Hypnotherapy for Post-Covid Anxiety

What Type Of Problems Can Hypnotherapy Help With?

Anxieties resulting from the pandemic may include:

• Grief of losing a loved one
• Fear of leaving the house (agoraphobia)
• Social anxiety after isolation
• Fear of germs (mysophobia)
• General health anxiety 
• Job loss anxiety 
• Financial worries 
• Relationship difficulties 
• Compulsive behaviours (such as cleaning)
• Negative intrusive thoughts 
• Low mood 

Has Piece of Mind Treated Covid Anxiety? 

Put simply, yes. As Piece of Mind Hypnotherapy was able to quickly move to online platforms at the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic, I have seen clients with varying levels of anxiety throughout. Although the trends in the issues my clients are facing have evolved over the last two years, the three most common complaints have remained the same. 

• Fear of germs

For many, anxiety over being infected by germs or diseases is something they suffer from day-to-day. In the case of mysophobia, the anxiety caused by an over-active mental response to possible contamination or sickness can become unbearable, resulting in compulsive and obsessive cleaning rituals. 

Of course, the pandemic brings a great deal of uncertainty over the spreading of the airborne virus. Even those of us who haven’t ever been too concerned about germs were had the worry of the virus pushed to the forefront of our minds. For those who were already suffering from mysophobia, the “hands, face, space” rules have reiterated what their sometimes irrational obsessive thoughts have been telling them – that they will become unwell or even die as a result of the germs they have tried so hard to avoid. 

Whilst I’m unable to remove all germs or contaminants from my clients’ lives, I have been able to use hypnotherapy to work with them to reduce their anxiety and change the behaviours and thought pattens they’ve adopted to cope with their anxieties. 

• Wearing a mask 

Mask wearing has been subject to considerable scrutiny over the last couple of years. Many of us haven’t worn facemasks since we played with our pretend doctor’s kit at the age of 4, but we found ourselves being unable to go about our daily lives without having to consider a mask. 

For some, wearing a mask is a minor inconvenience and just another thing to remember when they leave the house. For others, however, wearing a mask felt impossible, either due to physical issues or for psychological reasons. My clients with anxiety, claustrophobia and PTSD likened wearing a mask to the beginning of a panic attack – their breath is warm, their faces are clammy and they feel as if they’re trapped. 

Thankfully for my clients, hypnotherapy has helped them to work through their feelings of anxiety over wearing a mask. Whilst I can never take away the events that caused a client to become terrified of being trapped in a small space, I can help them to revert their thoughts and responses back to a time before they felt this way, meaning the mask has much less of an impact – even if steamy glasses are really frustrating! 

• Social anxiety 

For some already suffering with social anxiety when the first lockdown was announced, I know it felt like heaven to have the expectations of the outside world taken from their shoulders. Staying in to keep the world safe was something that my clients felt able to do as they had, in fact, been craving the opportunity to not have to interact with other humans. It is much easier to accidentally (on purpose) turn off a webcam mid Zoom call than it is to suddenly disappear in real life conversation. 

What happened when the world began to reopen, though? Those who were already highly anxious about having social interactions realised that their desires to avoid their triggers had increased and the tasks which were once just about manageable were now terrifying and sometimes unachievable.