I’m certainly not feeling ‘re-entry anxiety’ – I can’t wait for lockdown to be over

There are plenty of people whose mental health will have suffered during the pandemic. It’s time for us to try and get back to normal, writes Janet Street-Porter

Everyone has faced many difficult challenges during the pandemic (Getty)

Did you know that a condition exists called “re-entry anxiety”? It’s not connected with a satellite returning from Mars but describes the difficulties some people might have when current restrictions are eased.

A new report from the Together Coalition reckons that a third of us think that life will never resume as before, that the pandemic has brought permanent changes to social interactions. The authors express concern that we could have gotten too used to being apart, even though the pandemic brought communities together to help the most vulnerable.

According to one clinical psychologist, those experiencing re-entry anxiety divide into two groups – those who were diagnosed with anxiety before the pandemic, and people who feel “frightened and unable to sleep at the thought of getting into crowded trains or seeing groups of friends”.

Prisoners, astronauts, long-distance walkers and sailors have expressed how overwhelming it can be to re-enter everyday life, but will we feel the same?

Zoom and social media have enabled us to work and communicate. Photos taken during the recent sunshine reveal many of us have walked with friends, even though officially that’s not meant to happen until Monday. Has lockdown been thoroughly detrimental to our mental health as some experts claim?

For many, the removal of pointless meetings, of social encounters involving small talk, along with the need to go out and “keep up”, has been thoroughly enjoyable. Yes, some people have actually found lockdown rewarding.

But we’ve all had enough now – and I don’t think l’ll need to relearn how to hold a face-to-face conversation.