Daily Calm: Five steps people use to accept anxiety

Daily Calm, from Central London Hypnotherapy

When anxiety rises, the instinct is to push it away: distract yourself, argue with the thought, leave the room. A new interview study asked 26 people with mindfulness and acceptance training what they actually do instead, and turned their answers into a five-stage map. The paper, Conceptualizing the process of experiential acceptance during an episode of anxiety, appeared in PLOS One this week.

What the study found

The researchers interviewed 26 adults from a non-clinical sample, all with some experience of mindfulness- or acceptance-based courses, though the amount of practice varied. Working from what participants described, they built a model of how acceptance unfolds. It is not one move but five:

1. Noticing through the body: turning attention to heartbeat, breath and stomach.

2. Naming it: recognising the feeling as anxiety and acknowledging that it is here.

3. Validating it: treating the reaction as understandable, with a little self-compassion.

4. Stepping back: watching the feeling from an observer's seat instead of from inside it.

5. Staying in contact: letting the sensations stay without reacting, while remaining flexible.

The team also listed the conditions that made the process easier. This is a small qualitative study, so it describes how acceptance works for these people rather than measuring how much it helps. Measuring is the job of trials.

Set beside the trial evidence

That is where a second source comes in. A 2019 meta-analysis of hypnosis for anxiety pooled 17 controlled trials: the typical person who had hypnosis finished less anxious than roughly 79% of people in the comparison groups, and the gap widened at follow-up. The two papers differ sharply in method. One listens to 26 people describe a skill; the other counts outcomes across many trials. Yet they point the same way: anxiety is something you can learn to meet differently, not something you simply sit out. Several of the five stages, body-focused attention, an observer stance and calm non-reaction, are close to what a hypnotherapy session rehearses.

What this looks like on an ordinary London day

Picture a Tube train stalled in a tunnel, or the minute before you speak in a packed meeting. The old reflex is to fight the racing heart, which tends to feed it. The model offers a different order: feel it, name it, allow it, step back, stay with it.

What it means for you

• Start with the body. Rest a hand on your chest and notice the beat before trying to think your way out.
• Say the word. "This is anxiety" is a short sentence that creates a little distance.
• Practise while calm. Every participant had prior training, which suggests the skill grows with rehearsal.

How hypnotherapy fits

Hypnotherapy can help relieve anxiety, and the trial evidence above is why we say so with confidence. A separate review of 34 randomised trials found hypnosis also eased emotional distress in adults facing surgery or medical procedures. In sessions, Tim Dunton uses focused relaxation so you can rehearse those five steps while calm, which makes them easier to reach when it counts. If you would like a steady daily practice too, he teaches mindfulness in London.

With more than twenty years in practice, GHR membership and NLP training from Richard Bandler and John Grinder, Tim shapes each programme around the person in the chair. Read more about his hypnotherapy for anxiety in London.

Book a free consultation. A relaxed 15 to 30 minute chat, in person or by video: request your free consultation or call 07975 653893.

The research

1. Experiential acceptance during an episode of anxiety: a qualitative study (n=26), PLOS One, 2026. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/43007988/

2. Valentine KE, Milling LS, Clark LJ, Moriarty CL. The efficacy of hypnosis as a treatment for anxiety: a meta-analysis, International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 2019. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31251710/

3. Tefikow S et al. Efficacy of hypnosis in adults undergoing surgery or medical procedures: a meta-analysis, Clinical Psychology Review, 2013. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23628907/

Tags: anxiety · mindfulness · research · London

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