Tapes and CD’s – The fight against anxiety.

Oftentimes I have been in a book shop or flicked through a magazine and come across tapes and CD’s which offer amazingly quick relief from panic attacks, anxiety and phobias. These tapes are usually self hypnosis or guided meditation (which amount to more or less the same thing. Some people, particularly the anxious ones, don’t much like the idea of being hypnotised).

Do these tapes work I wonder? Well, back in the days I tried a few. No, I tried lots. I tried Glen Harrold, Paul McKenna, and others. I also tried tapes to lift self esteem, build confidence, relax, sleep better, be assertive and probably much more besides. For some reason not having success with one didn’t sem to deter me from trying others.

Most of the tapes used the same old trick which comes from Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). The trick’s called by various names including “The Resource Anchor” and I have never managed to make it work. The idea is that you recall a time when you felt amazingly confident/happy/outgoing/calm or whatever, focus in on the memory and really try and re-experience it, then squeeze your first finger and thumb together and hold them tight for a count of thirty. The idea is that if you feel anxiety, panic or low confidence (or any other negative emotion) you squeeze your first finger and thumb together and your old sense of inner strength will come up from within you.

NLP is one of those things that some people swear by for all sorts of uses but which I have never had much luck with.

By and large I didn’t feel much effect from the tapes (although you may!), sometimes I felt sleepy, sometimes calm, sometimes tense, often I was just bored and after several listenings I knew them off by heart and was counting the seconds until they ended.

This brings me back to one of my favourite rants about hypnosis as a treatment for anxiety. Many anxious people find that they are just too fidgety, stressed, or resistant to the process of hypnosis. This is less so for self hypnosis but even still…when your problem is stress and tension, therapies that rely on calm and relaxation may not be of much use!!!

3 thoughts on “Tapes and CD’s – The fight against anxiety.

  1. Well im sorry to hear that — why dont you try tft it works wonders – can understand how you are feeling these tapes can offer so much but deliver little. I was suprised by glenn harold he is actually works take it from someone who has tried many things

  2. Do You sell CD’S for phobias, that create anxiety?
    My problem is a fear of fainting. Its something I have suffered
    with all of my life.
    Your response would be appreciated..

    M. Franks

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