Hypnotherapist offers helping hand to deal with Coronavirus anxiety

Internationally acclaimed clinical hypnotherapist Sheila Granger says: “This pandemic has many repercussions beyond the actual virus. One is the potential impact on mental health and wellbeing as people try to manage an increasingly stressful situation, and if I can help ease that stress in just a small way, I believe it’s worthwhile trying.”

As the Coronavirus continues to spread across the globe, and people’s daily stress levels rise to new heights, one award-winning UK hypnotherapist is doing her bit to help them cope.

East Yorkshire-based hypnotherapy expert and author Sheila Granger – who trains thousands of practitioners around the world, has won accolades including the ‘Hypnotherapist of the Year’ award from the International Association of Counsellors and Therapists, and has twice achieved Amazon bestseller status for the two books she’s published in the past year – has released a free download on her website designed to help people deal with their worry, stress and anxiety about the virus.

“For many of us, who have never experienced life-changing events that have an enormous impact on everyday lives, these are unprecedented times,” Sheila said. “Some people may already suffer with low-level anxiety and find their symptoms have ramped up recently; others might be feeling new physical and psychological strains for the first time.

“I have spent years helping people to cope with and reduce their 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, whether they are directly affected by Coronavirus or are just generally worried about it, to download my session and see if it helps.”

The 15-minute English-language audio recording can be accessed from any computer or device, and simply requires the listener to be settled in a safe, quiet space, where they can fully engage with Sheila’s soothing words. She is also mobilising her network of practitioners around the world to potentially help hundreds of thousands of people cope with what for many is their first experience of this ‘wartime’ scenario.

Sheila 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.”

She 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.

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

One such way people have been trying to exercise control and diminish their worries is by the unhelpful practice of ‘panic-buying’ goods such as hand sanitiser and toilet roll. Sheila puts this down to an overload of the ‘fight or flight’ response that’s hardwired into our DNA and is being further fuelled by images of empty shelves in the media, and on social media.

She added: “It’s an exaggeration of a natural reaction – we think we’re fighting for our survival. Suddenly, certain items take on much greater significance than usual and just possessing them seems to calm our fears, that is until the next bout of fear takes hold about a different ‘essential’ item.

 “This pandemic has many repercussions beyond the actual virus. One is the potential impact on mental health and wellbeing as people try to manage an increasingly stressful situation, and if I can help ease that stress in just a small way, I believe it’s worthwhile trying.”