The Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy Launches Free Tool to Reveal Hidden Anxiety Patterns

Anxiety Pattern Finder 2.1 is a free online assessment developed by The Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy.

Paul Howard, Senior Partner at The Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy, which developed Anxiety Pattern Finder 2.1.

The Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy

Developed from 20+ years of clinical experience, Anxiety Pattern Finder Tool, Version 2.1, reveals hidden triggers, safety behaviours and anxiety loops.

LONDON, SURREY, UNITED KINGDOM, September 18, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy has launched version 2.1 of its Anxiety Pattern Finder, a completely free online assessment designed to uncover the less obvious patterns that may be maintaining anxiety.

The Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy (SICH) says the latest version has taken more than a year to develop and builds on more than 20 years of clinical experience working with people experiencing anxiety.

Unlike many anxiety questionnaires that focus mainly on how anxious somebody feels, the Anxiety Pattern Finder assessment looks at what happens around the anxiety.

It explores triggers, physical responses, thoughts, avoidance, checking, planning, reassurance seeking, escape preparation and the ways people may try to create safety or certainty.

The assessment is completely free and open to anyone experiencing anxiety. There is no requirement to become a client of SICH.

People can use the results for their own understanding or share them with a therapist they are already working with.

Paul Howard, Senior Partner at The Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy, said:

“People usually know that they feel anxious, and they often know the situations that frighten them. What they do not necessarily recognise are all the things they have gradually learned to do around that anxiety.

“They may check, avoid, plan everything in advance, rehearse situations, make sure there is an escape route or seek reassurance.

“After a while those behaviours can become so normal that the person no longer sees them as part of the anxiety.

“If the client does not recognise a pattern, they may never mention it in therapy. And if they never mention it, the therapist may never know it is there.”

The Anxiety Pattern Finder V2.1 is designed to make those patterns more visible.

Early results from completed assessments are already showing recurring themes.

Around 98% showed a “Control Equals Safety” pattern as either a primary or secondary feature.

Avoidance appeared among the three strongest safety loops in approximately 86% of assessments, while planning and control appeared among the strongest patterns in around 69%.

Escape preparation appeared among the strongest patterns in around 59%.

Nearly 78% showed at least two of those three behaviours, avoidance, planning and control, and escape preparation.

Every assessment analysed showed at least one of them.

Howard said the findings reflect something SICH has seen repeatedly in clinical practice.

“Anxiety is not only the fear itself. There is often an entire system that develops around trying to stop that fear becoming reality.

“Someone may think, ‘I am okay because I checked first’, or ‘I coped because I knew I could leave’, or ‘nothing happened because I avoided eating’.

“Those behaviours can provide short-term relief, but they may also stop the person discovering that they might have been able to cope without them.”

SICH says the introduction of the Anxiety Pattern Finder into its own clinical work has also changed the amount of information available to therapists at the beginning of treatment.

Howard said:

“We have had cases where the Anxiety Pattern Finder has brought out something that was not obvious from the presenting problem at all.

“It can reveal triggers or loops that might otherwise have taken several sessions to emerge, and potentially some that may never have been uncovered because the client simply did not realise they were significant.

“That means we are often starting therapy with a much deeper picture of what is happening.”

SICH says its experience since introducing the tool has been encouraging, with therapists increasingly able to address not only the obvious presenting anxiety but also the less visible behaviours surrounding it.

Howard added:

“We have noticed a real difference in our own work. We are identifying things earlier and sometimes finding parts of the problem that previously might have remained hidden.

“Our impression is that clients are getting a more complete understanding of what has been happening to them, and the feedback we have received has been very encouraging.

“We are not claiming that an assessment treats anxiety. It does not. What it can do is give both the client and therapist a much better map of what they may actually be dealing with.”

The Anxiety Pattern Finder 2.1 can identify a number of recurring anxiety patterns, including Control Equals Safety, Body Alarm, Access and Body Trust, Judgement and Exposure, Distance From Safety and Thinking Loops.

It also highlights safety behaviours that may sit underneath those patterns.

Howard said:

“Two people might both say they have anxiety about travelling, but what is actually driving that anxiety can be completely different.

“For one person it may be distance from home. For another it may be physical sensations. Somebody else may be frightened of being watched or judged if they become anxious.

“If we treat all three simply as ‘travel anxiety’, we may be missing the most important part of the problem.”

SICH intends to continue analysing anonymised Anxiety Pattern Finder data as use of the tool grows, with the aim of learning more about the combinations of triggers, beliefs and safety behaviours associated with different forms of anxiety.

Howard said:

“We have spent more than 20 years listening to people describe anxiety and then treating anxiety in the therapy room in the therapy room, and more than a year developing this version of the Anxiety Pattern Finder.

“The purpose is quite simple. We want to make some of the invisible parts of anxiety visible.

“And importantly, we have made it free.

“You do not have to become our client. If you are already working with another therapist and your results uncover something useful, take them to that therapist.

“If it helps somebody and their therapist understand the problem more clearly, then it has done its job.”

The Anxiety Pattern Finder 2.1 is intended as an assessment and self-understanding tool. It does not provide a medical or psychiatric diagnosis and does not replace appropriate professional or medical assessment.

The statistics quoted are early observational findings from completed Anxiety Pattern Finder assessments and should not be interpreted as prevalence estimates for the wider population.

Mr Paul Howard
The Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy
+ +44 2086696990
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