How to Stop Anxious Thoughts: Why Your Brain Won't Switch Off (And What Actually Works)

By Jenni Bell | Advanced RTT Therapist, NLP Master Practitioner & Advanced Clinical Hypnotherapist

In my experience of working with clients, almost everyone who comes to me asking how to stop anxious thoughts has already tried the ‘sensible’ advice — breathing exercises, journalling, cutting out caffeine, telling themselves to just relax. And none of it has stuck. Not because they're doing it wrong, but because anxious thoughts aren't really a thinking problem. They're a subconscious one.

I've spent years working as an Advanced RTT Therapist and Advanced Clinical Hypnotherapist, with clients joining me on Zoom from Rugby to Rio, and here's the thing nobody tells you about anxiety: you can't think your way out of a pattern that's running on autopilot underneath your thinking. You have to go underneath it. That's exactly what I want to walk you through here — why your mind won't switch off, what's actually driving it, and what I see genuinely help.

Why Anxious Thoughts Feel Impossible to Stop

It's Not a Willpower Problem

I say this to clients constantly: if willpower could fix anxiety, you'd have fixed it years ago. You're not lacking discipline. Anxious thoughts don't live in the part of your brain that makes decisions — they live in the subconscious, the part running your habits, reactions and ‘gut feelings’ on repeat, often from a script written a long time before you had any say in it.

The 3am Racing-Thoughts Pattern I See All the Time

Racing thoughts at night are one of the most common things clients describe to me — lying in bed, body exhausted, mind replaying conversations, rehearsing disasters that haven't happened, or circling the same worry for the hundredth time. In my experience, this happens because the subconscious treats unresolved emotional material like an open browser tab. It doesn't close itself at bedtime just because you'd like it to. It keeps running until something actually resolves what's underneath it.

The Real Root Cause of Anxiety (It's Rarely What You Think)

Anxiety Is Learned, Not a Personality Flaw

Here's what I want you to take from this piece if nothing else: from what I see with clients, anxiety is almost always learned rather than something you were simply born with. It's a response your mind built — from an experience, a message you absorbed as a child, a role you took on too early, or a moment you decided, consciously or not, that the world wasn't safe. That's not a flaw in your character. And it means it can be unlearned, which is the part most people are never told.

What I Look For in a Session That Most Approaches Miss

Most of the techniques people try first are aimed at managing the symptom — calming the nervous system in the moment, which absolutely has its place. RTT works differently. Under hypnosis, I take clients back to find the actual root — the specific memory, belief or moment the anxious pattern was built on — rather than asking them to keep coping with it indefinitely. I don't believe in managing anxiety forever. I believe in finding what's underneath it and dealing with that.

What I See Happen When Clients Find the Root Cause

I'm careful never to promise a specific outcome to someone I haven't worked with — everyone's pattern is different, and I can only tell you what clients have reported to me. But the stories I hear often follow a similar shape.

One client had spent around 20 years and roughly £15,000 on different types of therapy before she came to me. She told me her anxiety and separation anxiety eased after one RTT session — and when I checked in with her ten months later, it was still holding.

Another client described himself as a self-confessed control freak, dealing with months of severe stress and anxiety attacks. After one RTT session, he told me the anxiety attacks simply stopped. His words — not a promise I can make to everyone who reads this.

And one client, Katherine, joined me on Zoom in the grip of what she called crippling anxiety. She told me that one session, done entirely online, was what set her free of it. Read more client reviews

How to Stop Anxious Thoughts: What Actually Helps

Quick Tools for the Spiral (Short-Term)

When anxious thoughts are spiralling right now, in-the-moment tools genuinely help — slow, physiological breathing (longer exhale than inhale), naming five things you can see and hear to pull yourself out of your head and into the room, or simply getting up and moving your body instead of lying still with it. These won't stop anxiety coming back. But they'll get you through the next ten minutes, which matters.

The Work That Stops It Coming Back (Root-Cause Work)

Longer term, in my experience, the thing that actually stops anxious thoughts returning is finding and clearing what's driving them — not managing the symptom on the surface, over and over, for years. That's the entire premise of RTT: one in-depth session combining hypnosis and analytical work to find the root, plus a bespoke recording you listen to daily for around three weeks afterwards, because repetition is how the subconscious actually re-learns something new. Learn more about RTT

Obviously, if you're working with a doctor or taking medication for anxiety, keep following their advice — speak to your GP before changing anything. The work I do sits alongside medical care, it doesn't replace it.

What Working With Me Looks Like

Most of the clients I work with join me on Zoom from across the UK, the US, Australia and everywhere in between — anxiety doesn't care about time zones, and neither do I. If you're local to Rugby or anywhere else in Warwickshire, some clients like knowing I'm just down the road, even though every session runs exactly the same way, over Zoom, wherever you're calling in from.

A full RTT session runs around three to three and a half hours, and includes your personalised recording to listen to afterwards. Some clients add coaching sessions on top to build on the work. If you're ready to find out what's actually underneath your anxious thoughts, rather than managing them for another year, I'd love to talk it through with you. Explore RTT & coaching services or book a free consultation.

Frequently Asked Questions About Anxious Thoughts

Why can't I stop my anxious thoughts, no matter how hard I try?

In my experience, it's because anxious thoughts aren't a logic problem — they're a subconscious pattern, usually laid down years ago as a way of trying to keep you safe. Willpower sits in the conscious mind; the loop runs from somewhere much deeper, which is why telling yourself to ‘just stop worrying’ never works.

Is anxiety something you're born with, or something you learn?

From what I see with clients, anxiety is almost always learned rather than innate — a response your mind built from an experience, a message you absorbed, or a role you took on early in life. That's actually good news: if it was learned, it can be unlearned.

Can hypnotherapy or RTT really help with anxiety?

Clients tell me it can, which is exactly why I've built my practice around it. RTT combines hypnosis with analytical work to find the belief or memory driving the anxiety, rather than only managing the symptoms on the surface. I can't promise a specific outcome for anyone I haven't worked with, but it's consistently what clients describe back to me.

How many sessions does it take to deal with anxiety?

My RTT programme is built around one in-depth session of around three to three and a half hours, plus a bespoke recording you listen to for about three weeks afterwards, because repetition is how the subconscious actually re-learns something. Some clients choose to add coaching sessions on top. I never promise a timeline for every person, but that's the structure the work is built on.

Will my anxious thoughts just come back later?

Honestly, that depends on whether the root cause was actually dealt with, or just managed. I don't believe in managing anxiety forever — I believe in finding what's underneath it. Treat a symptom and it tends to resurface somewhere else; clear the root, and clients tell me it tends to stay cleared.

Can RTT or hypnotherapy for anxiety be done online?

Yes — I work with clients all over the world via Zoom, and I've found it works just as well as sitting in a room together. Where you're calling in from has never been the thing that determines whether this work lands for someone.

If anything in this article sounded like you — the racing thoughts, the spiral you can't talk yourself out of, the feeling that you've tried everything — I'd genuinely like to help you get underneath it. Get in touch and let's talk about what's actually going on, or visit www.jennibell.co.uk to find out more about RTT and how I work with clients worldwide, wherever you are.

About the Author

Jenni Bell DipHyp CHyp CMH RTT CNLP GHSQ — Advanced RTT Therapist & RTT Trainer, NLP Master Practitioner, Advanced Clinical Hypnotherapist. GHR Registered, GHSC Accredited.

Jenni is a global trainer and speaker, and one of Marisa Peer's earliest RTT practitioners and trainers, having helped shape the RTT curriculum and trained therapists internationally alongside Marisa herself. She's based in Rugby, Warwickshire, and works with clients anywhere in the world via Zoom.

Ready to get to the root of your anxiety? Book a free consultation with Jenni or visit www.jennibell.co.uk.