Suddenly things are moving quickly: on June 28th, the mask requirement will be dropped in outdoor areas such as train stations or leisure facilities. The group size on restaurant terraces is no longer fixed, with a Covid certificate you can even go to the disco and to events with up to 5000 participants.
Another big step back to normal. If that’s not a reason to be happy!
But there are also people who are afraid of socializing more again. She is concerned not only with the fear of being infected, but also with a deep-seated fear of people.
A recent survey in the US found that nearly half of Americans are uncomfortable about going back to face-to-face interactions from virtual. “Cave syndrome” is what experts call this post-pandemic pattern – it is better to keep hiding in your cave. We are talking about “Fono”, short for Fear of Normal, fear of normality, and about the fact that one first has to train the “social muscle” again.
There are also signs of such social fears in Switzerland. This is shown by a study by sanasearch.ch, an online platform for offers in areas such as psychotherapy, alternative medicine or nutritional advice.
People fear free time
At the request of SonntagsBlick, Sanasearch asked 129 therapists whether they were finding their clients increasingly fearful of returning to normalcy. 47 percent of the experts questioned – almost half – answered in the affirmative; 40 percent also find that their clients are increasingly concerned about how they should manage their free time after Corona.
A closer look at the answers reveals different types of social anxiety: Some people fear that they are no longer able to cope with social situations. They feel a feeling of “inadequacy”, fear of “rejection” or “making mistakes”. Britta Behrends (48), psychotherapist for cognitive behavioral therapy and schema therapy, explains: “One is afraid of being embarrassed, of being judged and of not meeting supposed expectations.”
Other people seeking advice no longer want to enter into as many social obligations as they did before the Corona crisis. According to the therapists interviewed, they felt a “lack of desire for contacts”.
alienation
According to a participant in the survey, this reluctance leads to the fact that some “have become estranged from people and are no longer invited to larger celebrations”. In some cases, her clients “had the experience that fewer contacts are pleasant. And now falls
the corona excuse gone to justify avoiding contacts ».
That puts many under pressure, especially those who were shy of contact even before the pandemic, emphasizes Yvik Adler (56). The Co-President of the Federation of Swiss Psychologists (FSP): “Anyone who tried to avoid social situations beforehand could do so during the pandemic; it was suddenly legitimate. Now they are the strange ones again. “
The return of the high social pace at which life ran before Corona is also scary. Adler confirms: “For many people, the overclocked has lost its appeal. You have learned to calm down a little more and to endure yourself more – that is also a gain. ” And you don’t want to give that up again.
In addition to personal fears, the clients of the therapists interviewed also worry about the consequences for the social behavior of society as a whole. “Individuals, especially young adults, fear that friends could have got used to the current restrictions in connection with Covid-19 and that social life could decrease,” said one participant.
Others worry about their children and that “a society will grow up that shows a disturbed relationship to closeness and an increasingly phobic (fearful; ed.) Behavior”.
Psychotherapist Adler also observes an increased physical distance: “Many do not want to return to rituals such as shaking hands or kisses.” If one could not find any substitute rituals, it would not be harmless: “The danger is that the distance – physically and therefore also emotionally – is promoted in the long term. But we need human closeness. “
For example, if you omit greeting rituals, you have to find a different kind of reference instead.
The focus is on your own needs
And what behaviors do their clients use to react to their fear of social activity? According to the therapists, the focus is on “finding excuses not to have to go”, “short-term cancellations”, but also the more conscious choice of occasions to go to.
Clients “focus on their own needs, go where their own wishes effectively lead them”, summarizes Adler. That is “clearly a positive turnaround”.
One therapist assesses the fact that you pay more attention to your own interests as another long-term consequence of the pandemic: “I think that there is a new learning of the new freedom, that certain people will remain in the sometimes beautiful and stimulus-shielded retreat.”
However, one respondent warns against «suggesting a new problem area where none is clear», because: «It is advisable to be careful whether a general new clinical picture has arisen in connection with Covid.»
At the moment, however, it is mainly people who have had similar phobias who feel social anxiety about the most recent steps in opening up.
Adler advises you and everyone else who is currently experiencing social muscle soreness to take it slowly: “You should face fear gradually and in doses so that you get more security and realize: I can cope with it.” Britta Behrends adds: “It is important not to focus on fear, but on how you have dealt with similar situations in the past.”
So that soon everyone can be more or less social musclemen again.