By Julie Watts, Director of The International BWRT Institute
Ask most people what summer means to them, and you’ll hear about holidays, barbecues and freedom from routine. Ask a therapist, and you’ll hear something different. As Director of The International BWRT Institute, I speak regularly with practitioners across our network, and one thing comes up consistently once the weather turns: their diaries fill up. Longer days, lighter clothing and a fuller social calendar don’t remove pressure for a lot of people – they concentrate it. Three anxieties in particular tend to cluster together at this time of year: how we feel about food, how we feel in our own bodies, and how comfortable we are around other people.
The Beach Body Trap
Swimwear shops fill their windows earlier every year, and social feeds follow close behind – “beach body,” “summer shred,” a fresh wave of “what I eat in a day” videos, each one implying a body worth hiding away for the other nine months. For anyone who already has a strained relationship with food, that combination of visibility and messaging rarely stays in the background.
It shows up differently from person to person – some reach for food as comfort, others restrict or skip meals or feel guilty after eating something they’ve mentally filed as “bad.” The specifics vary, but the root usually doesn’t: a fear of gaining weight, of losing control, or of being judged. Summer just gives that fear more oxygen.
The Ultimate Party Pooper
Alongside food and body anxiety, summer brings a packed social calendar – barbecues, weddings, festivals – and for many, that’s a source of dread rather than excitement. Social anxiety is thought to affect around one in eight people, and Terence Watts, creator of BWRT® and author of Anxiety Gone! describes it memorably as “the ultimate party pooper.” As he explains, the fear rarely attaches to one single thing. It tends to circle a cluster of worries: being laughed at, being stared at, looking out of place, not knowing what to say, or – tying neatly back to the section above – eating or drinking in front of others.
Unlike a straightforward phobia, which fixes on one clear trigger, social anxiety is more diffuse, often underpinned by guilt or embarrassment left over from an earlier experience, with a possible genetic component too (twin studies suggest 30–40% heritability). The physical symptoms are familiar – blushing, sweating, a racing heart – followed, for those who do attend, by a merciless mental “post-mortem” afterwards. Summer simply offers more chances for this to be triggered, with invitations arriving thick and fast just as everyone else seems to be having the time of their life.
The Phobia Nobody Talks About
Picture a long-haul flight, a festival campsite, or a wedding buffet that’s been sitting out too long. For most people, minor background worries at most. For someone with emetophobia – an intense fear of vomiting, their own or someone else’s – reason enough to turn down the invitation altogether.
It’s a phobia that rarely gets airtime, partly because it doesn’t fit the usual picture of one. There’s no single spider or needle to point to; it can be set off by a packed departure lounge, a friend having one too many at a barbecue, or not knowing where the nearest bathroom is. Summer delivers all three in quick succession, and because it’s rarely spoken about, many people carry it in silence for years, quietly rearranging their lives around it rather than asking for help.
A Different Way Forward
What strikes me most, hearing from practitioners across all three areas, is how similar the sticking point is. Conventional talking therapy tends to ask people to go back – to trace a fear to its source, often across many sessions. Some clients can’t pinpoint an origin at all; others simply don’t want to revisit painful memories to move forward. BWRT takes a different route.
BrainWorking Recursive Therapy (BWRT®) is a modern, neuroscience-based therapy created by UK psychotherapist Terence Watts in 2013. At The International BWRT Institute, we train and accredit thousands of therapists worldwide who use it to treat anxiety, phobias, trauma and PTSD. Rather than working with conscious thought, it works with the “hind brain” – the primitive part that controls our automatic fight-or-flight response, triggering physical and emotional reactions before we’ve had a chance to think them through.
You don’t need to know exactly why the fear started. A therapist just needs to know how a client feels now, and what they’d rather feel instead, then works on retraining the brain’s automatic response, often in just a handful of sessions.
Practical Steps To Try This Summer
- Curate your feed. Unfollow accounts that trigger “beach body” comparisons; follow ones promoting body neutrality instead.
- Plan ahead. Knowing roughly what’s involved in a social event – who’ll be there, what’s on offer – reduces the uncertainty that drives both food and social anxiety.
- Practise slow breathing beforehand. A few minutes before a party, flight or meal out can calm the body’s stress response.
- Give yourself an exit plan. Knowing you can leave after a set time makes attending feel less daunting.
- Talk about it. Saying the fear out loud often loosens its grip. Shame thrives in silence.
Where to find support
If any of this sounds familiar, know that you’re not alone, and that these patterns can genuinely change with the right help.
If you’re struggling with disordered eating, Beat, the UK’s eating disorder charity, runs a free helpline on 0808 801 0677. For social anxiety, phobias or other anxiety-related struggles, speak to your GP as a first step, or seek out a therapist who specialises in anxiety treatment.
To find a qualified BWRT practitioner near you, visit the BWRT Professionals directory.
About The Author
Julie Watts is a passionate advocate for mental wellness and Director of the International BWRT Institute, the global organisation supporting the training, development and ethical oversight of BrainWorking Recursive Therapy® – a modern, neuroscience-based approach to resolving issues such as anxiety, trauma, phobias, and emotional overwhelm.
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