Conquer White Coat Syndrome with Hypnotherapy: Overcoming Medical Anxiety

What is white coat syndrome?

You may not be aware of the official diagnosis, but whitecoat syndrome is when your blood pressure is higher than usual due to the stress of being in a clinical or test setting. If you only get high blood pressure readings in certain situations but at home it is normal then the whitecoat effect is most likely the cause and its more common than you might think. The name comes from the doctors uniform as this is where it is most commonly noticed, however it’s not limited to the doctors office, it can apply to any situation where you feel pressure or nerves when having your blood pressure taken.

You might not actually feel particularly stressed or nervous, you don’t need to have a phobia or fear of doctors, your body can just respond to the act of having the test done and see it as a threat, therefore increasing your blood pressure.

High blood pressure caused by the white coat effect is where the systolic (top number) can be raised by as much as 30mmHG. Some people may find this is more significant than others depending on the need to have anormal reading taken, if there is more urgency or need to get an accurate reading then this can add to the stress of the situation and in turn increase the blood pressure even further.

What causes white coat effect?

Its not uncommon for your blood pressure to become quite elevated in these circumstances, with 1 in 5 people effected by white coat blood pressure. There is not necessarily any underlying anxiety that is directly related to the increase in blood pressure, although anxiety is known to increase blood pressure its more likely that you would have higher readings in general.

It is more often the unconscious pressure associated with the test results, either a fear of further illness – if you are having tests at the doctors the chances are you may have some concerns for your health in which case your body may be reacting to that worry. Health anxiety can effect your experience of the doctors and is a separate topic.

There are other times you may need to have your blood pressure taken, for a physical examination for general health or for a job. In these instances the results might be important and determine what happens next. This is far more likely to set off a physical response in your sympathetic nervous system, realising stress chemicals, causing your heart to beat faster and the blood vessels to narrow,  increasing blood pressure.

Can hypnotherapy help white coat syndrome?

Many don’t realise there are things that can be done to reduce the rise in blood pressure when it is solely caused by the white coat effect.

Of course it is sensible to make sure there are no underlying medical reasons for the results, and most medical practitioners would do a full assessment looking for the signs of hypertension as well as taking the at home readings to confirm this.

If you need to get an accurate reading, particularly if it is for a medical assessment for insurance or as part of a job application then hypnotherapy and breathing techniques can be extremely effective methods to do this.

Hypnotherapy for white coat hypertension works by controlling your nervous system, when you are able to relax your body will respond by regulating your endocrine system producing less of the stress hormones, and slowing your heart rate. The more you practice physically relaxing intentionally, using focused attention, the easier it becomes to control this physiological state in more stressful situations.

The other benefit of hypnotherapy is the ability to rewire your neural pathways. Fear or pressure is a perspective of the situation, stress hormones are only increased if we perceive ourselves to be in some kind of threat. Often due to previous experiences or learned behaviours.

Our limbic system controls the emotional regulation and is important in deciding how we respond to specific situations. If we can learn to associate them with pleasant and calm feelings that is how we learn to respond in future.

We use visualisations to imagine the situation in a different way, with you feeling the way you would like to feel, with everything working out exactly as you would like. Our limbic system isn’t able to determine whether our thoughts are real or not or happening now or in the past, so we can effectively train the brain to believe the outcome has happened and was exactly as it should be.

The best thing about hypnotherapy for white coat syndrome is that it is just as effective online as it is in person, you can enjoy the sessions from the comfort of your own home and still get the incredible outcomes.

Hypnotherapy for White Coat Effect Case study

Mr X had applied to join the RAF and had to take a medical and physical test as part of the application process. He had tried to pass this test a couple of times in the past, however every time they took his blood pressure his BP went into hypertension levels and they could not pass him. He knew that this was white coat syndrome as he has never suffered medically with hypertension, he was in his early 20’s, regularly worked out and ate extremely healthily, never smoked and rarely drank. He measured his BP at home and it was always fine standing and sitting, he was never able to replicate the results that he got in the test setting. He knew this was the only thing that was preventing him from his dream job, a job that he had applied for several years ago and was looking forward to finally starting. Physically he knew he could pass the physical test easily and he had no concerns over the other assessments.

We had a brief chat about his motivation for getting in and it was clear that he had placed quite a lot of pressure on getting past this stage of the assessment and unconsciously was sending the threat signal as he had prepared physically for the tests and had control over the outcome, however his blood pressure and physical health was always going to be somewhat outside of his control and therefore caused some uncertainty and worry.

We had 3 sessions, the first being a chat about what might be happening and an understanding of what his brain was doing, along with some reframing exercises to do at home. I sent him home with a recording which he listened to every evening.

Session 2 was a general relaxation session, we focused on some self hypnosis techniques, progressive muscle relaxation, focused attention, breathing techniques and we ended with a swish technique – an nlp method of replacing worry outcome with a pleasant and desired outcome. Again he listened to the audio and practiced the self hypnosis and breathing at home.

Session 3 was a reframe, we went through the ideal version of the test day, adding in lots of details about the enjoyable things he would be doing before the test, the feelings during the test, and what he would be doing after the successful result, how he would feel, who he would tell etc. we recorded this and he listened to it a few more times before the day of the test.

I received a message from Mr X saying he managed to finally pass the rest and thanking me for my help.

How many sessions will be required for white coat effect hypnotherapy?

It will very much depend on the reasons for the increase in blood pressure, if we are working with a simple miscommunication of the mind and body then it is possible to correct this in as little as 3 sessions. If there is an underlying anxiety or health anxiety then it may require more sessions to work on the reasons behind the anxiety.

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Book a free consultation in with me to discuss how I can support you with white coat syndrome or other health/medical anxiety.

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