. By using a range of different techniques the therapist will then work with the person to achieve this goal.
It is that easy and if you want to be free of anxiety, contact an NCH therapist near you by accessing the NCH directory here.
And, remember, there’s no shame in suffering from anxiety. Many people do, even stars like Adele, Robbie Williams and many more.