I'm a clinical hypnotherapist, this is why so many people are too anxious to enjoy their holiday - and how I help them
Clinical hypnotherapist and psychotherapist Celia Griver says that for some people, the idea of jetting off on a sunshine break—or even just packing up the car for a British staycation—is enough to bring them out in a cold sweat.
She told the Daily Mail that it's not uncommon for people to suffer a mental health wobble when it's time to start relaxing, and it's not always just because they're worried about getting on a plane.
'For many people, holiday stress begins way before they even get to the airport,' she said.
'Holiday anxiety is not just down to fear of flying, although it plays a part,' she said, adding that forgotten passports, worries about food or arguments about plans 'can bring up resentment or fear.'
Holidays—despite their association with gorgeous scenery, lazy days relaxing in the sun, enjoying bucket list activities and discovering new favourite dishes—come with a deep pressure to relax and have a good time.
'For many people this is the antithesis of how they live their lives, and this pressure alone can trigger anxiety,' Ms Griver said.
'By the time they go on holiday, many people are in burn out from the demands of modern life, and they can't simply "turn off" the symptoms, thoughts and feelings associated with the condition.
'Many are already mentally and physically depleted by the time they arrive at their holiday destination making it harder for the nervous system to rest and recuperate.'
Ms Griver added that another element of pressure comes from how we are 'bombarded' with images of people having a perfect holiday, on social media and in adverts, from the moment the Christmas season has come to an end.
'Added to this, the cost of two weeks in the sun is a significant investment for many people,' she said. 'This piles on more pressure to have an amazing time.'
Once away, this pressure continues, often manifesting as a need to feel like they must have an amazing time and more fun than they did on their previous trip, which can be intensified if travelling with children.
Trips with extended family can also prove to be a challenge, as without the usual distractions or coping mechanisms, existing problems can flare up.
'Holidays often bring extended families together in unfamiliar environments and this can reignite old family roles, patterns, unresolved conflicts and resentments from the past,' she said.
And while familiarity can breed contempt, fear of the unknown can bring its own dramas.
Ms Griver said: 'For many people the idea of leaving their comfort zone is what triggers anxiety.
'Holidays are usually something enjoyable, but, the change in routine and lack of familiarity can be unsettling.
'It can leave people feeling out of control and anxious - fearing change, not being able to speak the language or the unknown.
Often sleep will be disrupted as people travel across time zones or travel in the middle of the night.
'New beds, heat, unfamiliar food or crossing time zones can lead to over or under stimulation of the nervous system creating increased anxiety.'
She added that other fears can be related to terrorism or being caught up in protests of political unrest.
So what can be done to make sure your excess (emotional) baggage isn't spoiling your annual chance to indulge in some RnR?
Ms Griver says she uses hypnotherapy to uncover the underlying patterns beneath holiday anxiety—and help her clients see that time away from their routines are just another life experience.
She explained: 'It's not about not wanting to go on holiday, but rather holidays become a trigger for the unhealed stress patterns from the past.
'Hypnotherapy can help people to understand and release these triggers, calm the nervous system and approach holidays differently.
Hypnotherapy is a powerful tool to help people to change their expectations around holidays.
'It can help people to step back and let go of what has happened in the past and move forward to have the holiday they want.
'This can release the pressure and to realise they don't have to enjoy every minute of a holiday and to just see it as another experience in life.'
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- New Statesman
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The platform was empty. It was a serene scene: the rain had stopped and the air smelled green, the trees showering droplets each time the wind blew. My mother and I carefully stepped around the puddles as we read the plaques on the very edge of the platform. 18.10.1941 / 1251 Juden / Berlin – Lodz. 29.11.1942 / 1000 Juden / Berlin – Auschwitz. 2.2.1945 / 88 Juden / Berlin – Theresienstadt. The Gleis 17 (Platform 17) memorial at Grunewald station on the western outskirts of Berlin commemorates the 50,000 Jews who were deported from the city to concentration camps by the Nazis. There are 186 steel plaques in total, in chronological order, each detailing the number of deportees and where they went. Vegetation has been left to grow around the platform and over the train tracks, 'a symbol that no train will ever leave the station at this track again', according to the official Berlin tourist website. Were we tourists? I wasn't sure. I paused at one plaque in particular: 5.9.1942 / 790 Juden / Berlin – Riga. My great-grandmother, Ryfka, was one of the 790 Jews deported to Riga on 5 September 1942. She was murdered three days later. Her husband, Max, had been arrested and taken as a labourer to the Siedlce ghetto the previous year. In 1942 he was shot and thrown into a mass grave. When I told people we were taking a family trip to Berlin, many brought up Jesse Eisenberg's 2024 film A Real Pain (released January 2025 in the UK), in which Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin play mismatched cousins on a tour of Poland, confronting the inherited trauma of their grandmother's Holocaust survival story. But when we first started planning our trip six years ago, that wasn't the idea at all. It wasn't supposed to be about Max and Ryfka. It was about their daughter, my grandmother, Mirjam, and my grandfather, Ali, whom we called Opa. Opa's ancestry enabled us to claim German citizenship. My mother, sister and I started this process in 2017 without really thinking about it. The UK had voted to leave the EU, and Brits with relatives from all over were looking for ways to retain an EU passport. The Global Citizenship Observatory estimates that 90,000 Brits have acquired a second passport from an EU country since 2016, not counting those eligible for Irish citizenship. Article 116(2) of the German Constitution states: 'Persons who surrendered, lost or were denied German citizenship between 30 January 1933 and 8 May 1945 due to persecution on political, racial or religious grounds are entitled to naturalisation.' The same applies to their descendants. Mirjam died in 1990, before I was born, and Opa in 2003 – both British and only British citizens. But we had his voided German passport, his birth certificate, the notice of statelessness he'd received when he came to England in 1936. 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