RECENT research is showing that 50% of the population feel that they have high anxiety levels since lockdown, 25% of the population claim to be lonely, suicide attempts have increased by 11% and a third of us are now avoiding news about the virus.

It is understandable, as we now have constant 24/7 Covid news. I never thought I would long for pre-breakfast television days. We are also hearing that 75% of BAME (black, Asian, minority ethnic) workers in the NHS are frightened that they might die by picking up the virus through their working. This group of people are also the least likely to access psychological therapies.

What creates anxiety is when we are not feeling safe or secure. The many assumptions we create in life through our upbringing and experience allows us to be relaxed enough to engage with the world in a positive way. This provides us with a default position of feeling ‘safe enough’ to get on with our lives with a sense of routine and purpose. Without these subconscious assumptions we hold, we would be a nervous wreck. However, today it feels as if we have spent years formulating a jigsaw of beliefs and assumptions, only now to be told that life is not like that anymore.

We are all in a situation that is both strange and uncomfortable. Just visiting a supermarket or garden centre with their controlled aisles, tells you that things are just not how they used to be. Many are now returning to work carrying a sense of fear all day.

The future seems uncertain and unpredictable. We are on a journey where our tentative steps outside seem seems strange and unbalanced.

All of this makes daily life more stressful than normal.

This is why therapists are predicting that more people will seek counselling due to these pressures. How can therapy help us at such times? The therapeutic world is not always well understood. The terminologies of therapy, counselling or psychotherapy can seem misleading. These titles tend to reflect how a professional has been trained and may characterise what they specialise in. However, they may all have similar approaches and achieve the same outcome in a therapy room. I’ll use the term therapy to cover all three aspects.

Any caring professional will want to create a framework with a client that allows them to feel safe and secure enough to share what’s troubling them. We call this a safe therapeutic alliance with the client. This involves having very clear ground rules of a contract, which includes issues around confidentiality, clarifying what to expect and not to expect, the cost of sessions and the approach the therapist practices. A question often asked is, ‘will therapy work for me?’ I suggest that any therapy that creates a safe place where there is active listening, an empathetic presence from the therapist and a positive regard to want the best for the client, will produce change. A client open to receiving gentle feedback and a willingness to seek to understand their underlying emotions will help with the process. However, it is the client that is the expert of their lives and will do the hard work creating change. I often see myself as a catalyst, providing an environment that allows a person to find the answers they are seeking. I know that when I feel I’m working harder than the client, then there is something wrong.

The answers a client finds may not be my answers. My role is to enable the client to understand their own jigsaw of life, such that they are empowered to adjust the pieces, so that they fit more comfortably. This is less about comparing a person’s life with another, as this simply robs the person of all joy. Rather, it is about enabling a person to travel light in this world, releasing baggage that holds them back, finding an anchor of significance and meaning that brings stability, and finally finding the resources to shape their own future.

I ask myself seven questions after a therapeutic session. Did I create a therapeutic alliance (a feeling of trust and safety), was psychological-education developed, was there a hopeful perspective, were skills learned about daily life, did the client attribute credit of any learning achieved, and was work done on preventing relapse?

How long does therapy take? It is a good question to ask your therapist as their answer will reveal a lot about their approach. Some work short term of six to 20 sessions, often focusing on present issues and aiding the development of skills for daily life. Others focus on long term therapy looking at deeper issues. The pace of therapy is always in the client’s hands.

How do I find a therapist? There are various directories online. However, my experience is that most come through word of mouth. Therapists are like doctors, if you don’t gel, it doesn’t mean medicine doesn’t work, have the courage to find a different one. For when it does work, it can be life changing.

Dr Bill Merrington is a therapist and chartered psychologist working in the York district (www.bmerri.com or contact info@bmerri.com)