From Anxiety to Confidence: How Hypnotherapy Can Help With Exam Stress

Exam Stress: Causes, Effects, and How Hypnotherapy Can Help

Exams can be a major source of stress for students, just at a time when they need a clear head and to be at the top of their game. The pressure to perform well, fear of failure, and high expectations from parents and teachers can create overwhelming anxiety. Not feeling prepared and worrying about how the exams will go creates more stress. In our high-pressured modern world, students have to manage the distractions of smart phones and technology while also facing fears about being able to get jobs at the end of it all.

Exams are stressful for most of us. And we all experience stress in different ways. If you're struggling to cope, you're not alone. A 2024 study (Save My Exams Survey) revealed that pressure to excel is causing anxiety for 1 in 3 students. Worryingly, it also found that 85% of students have experienced exam anxiety, yet 71% have never sought help for managing it.

The Effects of Exam Stress

For some students, exams anxiety and stress can manifest in emotions, thoughts, physical symptoms and behaviours. These might include difficulty concentrating, poor sleep, not eating properly, irritability, mood swings and physical symptoms such as headaches, nausea and irritable bowel syndrome. Students may be reluctant to talk about exams and assessment or at the other end of the spectrum they may become obsessive with work and revision.

Exam anxiety and stress make the whole experience more of a challenge than it could be. And ultimately exam stress can affect performance and grades.

Managing Exam Stress

Feeling stressed, worried or under pressure around exams can be difficult to manage. But there are things that can help – it's about finding what's right for you. While exam stress is common, it doesn’t have to be debilitating. Some effective ways to manage it include:

• Time management 

  Creating a structured revision schedule can provide a sense of control.
  

• Healthy lifestyle choices 

  Regular exercise, nutritious food, and sufficient sleep support brain function and emotional resilience.
  

• Relaxation techniques

  Mindfulness, deep breathing, and progressive muscle relaxation can help students remain calm.
  

• Positive self-talk

  Reframing negative thoughts and maintaining a growth mindset can improve confidence, while consciously resisting catastrophising and negative self-talk.
  

• Social support

  Taking time off to socialise with friends and talking to family or teachers can help students process their worries.
  

How Hypnotherapy Can Help

Hypnotherapy is increasingly recognised as an effective tool for managing exam stress and anxiety. Studies show that hypnosis can significantly reduce exam anxiety and improve performance.

The Evidence for Hypnotherapy in Reducing Exam Stress

A 2018 study by Dogan, Agcay, and Gokce found that self-hypnosis significantly reduced exam stress among university students. Similarly, a pilot randomised controlled trial by Ainsworth et al. (2010) reported that hypnotherapy reduced exam anxiety and improved student performance. A 2023 systematic review by Pachaiappan, Tee, and Low also concluded that hypnosis interventions are effective in reducing test anxiety.

These findings align with broader research on hypnosis as a treatment for anxiety. One meta-analysis by Valentine et al. (2019) found that hypnosis is a highly effective intervention for anxiety. Results indicated that the average participant treated with hypnosis achieved more anxiety reduction than about 79% of control participants at the end of active treatment and about 84% of controls at the longest follow-up. The hypnosis interventions evaluated in this meta-analysis appeared about as effective in alleviating anxiety as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), progressive muscle relaxation (PMR), and psychodynamic psychotherapy in reducing anxiety, with some evidence suggesting it may be more effective than mindfulness.

One study (Brooker, 2018) demonstrated that hypnosis could reduce performance anxiety in pianists, improving their playing ability. The same principle applies to students taking exams—reducing anxiety can enhance their ability to recall information and perform under pressure.

How does it work?

Hypnotherapy addresses exam stress by:

• Rewiring subconscious beliefs

  … by helping students develop a calmer, more confident mindset about exams. Many students put themselves under enormous pressure and fear being a failure. Beliefs which are overlying rigid and demanding and beliefs which are self-damning don’t help people perform at their best as well as creating unhappiness and stress. It is possible to aim to be the best you can be while acknowledging uncertainty and not letting exams get the better of you. Hypnosis can help to let go of unhelpful rigid beliefs while also installing more positive, flexible and helpful beliefs.
  

• Future rehearsal

  …by using hypnotic visualisation to mentally practise staying calm and focused in exam conditions. By imagining the entire process — from arriving at school, walking into the examination hall, rocking the exam paper, and coming home again to relax and start revising for the next exam, to collecting your results several weeks later and starting the next chapter of life, hypnosis can reduce nerves about the unknown and make the chance of you achieving your dreams more likely.
  

• Teaching relaxation techniques 

  … by helping students access a state of deep relaxation on demand, reducing anxiety. The experience of hypnosis helps shift the body out of the ‘fight, flight, or freeze’ response, soothing the autonomic nervous system. This benefit can be taught in self-hypnosis giving the student tools to manage their own anxiety up to and including the exam days. In fact, these are tools for life.
  

• Enhancing focus and concentration

  … by training the brain to enter a focused yet relaxed state for optimal performance. Positive direct suggestions can be given in a state of hypnosis to encourage alert learning and superior memory.
  

Hypnotherapy for exam stress

Exam stress is a common challenge, but it doesn’t have to dictate a student’s academic experience. Effective strategies like time management, relaxation techniques, and a healthy lifestyle can help. However, for those struggling with persistent anxiety, hypnotherapy offers an effective complementary and evidence-based method for reducing stress, enhancing confidence, and improving exam performance. As research continues to highlight the benefits of hypnosis, schools and students alike may increasingly turn to this powerful tool to support academic success.

If you are suffering with exam stress, I’d be delighted to help. Feel free to get in touch for a free no-obligation chat or to book a consultation — I’d love to support you in facing your exams with confidence and optimism.

References

Melike DEMIR DOGAN, Burak Cagri AGCAY, Tugba GOKCE, "The Effect of Self-Hypnosis on Exam Anxiety and Stress Among University Students" ARC Journal of Nursing and Healthcare. 2018.

Ainsworth, H. R., Torgerson, D. J., Torgerson, C. J., Bene, J., Grant, C., Ford, S., & Watt, I. The effect of hypnotherapy on exam anxiety and exam performance: a pilot randomised controlled trial. Effective Education. 2010

Sukunah Pachaiappan, Meng Yew Tee & Wah Yun Low. Hypnosis interventions for reducing test anxiety among students: A systematic review. Cogent Psychology. 2023.

Keara E. Valentine, Leonard S. Milling, Lauren J. Clark & Caitlin L. Moriarty. The Efficacy of Hypnosis as a Treatment for Anxiety: A Meta-Analysis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis. 2019.

Brooker, E. Music performance anxiety: A clinical outcome study into the effects of cognitive hypnotherapy and eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing in advanced pianists. Psychology of Music. 2018.

Save My Exams Survey. 2024.