Blog
27th June, 2020

Can Hypnotherapy Help Covid-19 Related Anxiety and PTSD?

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Hypnotherapy &Amp; Covid-19

I closed my busy Hypnotherapy clinic in London, when ‘Lock-Down’ happened on the 23rd March 2020 because of the global Coronavirus Pandemic. However, with the help of the Zoom video-conferencing platform, (that I was already using for NLP Success Coaching), I instantly became a Virtual Hypnotherapy Clinic, now open to anyone ‘anywhere’ in the virtual online world.

Ever since the Corona virus or Covid-19 Pandemic spread across the planet at breath-taking speed, simultaneously the wave of fear of catching the deadly virus spread possibly even quicker.

The morbid fear of contracting the coronavirus, and then dying horribly alone in a hospital on a ‘ventilator’ otherwise known as a ‘life support machine’, (if there are any left), has caused many of us to distrust close contact with anyone, even our loved ones, and our families, for fear that we may either contaminate them, or that they may inadvertently contaminate us. 

As well as helping clients to break powerful addictions, I have had the honour of helping to reduce many fears and phobias for almost 20 years now. So now we add the new ‘fear of catching Covid-19’.

I have been offering online support for people with stress-related chronic anxietyacute insomnia (short-term), and more seriously the growing number of people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 

Since closing, I have had the great honour and privilege of working remotely with virtual clinics on Zoom with a number of people around the world, a number of them had fought off the covid-19 virus, some had even been hospitalised for a time, but were now recovering physically, although had been left mentally ‘traumatized’ by the experience.

Just like all the front-line workers in our incredible NHS and the emergency services, they’d seen with their own eyes things that were extremely difficult. Now that we know a lot more about the Covid-19 virus, as lethal as it has been to so many people particularly over the age of 50, for younger people it seems to be much less life-threatening with the chances of dying if you’re under 20 years old being 1 in 3 million.

In other words, you’re 20 times more likely to die in an accident than from COVID-19. However, anyone who was already a natural worrier, who has ever had issues with anxiety, and even OCD, these extraordinary events, never before seen or heard of in the last hundred years, have turbocharged people’s inner-most fears to new levels.

It is also hardly surprising that it is estimated that over 70% of people in the Western Hemisphere are now experiencing sleep difficulties, (otherwise known as acute insomnia). 

Can hypnotherapy help people recover better during the coronavirus epidemic?

I believe yes, definitely. It can help in many different ways, but NOT cure!

Hypnosis can for many be wonderfully relaxing. It can also help to reduce fears, anxiety, as well as increase health and wellness, by boosting the auto-immune system as it triggers the safe parasympathetic response of the autonomic nervous system, compared to the Sympathetic stress response.

The latest expert advice on how to support your immune system includes: 

1)    Lose weight, as obesity leads to chronic inflammation making you more likely to get infections and for the vaccines to work less effectively.

2)    Healthy management of blood sugars, reducing the risk of type II diabetes which also reduces the risk to infections, including Covid 19.

3)    Getting a good night’s sleep, and in particular getting enough deep sleep which boosts your immune system. Anyone getting less than six hours sleep is four times more likely to catch a virus, compared to those who sleep for more than seven hours a night.

The latest data shows that people are taking longer to get over this virus than was previously thought, in some cases it can take months.

The latest advice, if you are suffering from post-viral complications, is to eat as healthily as possible and to try and remain active. 

Even taking a few short brisk walks outside every day can really help to boost your immune system and recovery time.

Learning to relax regularly at a deep level, as mentioned earlier can powerfully boost your immune system in exactly the same way as deep sleep. 

As a sleep coach, during this time, I have not only been able to help people to sleep better with my One-to-One Virtual Sleep Clinics, but because I’ve also created a number of Hypnotherapy NLP programs over the years for Insomnia, and Anxiety, `I was able to offer them free to our front-line workers in the NHS, and to our emergency services.

I also then offered them for a short time in the height of ‘Lock Down’ to the entire world free on social media, including TwitterFacebook, and Instagram during the months of March, April and May. 

The response has been truly amazing. Thanks for all your positive emails. Why not download my FREE 15-minute Deep Relaxation Hypnotherapy MP3 download, put it on your smartphone, turn on airplane mode, and then drift off into a profound state of relaxation. 

Get it here www.maxkirsten.com/free-relax-now-mp3-download/
For those who are anxious I also recommend downloading my FREE ‘Conquering Fear’ MP3 download, here www.maxkirsten.com/product/free-conquering-fear-mp3-download-copy/

Just 15-minutes to allow yourself to ‘relax and unwind’ deeply really can do wonders to improve your sense of wellbeing, and boost your auto-immune system.

Be well and stay safe!

M.

Photo by Adam Nieścioruk on Unsplash