Pedro_Scrooge

My mother has existing anxiety.

It has now warped by the news and social media into a fear of leaving the house.

She isn't in one of the protected groups, she used to work is medically trained so knows how viruses work, she says the thing that tripped her up was learning that there's no actual treatment other than just trying to keep you alive.

How can I help her living 30miles away unable to visit?

All she does all day is watch the news (hearing how many have died each day, cheery stuff) and reading Facebook which is full of her idiot friends all just freaking eachother out. Which just makes things worse, but doesn't want to come off social media as she will feel isolated (fair point).

She lives in a small village, people don't wander around before this all started so why would they now. Everyone locally gives eachother plenty of room and social distancing is going well if I'm honest.

She knows it's silly and unless she licks car door handles she will be fine but she gets into a bath of sweat and has palpitations when trying to tie her shoes to go for a walk, so then doesn't.

She won't even go into the garden and has closed all the windows for the last 3weeks.

Any advice would be great, I only found out how bad it is today....

Trichotillomania that's linked to anxiety and boredom.

It seems more of a habit now than an actual disorder. Plausible and any quick throwaway tips?

Been going for 14years now.

Thanks for the pointers. I have nightly WhatsApp video calls with her. I'll keep those going.

I haven't told her what to do as didn't want to make it worse, as I said today is the first I heard of it. I kind of went "oh...ok. here if you need me/want to talk?"

I've also just messaged her about your ebook. She may ignore me, but it can't hurt.