Jessie was explaining the dream they had last night.
‘Honestly!, My dreams are insane at the moment. Last night I dreamt that the Government banned broccoli due to the coronavirus pandemic. It wasn’t clear why they had banned broccoli or the link between broccoli and Covid-19, but the fact of the ban was unequivocal.
I was in such a state in my dream! I wasn’t clear on whether the ban meant that I was allowed to eat the broccoli I had already bought, or if it just applied to new broccoli? And broccoli is my favourite vegetable! I was desperate to do the right thing, but I was so confused! I woke up with such a tight chest from the stress of the dream that I thought I’d contracted the flipping virus – probably from all the broccoli I eat!’
After we stopped laughing at the apparent silliness of the dream, I pointed out to Jessie that the dream actually captured the anxiety of the coronavirus pandemic quite well. The certainty of the ban on broccoli, but the uncertainty of the detail, feels very much like the Stay At Home message. We know we need to Stay At Home but there are four reasons for leaving home, (food, medical, exercise and essential work), the details of which are clearly confusing for some people at the moment.
‘Honestly!, My dreams are insane at the moment. Last night I dreamt that the Government banned broccoli due to the coronavirus pandemic. It wasn’t clear why they had banned broccoli or the link between broccoli and Covid-19, but the fact of the ban was unequivocal.
Jessie first came into therapy to work on their low sexual desire, but the advent of a deadly virus has foregrounded, quite understandably, their general anxiety. So our focus for this session was how to manage anxiety in an anxiety provoking situation.
I reminded Jessie about the breathing and grounding techniques we practiced in their earlier sessions. I guided them to focus on the here and now in their specific world rather than the ‘what if’s’ of the future in the wider world. I explained that we can only control so much in life. We cannot control a pandemic on our own, but we can control our behaviours to maintain our relative safety during the pandemic. I reassured them that they were properly following the government guidelines, so perhaps those fears might not trouble their dreams any more. In short, we revisited the basics of anxiety management:
- Breathing and grounding techniques
- Mindful attention on the here and now
- Don’t believe everything you think
- Turn your attention away from your thoughts by activating your senses – what can you see, hear, smell etc
- Limit your exposure to the news, especially just before bedtime
- Tell people how you feel
- Listen to how others feel
I could go on …. And I probably did a bit in Jessie’s session in my eagerness to help them feel more stable in these unstable times.
Always able to find the funny side of life, Jessie ended the session by asking – ‘Just checking – the government didn’t actually ban broccoli did they?’ and with a broad smile and wink they logged off our Zoom session.
If you need any help with anxiety in these anxious times contact Local Counselling Centre for online therapy sessions.
If you have sex and relationship problems that are impossible to avoid in the lockdown contact Sex Therapy Herts for low and full cost psychosexual and couples therapy. Sessions start from £15.
