Reese Witherspoon<\/strong>\u2019s crippling bouts of anxiety once impacted her career and home life \u2014 and forced her to seek out nontraditional hypnotherapy, which she still uses to beat her personal demons, sources say.<\/p>\n The Morning Show<\/em> star, 49, was popping anti-anxiety pills to curb her panic attacks and attention deficit disorder \u2014 but the meds were doing little good, spies share.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why, insiders confide, the Hollywood powerhouse relied on a hypnotist, who helped to finally calm her fears and slow down her racing thoughts \u2014 without medication.<\/p>\n \u201cReese went to a hypnotist before she was to start filming Wild<\/em>. She was a nervous wreck, worrying about the shoot and how she was going to play this character \u2014 and the experience changed her life,\u201d an insider says.<\/p>\n Since that encounter more than a decade ago, Reese has been a die-hard devotee, the insider explains.<\/p>\n \u201cShe sees her hypnotist once a week at least, sometimes more often when the pressures of her career start to feel overwhelming,\u201d the insider says of the busy mom, who shares kids Ava<\/strong>, 26, and Deacon<\/strong>, 21, with ex Ryan Phillippe<\/strong> and son Tennessee<\/strong>, 13, with former husband Jim Toth<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cThings can get hectic in her world with the show and her other projects, plus her brand deals and the kids \u2026 and trying to maintain a relationship with all that going on can be difficult, too,\u201d the insider adds, referring to Reese\u2019s yearlong romance with financier Oliver Haarmann<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cWith hypnosis, Reese experiences a feeling of comfort and peace, and she comes out of it completely relaxed. It\u2019s the best thing she ever did for herself, and it\u2019s done wonders in her romantic situation. She\u2019s not as stressed, and she\u2019s a better listener.\u201d<\/p>\n Reese dished about her issues and how hypnotherapy has transformed her life on the Las Culturistas<\/a><\/em> podcast, in which she admitted she\u2019s a \u201chigh-anxiety person.\u201d<\/p>\n She confessed that before hypnotherapy, \u201cSometimes I\u2019d have to take Ativan to calm down and then it would make me feel like a zombie, and then I wasn\u2019t performing at the level I wanted to, and I wasn\u2019t as funny.\u201d<\/p>\n According to the star, her practitioner utilizes neurolinguistic programming, which experts say is an approach to personal development, communication and psychotherapy, and influences how people think and respond to stimuli.<\/p>\n Adds the source, \u201cReese would be a hot mess without hypnosis.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/staging.nationalenquirer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Reeses-Emergency-Therapy-Wild-2014.jpg_master-e1758811917722.jpg\")
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