Covid anxiety: how prolonged uncertainty affects us

When life feels unpredictable for long periods of time, the nervous system stays alert, scanning for what might happen next. Even when external circumstances improve, the body may not immediately register that it’s safe to stand down.

Covid affected people in multiple ways, and we’re left with the hangover: “Although anxiety or depression rates are falling, they have not nearly fallen to pre-pandemic levels; in some demographic subgroups, they have hardly fallen at all.”  (Shah, 2024) We’ve moved on as a collective, life has changed, and six years later, we’ve almost forgotten the turning point – except for many people, the body hasn’t.

Living through prolonged uncertainty

When you live through prolonged uncertainty, your body can develop a strong fear of what might happen next. You worry much of the time, and that worry can feel out of proportion. Extended exposure to alarming information amplifies this response, making everyday life feel more dangerous and unpredictable than it actually is.

The body continues to behave as if something could go wrong at any moment: muscles stay tense, thoughts circle, and the system remains prepared, even during ordinary, safe moments. This ongoing alertness can create the feeling that safety is fragile or temporary, rather than something the body can rest into.

When you hear phrases like “learning to live with uncertainty”, your heart may beat faster. A part of you may wonder whether you will ever feel settled again.

Living through a pandemic has left many people with health anxiety: you may find you constantly check for symptoms of ill health and can’t remember a time before this. You still feel uncomfortable in public places and clean obsessively.

If you recognise these behaviours, you may find it helpful to speak with a professional who understands anxiety as a nervous-system response. Some people use labels such as health anxiety or covid anxiety syndrome, which often overlap with patterns seen in OCD. Working with someone who understands anxiety, trauma, and ongoing alert can offer space to make sense of your body’s response, rather than trying to suppress it.

Moving forward when your body needs time to adjust

It is OK to take things slowly, take a small step out of your comfort zone and, when that feels comfortable, take another. Each small step will force you to pull the strength from within to manage the situation.

There is no expectation to live in any particular way. Needs shift, and the key is to help your body respond to the present. You have permission to shape your life around what supports steadiness and capacity now.

The body is always adjusting. It responds to patterns of rest, demand, connection, and pace, often without conscious thought. When things feel unsettled, the work is to notice what helps the body feel more grounded in the life that is here.

When anxiety follows a prolonged strain on the body

People notice a wide range of physical and emotional changes when the nervous system has been under sustained strain. One person may feel low in mood. Another may experience strange physical sensations. Someone else may notice their body behaving in unfamiliar ways. These experiences are unsettling and bring anxiety with them.

When something has stretched your body beyond its capacity, it can continue to respond as if safety is uncertain. This can feel confusing, especially when there is no clear explanation for it. It may also carry elements of trauma, which forms when the body senses danger and cannot regain a feeling of safety or control.

There are no fixed patterns or symptoms that everyone shares. Anxiety and trauma look different in different bodies. What they have in common is the nervous system staying alert after a period when it was unable to settle.

Many forms of support already exist for experiences like this. Some people find that gentle movement or practices that bring attention back into the body are supportive. Hypnotherapy offers a way to work with these responses without forcing change, allowing the nervous system to process what it is holding and gradually rediscover a sense of steadiness. Hypnotherapy works with the part of the mind holding the alert. Prolonged uncertainty causes the nervous system to recalibrate around vigilance. The body begins to assume that “something might happen”.

In a therapeutic setting, we slow the pace down enough for the system to notice that it is safe in the present moment. Hypnosis helps you guide your attention inwards in a focused, steady way. This creates conditions where the nervous system can process rather than continually scan ahead. Often, people notice that their body begins to complete interrupted responses: a deeper breath, a softening in the shoulders, a reduction in urgency.

When anxiety follows prolonged uncertainty, the work is not to eliminate uncertainty from life - it is to help the body tolerate it again.

Hypnotherapy can support that process by helping you:

• strengthen your sense of internal steadiness
• reduce the need for constant checking or reassurance
• gently expand your comfort zone at a pace your system can manage
• rebuild trust in your body’s ability to respond to what is actually happening, rather than what might happen

Over time, the nervous system can recalibrate around safety, capacity, and present-moment awareness.

References

Shah AD, Laternser C, Tatachar P, Duong P. The COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Effects on Mental Health-A before, during, and after Comparison Using the U.S. Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2024 Sep 30;21(10):1306. doi: 10.3390/ijerph21101306. PMID: 39457279; PMCID: PMC11507479.