Do you want to stop dreading to return to work? Do you want to show up confident and collected instead? Others may bounce back easily. However, you might be distracted due to anxiety at work after off days. This isn’t just resistance. It is an unresolved emotional response embedded in your brain for a long time.

In this blog, you will find out:

• Why many experience this burst of anxiety at work.
• What is underneath your consciousness.
• How past experiences design today’s responses.
• Insight into emotional dynamics.
• How hypnotherapy can help you change negative patterns at the root.
• How to build confidence so returning to work feels empowering instead of threatening.

Why Do People Experience Anxiety At Work?

People experience anxiety at work because of their mind and body’s negative responses. Note that this negativity builds beneath the conscious surface. So, you cannot pinpoint it easily.

What the Subconscious Perceives

Your subconscious mind might perceive your workplace as a threat even if it isn’t. Why? Because you may have experienced this before:

• Judgment
• Criticism
• Emotional neglect
• Low support
• Micromanagement
• Exclusion
• Performance pressure

At this point, your subconscious mind cannot differentiate between real and perceived danger. Every small thing may feel like your are unsafe.

Symptoms

This supposed sense of threat activates your body’s fight, flight, or freeze response. You might feel:

• Chest tightness
• Racing heart
• Scattered thoughts
• A strong urge to avoid going to work

It is not just “in your head.” Your body goes into survival mode because it doesn’t feel emotionally safe.

Even routine work tasks can make you unnecessarily anxious without that security.

Potential Triggers

One of the biggest triggers of workplace anxiety is other people’s attitude. The way your colleagues treat you at work influences your wellbeing.

Do you feel:

• Unseen
• Misunderstood
• Overruled
• Subtly bullied

This feeling can increase evermore if you already suffer from low self-esteem. Your negative belief that “you are not good enough” exacerbates.

5 Common Reasons for Anxiety at Work

Here are some common reasons you may develop anxiety at work:

Poor Management Attitude

One reason maybe that your team lead is always vague. You may not want to go back to work when you know that you don’t have:

• Clarity
• Trust
• Direction

Your manager can be a micromanager who doesn’t give you all the details but expect perfect results.

Of course, you won’t feel motivated to be productive when you know you will be criticised one way or another. So, these feelings can develop into chronic anxiety.

Difficult Workplace Relationships

The feeling of danger may also surface due to:

• Toxic dynamics
• Gossip
• Passive aggression
• Being assigned tasks outside your scope

You may get emotionally exhausted if you already have social anxiety. Past experiences where you felt excluded continuously can degrade your wellbeing.

Imposter Syndrome

It means that you think you are being someone you are not. You feel like you are impersonating a calm, successful person who everyone admires. But, you don’t deserve that praise. Even high performers can feel like they are faking it.

Returning from a break can exaggerate these negative thoughts. You may think:

• “What if they find out I am not good enough?”
• “Do I really know what I am doing?”

Pile of Unfinished Tasks

Yes, that is another big reason. You may dread dealing with:

• A long to-do list
• An overflowing inbox
• A plethora of assignments

Pending tasks can create anticipatory stress. Especially if you are already a perfectionist or burnout easily, anxiety at work can engulf you.

Fear of Being Seen or Speaking Up

Exposure to others immediately after a peaceful break like:

• Public speaking
• Sharing ideas
• Attending meetings

Can bring back old fears of judgment or rejection. If you were silenced in the middle of speaking before, your anxiety might increase.

What Is the Real Problem Behind Back-to-Work Anxiety?

Your job isn’t the real problem. It is your negative subconscious emotional patterns. Your past experiences shape your behaviour in current situations.

Did you grow up being:

• Overly criticised
• Judged
• Constantly compared

If yes, your subconscious may have solidified the belief: “I am not good enough.”

As a child, you may have learned to link:

• Acceptance with performance
• Love with perfection
• Safety with silence

These patterns don’t disappear. They become your go to reactions. This creates an inner critic who is never satisfied with you. It may whisper:

• “What if they don’t like me?”
• “What if I mess this up?”
• “I have to prove myself again.”

Over time, those negative emotions distort your world view.

• You begin to fear judgment
• You withdraw from social events
• You see others as threats even when they are not.

It is actually a trauma response. You are not weak. It develops due to unresolved issues from:

• Childhood
• Previous jobs
• Dealings with authority

As a result, you may project what you feel. You may unknowingly attract negative people who cross your boundaries. Why? Because your subconscious still wants you to heal the past wounds.

How to Deal With Anxiety At Work?

You can manage anxiety at work if you know its reason. Here are five steps to do so:

1. Know Who You Are

Always remember that you are your own person. Your worth doesn’t depend on other peoples’ opinions.

You can re-build your identity if you stop worrying about:

• Titles
• Tasks
• Performance

Now, doesn’t performance appraisals make you eligible for promotions? Yes, they do. However, an occasional low-grade performance doesn’t mean that you are incompetent. You can make up for it.

This self-realisation can help you stay present during triggering situations. You can start trusting yourself and your goals.

2. Set Healthy Boundaries

Think of boundaries as “filters” instead of walls. Filters can:

• Keep undesirable content away
• Attract people and opportunities that suit your personality
• Help you grow according to your niche

At workplace, having boundaries protects you from burnout.

Do you hesitate to say “no” to unnecessary tasks?

Is it too difficult to walk away from toxic conversations because “what will they think of me?”

You may become more comfortable in putting yourself first once you get used to set boundaries. They teach others how to treat you. As a result, you start to feel emotionally safe.

3. Speak Up With Confidence

It is a core quality of leaders. It can be yours too.

• Make things as clear as you can if your workplace management is vague. Ask questions and explain.
• Talk about what you or your colleagues need to be productive at office. Speak calmly and confidently.
• Offer solutions wherever you can. This can give you a good reputation as a “problem solver”.

Start respecting yourself so others might respect you too.

4. Witness Yourself from a Distance

This step can happen when you become more self-aware. You can separate yourself from your inner thoughts only when you know what is making you anxious.

You are not your thoughts. You are not your emotions. So, you can examine them and even change them if need be. Turning negativity into positivity is important to manage anxiety at work.

This POV helps you:

• Pause before reacting.
• Think before assuming.
• Answer with clarity, not fear.

5. Shift Your Focus to Self-Trust

You can be exhausted quickly if you keep worrying about peoples’ opinions. Once it happens, focus on the quality of your work. This can keep you away from unnecessary anxiety and worries. People can’t trust you if you don’t trust yourself. Try asking, “what if I can trust myself completely?” You then will start to feel more at peace as you ask yourself better questions.

How Hypnotherapy Helps Anxiety At Work?

Hypnotherapy is a holistic treatment method. It helps you reach your subconscious mind. So, you can work with it to stay calm. You don’t just learn to manage anxiety at work. You can resolve it at the root.

The subconscious stores negative memories and beliefs that may have developed your anxiety at work. Hypnotherapy changes those beliefs into positive thoughts.

The result? Immediate and powerful personality change.

Uncover Unconscious Loop Patterns

You can pin point the repetitive triggering thoughts with hypnotherapy. Those looping thoughts fuel your anxiety attacks at work.

You may not find them out without hypnotherapy, though. Why? Because they are present in your subconscious mind. Your conscious mind cannot reach there easily. As a result, you might remain stuck in fear or avoidance.

Once you uncover those loops, you can work on breaking them.

Upgrade Your Emotional Memories

You can revisit specific past memories that lowered your self-worth. Also, you can see them in a positive light and dispel their toxic effect on your psyche.

Your nervous system no longer reacts with panic or shame when those memories lose their emotional value. This helps you feel free and empowered.

Transform Limiting Beliefs

Hypnotherapy allows you to re-write limiting beliefs like:

• “I am not good enough”
• “I am not smart enough”
• “I will be judged”

Instead, your brain might replace them with positive truths such as:

• “I am capable”
• “I trust myself”
• “I belong”

Reset Your Nervous System

This therapy activates your parasympathetic nervous system. It can calm you down during triggering situations.

Your mind can become clearer when you feel secure. As a result, you can respond to work-related issues with confidence instead of getting flustered.

Build Confidence from the Inside Out

True confidence doesn’t come from achievements. It comes from an inner belief that you are enough.

Hypnotherapy lets your self-worth become easily accessible. You don’t have to prove yourself again and again to feel good.

Why Hypnotherapy Is Way More Effective Than Other Talk Therapies?

Your best-treatment for anxiety at work is incomplete without hypnotherapy. In fact, hypnotherapy is much more effective than any other traditional therapies.

Research shows that hypnotherapy reduces anxiety in more than 79% of people. This therapy changes your negative beliefs that build workplace stress into positive ones. So, you may heal faster. Also, the positive effects can remain for a long time.

Why?

This approach doesn’t resolve the symptoms only. It targets the hidden root causes in your subconscious mind. At work, hypnotherapy helps you to:

• Find the root cause of why you feel anxious thinking about going to work.
• Learn useful techniques to calm your mind and body during stressful situations i.e. re-joining the workplace.
• Learn to set healthy boundaries. As a result, you go back to work feeling confident and in control.

Here are 10 Benefits of Hypnotherapy for Anxiety At Work:

1. Reduce stress levels: You become calmer almost instantly. You can go back to work without feeling anxious that way.
2. Improve focus: You concentrate on the positive aspects more. Your negative feelings vanish. Also, you may become more productive. What’s more, you may feel excited about rejoining work!
3. Better sleep: Do you lay awake the night before rejoining? Hypnosis helps you make a sleep routine that relaxes your mind. It can help you sleep easily through the night.
4. Build confidence: How to deal with anxiety at work? Use hypnotherapy to become more confident. It increases your self-esteem. That increases your potential to accept workplace issues.
5. Become emotionally stronger: You may be able to deal with difficult colleagues more easily. You can also make better decisions because you will be more focused.
6. Quicker results: You will see positive changes in yourself within 3-5 sessions.
7. Totally non-invasive: You don’t need medications, IVs, IMs, or surgical procedures.
8. It is customisable: You will have a personalised treatment plan. Its core will be the same… to help you reach into the subconscious and see why you get anxious. However, the treatment methods and techniques can change.
9. Long-term benefits: It builds lasting healthy coping mechanisms. You can stay anxiety-free for a long, long time.
10. Heals holistically: Hypnotherapy focuses on your mental, emotional and spiritual health.

Success Story – How We Helped O. Deal With Anxiety At Work

Our client O. spiraled into severe anxiety at the end of every weekend. Those “holiday blues” were affecting her productivity. She was almost convinced that she would be fired. Also, she thought it was because she was incompetent and not good enough.

Symptoms

O. constantly second-guessed herself.

• Got too anxious in meetings
• Avoided dreaded emails
• Struggled to focus
• Her heart raced before meetings
• She overthought every email
• Couldn’t relax at work

Hypnotherapy Intervention

She enrolled in our 5-session hypnotherapy programme. Her personality started to change after a few sessions.

She revisited childhood moments where she felt embarrassed or not good enough. She found out that those memories were causing her anxiety at work.

Once she processed those negative memories, she became more positive and calm.

Eventually, O. became confident and comfortable in her own self. She started to trust her capabilities.

By the end of the program, O. returned to work no longer waiting for the worst to happen. Her performance and work relationships improved too.

Want to read more successful case studies? Read here.

5 Quick Tips to Overcome Anxiety At Work

So, how to deal with back to work anxiety while you book your appointment? You can practice the methods mentioned in this infographic.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Anxiety At Work Go Away On Its Own?

Anxiety at work cannot go away on its own. It stays in your system if you don’t treat it with a therapeutic method like hypnotherapy. Anxiety keeps your nervous system stuck in a fight, flight, or freeze reaction. Your mind may get exhausted if you don’t learn to manage it. Hypnotherapy helps release the root cause from your subconscious mind to stabilise your mind.

How Many Hypnotherapy Sessions Are Needed for Anxiety?

You may notice improvements within just 1 to 3 sessions. However, the number of sessions needed depends on several factors — the root cause of the anxiety, how you respond to the therapy, your past experiences, and nervous system regulation. Your therapist will always customise the treatment plan to your unique needs.

Is Hypnotherapy Scientifically Proven?

Yes, hypnotherapy is scientifically proven. A research paper published in the Modern Psychology Journal found that people who received hypnotherapy had lower anxiety levels compared to those who didn’t.

In fact, institutions like the American Psychological Association and the British Medical Association have acknowledged the therapeutic value of hypnosis. Evidence-based hypnotherapy can give measurable and long-lasting change.

In a Nutshell

Anxiety at work isn’t about workload only. It involves your hidden emotional baggage you may have been carrying for a long time. The good news? You can let it go. You can heal. Hypnotherapy offers you ways to feel confident without having to prove yourself again and again.

If you enjoy your work but feel blocked by anxiety know that there is a way forward. Feel free to book a FREE strategy call with us.