What is social gathering anxiety?
Social gathering anxiety is anxiety that is triggered by seeing a person or group of people or an invitation to attend functions that have a large number of people like birthdays, weddings, funerals, concerts, and sporting events. This can even be triggered by large crowds in public places like businesses and stores. When you’re confronted with the situation, you may have a visceral, unpleasant feeling. This may show up in different ways such as a panic attack or make you react in an uncharacteristic way like getting irritated or short of temper.
Social gathering anxiety is akin to agoraphobia. Agoraphobia is paralyzing fear of a person unable to leave their homes without acute distress. In a way, we all are beginning to experience what this feels like. We find ourselves being very anxious around people that we haven’t seen or don’t know. While we don’t have the paralysis associated with agoraphobia, we do experience the elevated levels of stress and anxiety as we wonder if people or surfaces around us are infected. Isolating ourselves is no way to live, and if we experience these levels of stress and anxiety other long-term other problems will develop besides a COVID-19 infection.
What happens after social distancing?
For many people after dealing with COVID-19 and social distancing, social gathering anxiety may become an all too common occurrence. After the stay at home orders and social distancing measures are lifted, life will seek to return to normal, but the PTSD of this traumatic time will not dissipate as easily. We may fear going to stores or work, seeing friends and family, or any place where we may encounter people.
Stop Being Afraid to Go Out
But what can we do about it? Anxiety was bad enough before all of this, and now one primal component of being human has been restricted. People are social beings; they need contact with other people--but we all may fear that same contact can cause infection. Weighing our desire for contact against the risks can make people who never experience anxiety before spiral. Luckily, hypnosis is uniquely suited to help people get over fear and anxiety.
Hypnosis Can Help You Get Out The House Again
Hypnosis can help you take down the new barriers that have been created by this pandemic. Through hypnosis, we can take a deep look into the subconscious where your behaviors are stored. You see,the subconscious is the part of the mind that makes up the rules. The subconscious tells the conscious mind what to do and how to act. This is why we react to situations in uncharacteristic ways and we don't know why.
When working with the subconscious through hypnosis, we can rewrite the response to anything that has occurred. The removal of traumas, anxieties, and phobias is possible. Working on the behaviors in this way eliminates them so we no longer have to manage these types of behaviors and negative feelings anymore. Revising reactions in the subconscious helps you restore your confidence and get you back into the world.
Help Healing Your Fears
We are social creatures; we thrive best among family, friends and community. Do not deny yourself this primal need. Reclaim your freedom and your world; hypnosis can help. Let us know if we can help you today.