As the coronavirus restrictions begin to ease, many of us are excited about getting back to normal, and being able to mix and socialise again - but for others who suffer with social anxiety, the opening up plans are creating a heightened state of panic.

One hypnotherapist is doing his bit to help people who are sufferers of social anxiety to prepare and cope with life after lockdown. Cornish-born hypnotherapy expert Richard Kellow has released a free download on his website designed to help people apply the best mindful strategies to their own personal situation, so that they can focus on building their own inner confidence and self-esteem in social situations.

Richard is an internationally renowned clinical hypnotherapist, who through his practice and online has helped to improve the lives of thousands of people, in countries ranging from the UK to the USA, Australia and New Zealand, where he is now based in Auckland.

Nervousness

He says that we can all relate to social anxiety in some way – perhaps nervousness around meeting someone new, or walking into a room full of strangers – and with the opening up of restrictions you could experience nerves around coming out of the pandemic, such as questions over whether you are looking good enough, whether your friends will want to see you, or whether you’ve achieved enough during lockdown. This leads to more negative thoughts, which in turn leads to more anxiety.

“For many sufferers of social anxiety throughout the lockdown periods, they have not had to confront their anxiety in any way, and they’ve been able to stay at home and isolated, and in their own comfort zone,” Richard said. “With the opening up of restrictions, these very real social anxieties are back in the forefront of people’s minds, and some will have found their symptoms have ramped up recently; others might be feeling this for the first time.

“Many people have reported their confidence has taken a battering during lockdowns.

“All socially anxious people have different reasons for dreading certain situations. You can experience symptoms of getting anxious immediately before an event, or you might spend weeks worrying about it, then afterwards you could spend a lot of time and mental energy worrying about how you acted.”

Richard suggests that feelings of social anxiety can be mitigated by the following:

1. Be conscious of the “worry story” you tell yourself – and try to distance yourself from it;

2. Recognise and dump the negative thoughts, replacing them with a positive one;

3. Write down the good things, the things you are looking forward to;

4. Spend at least one hour per day doing something that makes you feel good.

He adds: “I have spent years helping people to cope with and reduce their social anxiety. The techniques I teach my clients, whatever the trigger for their condition, can also be applied successfully in this current pandemic. I’d encourage anyone who is feeling stressed or anxious to download my session and see if it helps.”

Be positive

Richard added: “Even just taking 15 minutes out of your day to focus on yourself, rather than the latest virus news update, can help you regain a sense of balance and focus. It’s all about relaxing your mind, deflecting the negative thoughts, and replacing them with calm, positive ones.”

He advises people to schedule a “worry window”, so they can better manage any negative thoughts and feelings by containing them in a predetermined time slot, and free up the rest of their day by banishing intrusive thoughts.

Richard explained: “To some degree it’s natural to worry, and we all do it – it’s how our brain handles problems or potential problems. But it stops being useful if we become stuck in a cycle of negative thoughts. We should instead focus on those things within our control, and how we choose to respond to them.”

Access Richard’s download at https://www.kellowhypnotherapy.com/vgb-store/p/eliminate-anxiety1